Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [671]
There are no camp sites on Hiddensee, but inexpensive private rooms are available in the villages, or you can rock to sleep in dorm-style cabins aboard the Hotelschiff Caprivi 93 ( 501 62; www.hotelschiff-hiddensee.de, in German; Springe 39, Vitte; dm incl breakfast from €20). In a charming timbered building, the Hotel Hitthim ( 6660; www.hitthim.de; Hafenweg, Kloster; s €52.50-72.50, d €90-155 incl half-pension, breakfast €12) is one of Hiddensee’s best accommodation options, with floral wall-papered rooms, and home-cooked meals in its lamp-lit restaurant.
Ferries run by Reederei Hiddensee ( 0180-321 2150; www.reederei-hiddensee.de, in German) leave Schaprode, on Rügen’s western shore, up to 12 times daily year-round. Return fares to Neuendorf are €14.30, to Kloster and Vitte €16.60. The same company offers services from Stralsund up to three times daily between April and October. Return tickets to Neuendorf cost €17.90; to Vitte and Kloster €18.70. Check the website for other services.
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GREIFSWALD
03834 / pop 54,200
The old university town of Greifswald, south of Stralsund, was largely unscathed by WWII thanks to a courageous German colonel who surrendered to Soviet troops (a move usually punishable by execution).
The skyline of this former Hanseatic city – as once perfectly captured by native son Caspar David Friedrich – is defined by three churches: the ‘Langer Nikolas’ (‘Long Nicholas’), ‘Dicke Marie’ (‘Fat Mary’) and the ‘Kleine Jakob’ (‘Small Jacob’).
Greifswald also has a pretty harbour in the charming district of Wieck, reached by a Dutch-style wooden drawbridge, and its medieval city walls have been turned into a wide, tree-shaded promenade. The town is a convenient gateway for the island of Usedom.
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Orientation & Information
Greifswald’s Altstadt is northeast of the train station, on the bank of the Ryck River. The mostly pedestrianised Lange Strasse bisects the Altstadt from east to west. Around 4km east is the gull- and mast-filled harbour neighbourhood of Wieck. The ruins of the 1225 Eldena cloister famously portrayed by Caspar David Friedrich are a few minutes’ walk south of Wieck.
Helpful Greifswald Information ( 521 380; www.greifswald.de; Markt; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat May-Sep plus 10am-2pm Sun Jul & Aug, 9am-5pm Mon-Fri Oct-Apr) is in the Rathaus.
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Sights
DOM ST NIKOLAI
The 100m onion-domed tower of the Dom St Nikolai ( 2627; Domstrasse; 10am-6pm Mon-Sat, 10am-12.30pm & 3-6pm Sun) rises above a row of historic facades, giving the cathedral the nickname ‘Long Nicholas’. It has an austere, whitewashed interior with a large and solitary golden cross. You can climb the tower (adult/concession €2/1.50) and, yes, there’s a great view from the top.
MARKT & AROUND
The historic buildings ringing the Markt hint at Greifswald’s stature in the Middle Ages. The Rathaus, at the western end, started life as a 14th-century department store with characteristic arcaded walkways. Among the redbrick gabled houses on the eastern side, the Coffee House (No 11) is gorgeous and a good example of a combined living and storage house owned by Hanseatic merchants.
Greifswald’s outstanding Pommersches Landesmuseum (Pomeranian State Museum; 831 20; www.pommersches-landesmuseum.de, in German; Rakower Strasse 9; adult/concession €6/4; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) links three Franciscan monastery buildings via a 73m-long, glassed-in hall. There’s a major gallery of paintings, including half a dozen by Caspar David Friedrich, as well as history and natural history exhibits.
Northeast of the Markt is the 12th-century redbrick Marienkirche ( 2263; Brüggstrasse; 10am-4pm Mon-Fri, 11am-3pm Sat, 10.15am-1pm Sun), a square three-nave tower trimmed with turrets. It’s easy to see why it’s teasingly called ‘Fat Mary’.
UNIVERSITY AREA
Close to the train station is the university district, with Rubenowplatz at its heart. There’s a fanciful neo-Gothic monument to Heinrich Rubenow, the university