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Published: August 10th 2010
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Ruegen - Germany's biggest island, located in the Baltic Sea. Although one is tempted to say it is cold and windy, that is not true during the summer. Crystal blue water, huge chalk cliffs, and small towns near the sea - so-called "Ostseebäder" invite you for a walk. For us, the little "long weekend trip" started on Wednesday (28.07.2010). The 6-hour-car ride made us pass the first "sight", the new "Ruegenbruecke" with its length of 2,831 meters. The bridge connects Stralsund and Ruegen. As we arrived at the campsite the beach next to it and the crystal-clear water were very appealing, so we went for a swim, and called it a day.
Thursday, 29.07.2010 How nice was the weather the day before... Thursday's weather was challenging, but not yet in the morning. In the morning it was just cloudy. But that was ok and so we decided to have a short ride to Lohme and walk to the
famous chalk cliffs (e.g. "Koenigsstuhl" - something like "Kings Chair" in English). A nice 5k walk, indeed, right on the cliffs next to the sea. I took too many pictures on the way, as always 😉 We finally arrived at the "Viktoriasicht",
a small lookout with a nice view on the "Koenigsstuhl". Which is, by the way, made of chalk which may also be used for painting on blackboards... Well, in case you are in need of some chalk (if you are a math student for example) - go there. And do not forget to enjoy the scenery! Yep, so far so good. But once we arrived the rain started. And it felt like it will never ever stop again. So we sat on a bench next to a little snack bar and enjoyed lunch. With umbrellas. And rain jackets. And sometime later we decided to walk back. Through the forest. And then next to cornfields. And it rained and rained and rained. Well, and our trousers and shoes surrendered and left us totally soaked. A bus stop served as a shelter, but not for long as we wanted to get back to the car. Luckily my backpack was still in the car so we could change the wet clothes into dry ones.
It was 3 pm, not quite the time to get back to the camp! So we drove to Prora and walked to Binz, a nice place for holidaymakers. We
Desert?
No, just the beach ;) saw the
Binz pier, and with the help of a nice toy store owner we found a supermarket (which is not so obvious as Binz is very touristy, and supermarkets are well-hidden on the first view). And we had some ice cream afterwards, at 6.30 pm. The waitress was - let's put it that way - probably not interested in gaining new guests, as she told Karsten that they do not have any warm food now since the kitchen has to be cleaned. Lame! We went back, I took some pictures of the
"Colossus of Prora", which are remains of the former NS dictatorship. Parts of it were used in the former GDR as barracks for the NVA, the other parts just fell into disrepair.
Friday, 30.07.2010 Until lunch, we walked westwards down the beach, first very fine sand, then smaller stones, bigger stones, and a mixture of all of them. The wind made the walk not as enjoyable as desired. But a lot of people spend some time walking along the coastline. As we came back to the campground we had some soup - warmed up on the little camping stove that worked surprisingly very nicely! By the
Another Beach
Between Nonnevitz and Cape Arkona way, that was the only warm meal within the 4 days.
Compared to Thursday the weather was quite nice, with no rain but still cloudy. Perfect for a visit to
"Cape Arkona", the northernmost part of Ruegen. We saw the two lighthouses and went downwards from the cliffs right to the coast. No doubt - I was stunned. It was truly a nice place to visit! And if you ask me - go there, it is worth it. And as a souvenir, you can grab some of the chalk around you. We did not visit the Jaromarsburg that once was the religious center of the Slavic Rani in the Early Middle Age.
In the late afternoon, we went to
Sellin, the town where the famous pier is situated, with 394 meters the longest pier on Ruegen. You know, the pier you can find on nearly every general Ruegen postcard. If you want to get to the pier you have the choice: either you pick the steep stairs downwards or you like it comfortable, then you are better off using the elevator. Sellin itself, or the part I have seen, was a nice town with houses featuring an interesting seaside-resort architecture
The campground
"Regenbogencamp" in Nonnevitz from the early 20th century. A little odd thing just came into my mind: I did realize that next to some pathways they had sand, it transferred the "beach feeling" into the center of the town.
So, as you can see so far, Ruegen has a lot to offer besides just relaxing and tanning at the beach or swimming in the sea.
Saturday, 31.07.2010 Today was a little weird. It was supposed to be a day at the beach. We went there, and Karsten realized that he was bitten by a tick (what a bitchy animal!). Unable to remove it he had to see a doctor. He ended up in the hospital in Bergen, where the bitchy tick was removed.
In the meantime, I had a 6k
walk along the beach and the coast from Nonnevitz towards Cape Arkona. Some great lookouts along the way were made for taking pictures. The beach was either sandy or pebbly and rocky. 4 kilometers from Cape Arkona I decided to return. Unfortunately, my shoe was done for the day and broken 😞 So I had to walk back shoeless through the forest. No big deal 😉
At the end of the day,
I went swimming in the sea.
Sunday, 01.08.2010 The last day 😞 Since we did not want to be home at midnight we wanted to drive back home no later than 1 pm. I enjoyed another time swimming and the return journey began just in time. But we had bad luck - we were struck by the first traffic jam right on Ruegen, and then there was another one on the way to Berlin. 13 kilometers in just 1.5 hours! I guess you are better off walking :D 10 pm we arrived safely in Chemnitz.
Résumé: a nice trip, beautiful beaches, nice landscapes, a great campground, well, the weather could have been better 😉
What to see?
- Cape Arkona
- Chalk cliffs
- Sellin
- Binz
- Colossus of Prora (there is even a museum which we did not visit - I did not even know that it existed)
- just explore Ruegen yourself! 😊
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