{"id":14878,"date":"2023-10-06T02:53:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T06:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/?p=14878"},"modified":"2023-10-12T23:32:52","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T03:32:52","slug":"rostock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/index.php\/2023\/10\/06\/rostock\/","title":{"rendered":"Rostock"},"content":{"rendered":"
Position: 54\u00b010’53.6″N 12\u00b005’48.9″E<\/a><\/h6>\n

NOTE:<\/strong><\/em> This entry starts filling in what we did for two weeks between leaving Laboe and reaching Denmark.<\/em><\/p>\n

Leaving Laboe and taking advantage of the dominant westerlies it took two days to cover the 80 miles to Rostock. A thunderstorm blew in a little south of us and encouraged us to pull over and anchor for the night. The Baltic is shallow. Waves whip up fast, then settle back down again almost as quickly. Tucking in behind a sandbar and the shoreline gave us as much protection as we could have wished for should the storm have turned our way. Within 30 minutes of arriving, the local sailing club spawned foilers<\/a>, windsurfers, and a small flotilla of cruising yachts. Many of whom sailed over to wave at us while admiring Aleta.<\/p>\n

Pomerania<\/h6>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Rostock, in the L\u00e4nde of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, fell under Soviet-led East Germany from 1945 to 1990. Prior to that the Prussians, Swedes, Slavs, and Holy Romans had all controlled the region. Vorpommern, is part of the old Pomeranian voivodeship, or duchy. I knew Pomerania only as the place where fluffy yappy lap dogs must have originated. It\u2019s the same logic I used to figure out that Dalmatians must have come from Dalmatia. Whatever my high school history lessons lacked in content was made up for by training in critical reasoning.<\/p>\n

For decades in the 18th<\/sup> and 19th<\/sup> century this part of the Baltic was the go-to holiday destination for aesthetes, intellectuals, and barons of industry. Long white sand beaches, baroque houses, and a relatively mild summer climate drew the crowds in. It still does today. Cheap Mediterranean vacations may have distracted northern European holidaymakers from the region for the past 30 years, but with reunification its historical attractiveness is being appreciated anew. Climate change brought a brutally hot summer to the Med this year and I think that will help redirect tourists back north in the future.<\/p>\n

A viable shipbuilding industry made Rostock a prize for the Russians when they captured it. Not as valuable as Gdansk, of course, but a manufacturing centre, nevertheless. A place deemed important enough to be mismanaged by Soviet central planning. All that came to an end in 1990 when the slow, steady transformation to tourism started. At the time the wall came down, East Germany had about 16.4 million people living in it while West Germany was home to 66 million. A result of steady depopulation after the end of World War II. Today, even at the height of summer, the place still seems quiet and remote.<\/p>\n

Where To?<\/h6>\n

\"Mouth<\/a><\/p>\n

I contacted my Dutch friend Jan<\/a> for advice on where to go and what to see locally, at least as far as the Polish border. His experience caravanning in the area was invaluable. Plus, his recommendations aligned neatly with Carol\u2019s research. Despite the robust public transport system, we opted to hire a car to get a better sense of the place. With Aleta safely box-moored at the Hohe D\u00fcne Hotel Marina at the mouth of the Warnow river, we hopped on a local train and headed to Rostock proper to collect a car.<\/p>\n

Alighting at the main station you walk down wide streets lined with trees and tram lines. It isn\u2019t hard to imagine well-turned out men in top hats and women in bustles treading the same path 130 years ago. The old city\u2019s south entrance is guarded by the Steintor<\/a> (stone gate), finished around 1577. Built in the Dutch Renaissance style, its tall slender spire doesn\u2019t quite fit with either traditional Dutch or German designs of the period. It is its own thing.<\/p>\n

The RAF bombed the dickens out of the tower in 1942 and it was entirely rebuilt between 1950 and 1956. It is one of the few landmarks in the city to be fully restored by the penurious communists. Just inside the gate are two large bronze griffins that showed up in 2016. They are just controversial enough that they inspired the name of a local American football team, called the (wait for it) Rostock Griffins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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