DE, Day 8, June 6, To the North

“You will make it next time“ told me my father fifty years ago to assuage my soul. We were vacationing at the Baltic Sea, but I was not able to go to a one day trip to the isle of Rügen since I had fallen ill. The „next time“ took exactly fifty years.
So today we took our bikes into the train from Stralsund to North-East of Rügen, explored the area there pedalling and returned in the evening by train to Stralsund again.

“5 000 permanent inhabitants and up to 20000 guests in the season” tells me a local man in Binz, a picturesque sea resort.
“A what were the giant dilapidated blocks of buildings on the way here?”
“The largest building project of the Nazis”
Eight extremely long buildings designed as a recreational centre for additional 20 000 soldiers. Erected directly alongside the white “Prora” beach leading to Binz. The whole project was never completely finished, later partially demolished, and even later used by the East German army. Now still mostly abandoned and some of the blocks renovated. Let’s see what the future brings.

In any case, my dad was right. I made it to Rügen eventually and as a side effect reach the most northern point of this biking journey

50 km in the North East of the isle Rügen

 

Oak trees used to cover 10% of Europe in b.c. times. Today only fractions of permilles. The Jasmund National Park on Rügen is one of them.

 

Seeing the white cliffs on Rügen, north of Sassnitz, is a must. Even German poets and painters such as Casper David Friedrich were attracted by them.

 

The white beaches of Binz. 999 on the sand basket indicates it’s not the only one there. As to one local person: “You don’t find a place even just for a towel in the high season”

 

One of the remaining Gorch Fock ships, the famous sailed military vessels of Germany. A sister ship of this one is  now a huge corruption scandal: Approved renovation cost of €10 mil, the actual one €130 mil. Court verdict still pending. Ursula von der Leyen, then Minister of Defence, was politically responsible. After this debacle, she was promoted to head the EU commission…

 

9pm and the Sun is still shining on the “Oceanium” in Stralsund

Geschriben 06.06 2024 um 23:04