I've always liked the sound of the cuckoo, at least I thought I did. But, when you get a cuckoo that gets up at four in the morning and insists on cuckooing until late at night, the novelty soon wears off. I'm talking about a cuckoo here that can even out power the local cockerel who leads the cacophony that is supposedly the dawn chorus. Cuckoo, blooming cuckoo, all day long.
Coffee, there's another thing. A good thing this time though. The Germans know how to make a proper cup of coffee. Perhaps it's the water. I've bought the exact same coffee but in my flat it tastes different. It's strange what gets lodged in your mind after a trip somewhere, and it's not always the obvious.
We (my boyfriend und ich) landed at Hamburg, with the helpful assistance of a British Airways A319 Airbus. It only took one hour twelve minutes from Heathrow. We were heading for northern Germany to stay with some friends, older friends. I speak very limited German, my boyfriend none at all. They don't speak English, so an interesting time was ahead of us.
The chunk we were visiting is the bit plonked right under Denmark and also borders the Baltic Sea. An area, I think I'm right in saying, that is mainly part of the Schleswig-Holstein state. If you were to draw a line from the North Sea at Husum, go right (east) to Schleswig and then on to Eckenforde on the Baltic sea, then above this would be where we explored for about eight days.
A lot of Schleswig-Holstein was once part of Denmark and, at times, the King of Denmark was also the Duke of Schleswig. I gather it's all long sorted and is now firmly German so we didn't get involved in any disputes, other than when my sense of humour wasn't always appreciated.
From Hamburg Airport we collected our hire car and headed up (north), along the A7 autobahn for a couple of hours, towards our destination. The autobahn, or motorway, is like a glorified dual carriageway. The speed limit is 120 kph but this seems to be generally ignored. It was virtually the only dual style road we saw, everywhere else was just one lane each way. Traffic was very light once off the motorway. As you would expect there is more round the actual towns, but we could mostly poodle along quite happily, at least while I was driving - 'he' just won't listen!
The roads are well sign posted with good road markings for turning right or left at junctions. Super, lead free, petrol costs about E1.03* per litre and our car hire worked out at £129 per week from Alamo.
The countryside is flat and low lying, mostly farm land, but nevertheless quite interesting. The fields this time of year (end of May) are a mixture of colours with great swathes of vivid yellow rape seed contrasting with the various greens. It looks lovely, especially when mixed with a windmill or two and traditional red brick houses, some still with steep thatched roofs. And trees, so many trees and bushes breaking up the flatness. It's all so neat and tidy.
Yes, I think that's what struck me, the order and neatness everywhere, and this includes the towns as well. There's no litter for one thing, and the buildings and shops are pleasantly decorated with the old architecture preserved and something to be admired. We didn't see any graffitti, smashed up phone boxes, dog mess, discarded take-a-ways and the such like. I mean, you just wouldn't desecrate such neatness, it would be obscene. A lesson for some British towns I feel.
The largest town we looked in on was probably Flensburg. It's got style and I loved the old buildings, some dating back to the 1500's. Many have been restored but have been done sympathetically and are a sight to behold, if this is your sort of thing. The past isn't mocked, it's preserved and used along side the new. There is, for example, the 'Monastery to the Holy Ghost', which is a reconstructed 13th century Franciscan monastery - and what is it today? An old peoples home, that's what. Just great. The town dates back to the 12th century and as you look carefully you can spot the various architectural styles through the centuries. It's a very pleasant place to spend an afternoon.
The other main towns we saw were Kappeln and Eckenforde. Again I was impressed, especially by Kappeln with it's lovely old church slap bang next to a traditional bar and guest house. We sat outside at one of the tables, with a cold Flensburger beer, watching the world go by as the church clock clanged away the time. Afterwards we went down to the riverside to see the lifting bridge. There are boat trips to be had, including an old paddle steamer.
The only problem with walking towards the river was that it meant passing all of the shops and especially the bakers! Temptation indeed. Delicious cream cakes and all sorts of bread and rolls, and as for the smell - wonderful. We always succumbed.
Food generally is of good quality, though very limited in choice for a veggie like me. The Germans, at least where we were, seem to be great meat eaters and the restaurants cater primarily for this. A main course, shall we say the equivalent to a good pub in the UK, would be around E9 to E15 and a couple of beers E4. I managed to get veggie food of sorts but it wasn't wonderful. My boyfriend, however, was well pleased with his meals.
A draw back again for me was that restaurants allow smoking, there was a lot of puffing where we went. The odd smoke free table could ocassionally be found but it was still difficult to avoid breathing in the fumes.
Getting away from the towns was what I loved best about the area. Along the coast the air is so clean and sweet and there are footpaths everywhere, including a whole network of cycle tracks. Being so flat it's ideal for bikes, we saw them on hire for E3 per day at Maasholm.
The coast line on a sunny day is lovely with the water still and sparkling. Much of the coast we saw is designated nature reserves and this is why there are so many birds, ducks and swans to be seen. It's a twitchers paradise. At part of the reserve, near a small place called Gelting, they have released 50 wild horses to roam the area. There's lots of care for the environment and the visitors seem to enjoy and appreciate this without leaving any mess - we didn't meet any other British people at all and I just hope this isn't significant.
One surprising thing for me was that there are some excellent beaches such as at Glucksburg, which also has an amazing schloss or castle and at Eckenforde. The sand is nearly white and, as I keep banging on about, it's all clean and neat. This may be partly because you have to pay a small entrance fee to actually go onto these bathing type beaches, but this seems to do the trick. Car parking in contrast is often free near the beaches and the towns, or at least relatively cheap. I think the most we paid anywhere was E0.50 per hour.
The friends we stayed with have a farm, which is now a small hotel, on the coast near Gelting, which I mentioned earlier. Though we had a free stay rooms normally cost about E50 and this includes breakfast. Breakfast was fresh rolls, dark bread, eggs, cheese, jam and salami type sausage slices. Oh and that wonderful, strong, hot coffee. We saw B&B from as low as E20.
As well as the sights and enjoying the countryside I'm always interested in people. The north Germans we met seem to have the same main topics of conversation as you would hear in the UK: Brussels and all of the red tape; the Euro and how prices have risen and savings shrunk; assylum seekers and all of the 'benefits' they are given. And the war - that's with Iraq, of course - and we were asked why Blair does what Bush says. I'm not saying this is typical of all of Germany but it's what came across to us over and over.
There's much more to say about the area but I don't want to go on too long. So, would I recommend northern Germany for a visit? The parts we saw I'd answer 'yes'. We found it very relaxing and enjoyed walking by the coast, the countryside, visiting a few towns, the fresh bread, cakes and coffee. A good place to unwind. It doesn't seem to be somewhere that the British visit too often. There's no dramatic scenary to take your breath away or tacky theme parks, it's just ... well ... nice, clean, tidy and neat. I'm happy to give it five stars, despite that cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo ...
To get there you can fly to Hamburg, as we did, or Lubeck and then drive north or take the ferry to Hamburg. The other way, I've been previously, is by ferry to Esbjerg in Denmark and then drive south. Or maybe even fly to Copenhagen. Whatever way make sure you take the sunshine with you. If it rains it may not be quite as appealing.
Back to reality again now.
- Kay
* I've used an 'E' for the euro currency. At the moment one euro is about 73p.
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