I’m writing about Warnemunde mainly because it was so difficult for me to find information on the town when we made a recent cruise stop there. It’s on the eastern side of the German coast, and the cruise line billed it as a “gateway to Berlin”. Hmmm…. Some gateway as you have to take a 3 hour high speed train to get into Berlin, and then 3 hours back.. I have this aversion to getting off the boat to rush a long ways a way to see a big city.
Oh, and that excursion was priced at $300 a
person for that “honor” of spending 6 hours on a train to spend 5-6 hours in
the city. I prefer to relax and take it
easy, so we elected to stay "local" at the port and the cruise ship.
We slept in and had a leisurely breakfast on board within
eye shot of the cute small town that was Warnemunde. A cute canal full of boats, and what appeared
to be a local fair from our dining vantage point. We disembarked easily without any crowds and
strolled for the town along the quay. A quick tunnel underpass beneath the
railway tracks and we were on a bridge into the town.
What had appeared to be a fair, but on closer
inspection was a normal summer marketplace at this seaside resort town. Here's a photo of the promenade of shops and stalls.
We appeared to be one of the few cruise passengers that made
this choice for our days, and most people we saw appeared to be only Germans on
holiday with very little English spoken around us. We strolled along the boardwalk, filled with
arts and crafts, candies, fish restaurants, beer stalls and more.
Here's a little photo of a fish smoker near the fishmonger stall.
It was the Peppered Mackerel that caught my attention.
Darling stall
where you could buy fancy gingerbread hearts with cute phrases on them.
I am assuming they are cute phrases, because honestly, my German isn't
that good besides "mein leibchen"
Here's quite the portable set up for a beer stall. Now how exciting is that???
We walked along enjoying the sights of the shops, the boats
and the people watching was fantastic too.
We saw traditional German costumes on some older people and some crazy
fashions on the younger generation. The boardwalk ends at a small lighthouse and a beautiful white
beaches. The boardwalk continues to the
west, to a larger lighthouse and more shops.
Here's a shot of the Brick lighthouse. For two euros, you can march up the 400 steps to the top. Notice there are no shots from there on my blog...
We walked back on the regular shopping side of the promenade
and visited the local shops and eyed the outdoor restaurants that overlooked
the canals.
What?
Time to stop
for a beer and a sit down?
Don’t mind if
I do.
We grabbed a “curry wurst” from a food stall and sat and enjoyed the
beers, the curry wurst and the peppered mackerel. A different sort of picnic for sure, but very enjoyable.
As to the “curry wurst” it’s a German favorite with origins
from either Frankfurt or Hamburg (as they argue it out) after the war when food was scarce. It’s
said to be invented from leftover supplies of Heinz ketchup, Worcestershire
sauce and curry powder. As ugly as it
appears, we found it to be delicious.
I might just have to blog a recipe for that some day in the future...
I might just have to blog a recipe for that some day in the future...
While peppered mackerel might not be everyone’s favorite
item, it was as delicious as I remembered from my sampling of it in Scotland
years ago.
It was a very enjoyable and delightful day in
Warnemunde.
Go if you can… bring your
swimsuits and some towels if the weather is nice, and do some exploring and
sampling of the local favorites whether it be fish, beer, gingerbread or sand & sunshine.
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