Adjacent to Usedom is the larger Island of Rügen. They are no distance at all apart and yet it would take three trains and as many hours to get the few kilometres north. Hector did look for a Ferry connecting the two, but not too closely.
We were going to Rügen Island on another historical sightseeing visit. This time Prora, I shall have fun listening to Marg tell everyone where she was on holiday this year, and why.
Arriving in Sassnitz at 13.00 we walked the few blocks to our accommodation. This time the best deal Hector could find was a Self-Catering Apartment. There was a sign on the door stating that nobody would be there until 17.00. This was annoying. It was even more annoying given that I had emailed on Monday to advise of our arrival time and had received no acknowledgement Clearly, they did not wish to be put out. At 17.00 Frau Fernmann took us in but insisted on charging us cash. Guess who will not be on our xmas card list this year?
Marg did discover the back door to the building was unlocked and so we dumped our bags. We were then able to go a wandering. A winding road took us down to the Harbour, adjacent steps had they been seen then would have saved us a few bends.
Fisch Suppe, so said a sign outside one of a line of restaurants along the front. This was good enough for me. Marg ordered a Turkey Salad, that is not what came and so it was sent back.
A walk along the Breakwater followed lunch, this construction may well be the World’s Longest. Climate Change had occurred by the time we returned to the land, Sassnitz was looking up. The so called U Boot looked menacing tied up across from us. Restaurant Boats looked appealing, we must have lunch there tomorrow or Sunday. We stopped for an Ice Cream in a Cafe with an open-air upstairs seating area. By now it was becoming seriously warm. Marg ordered Strawberries and Ice-cream, but without the Strawberry Ice-cream. She received Strawberries and Strawberry Ice-cream, no Vanilla. I ordered Ice-cream with Nuts, I received Ice-cream with Chocolate Sauce and minimal Nuts. Did Bert not understand Deutsch?
Then there was the Big Wheel… it was only as we walked further through the Harbour that we realised that a full Fair was in operation, we had arrived on Day 1 of the three day Sassnitz Fest! A Fest means Fairground Attractions AND Bier!
Marg and I see different things when we are out walking. I see landscape, architecture, Bier signs, she sees birds, fish, even the odd rodent. And so we walked through the Fest both of us mentally noting and making plans.
Neither of us felt like a formal meal on evening #1 and so we ate Snacks from the various Stalls. Fish, Hot-dogs, Mushrooms, until it was time to descend upon the most attractive Stand in the whole site, the Freiberg Bier Stand. They sold other Bier than Pils! Freiberger Keller Bier vom Fass (Freiburg, Sachsen) was first up. It tasted like… Pils. There was only one thing for it – Schöfferhofer Weizen (Frankfurt, Hesse), the Weissbier that started my whole fascination with this style of Bier – dating back to 1994 and the launch of the UK National Lottery. That long?
Bier-wise, this was it for the next two days until the end of our walk through the Jasmund National Park. Walking down Markstrasse and discovering, finally, the location of the Altstadt, there was a group of Restaurants we had not encountered.
A Paulaner Weisse (München) accompanied a much earned Ice Cream were enjoyed at the Altstadt Brasserie. This time it was Eis und Heiss – Vanilla Ice-cream with Hot Raspberries – not as good as that served once upon a time at the Golden Traube (Traben-Trarbach), but after an 8 km walk, who cared?
After the long walk through Prora to Binz there had to be a Bier. The Sun had come out as we completed the marathon that was Prora. There were naked people On The Beach, some of them were even Ladies, so Marg informs me, I did not notice.
Binz was certainly more upmarket than Sassnitz, once again the Baltic Architecture was to the fore. There was a hint of rain and so a strategic location at the end of the main street found us in the Binzer Stuben. Radeberger Pils (Radeberg, Sachsen) was the least of all evils, I do not have to revue it, surely…
On the second night at the Freiberger Stand we were considered Regulars. Everyone seemed to be paying a Pfand except us. Marg had a Bacardi, or ten, not. At 20.00 it was still daylight. Google Maps suggested that we could well be at the same latitude as Carlisle, if not, certainly Manchester.
Day 3 began with a Fish Lunch on one of the boats in the harbour, with the sun beating down it felt as if summer had finally come to Deutschland. Refreshed and fueled we took the bus up to Königstuhl in the Jasmund National Park. This was the start of the 8km walk back to Sassnitz along a coastal path with photographic opperchancities and the occasional mouse for company.
We arrived at the Freiberger Stand on night #3 as the heavens opened. We had spotted the the thunderstorm approach across the bay from Binz, we took our seats and watched people dive for cover. Directly opposite the Freiberger Stand was a Schottische Biere Stand (their spelling), it sold mostly Green King Ale, it did very poor business. When the rains came they immediately gave up, meanwhile we sat on, more Schöfferhofer…
The Freiberger Chaps are off to Berlin, it will be serendipity if I spot them once more at the Berlin Biermeile…
The only permanent Bier outlets visited:
Binzer Bierstuben, Hotel Granitz – Jasmunder Strasse, Binz, Rügen
Altstadt Brasserie – Marktstrasse 4, 18546, Sassnitz, Rügen
Fairground Attraction(s) – Bier? Perfect. Don’t call me surely. What were the birds Marge saw? Naked women on the beach? Who likes fanny?