The Wilderness between Lübeck and Travemünde

It’s a while I would have liked to take the boat from Travemünde to Lübeck or vice versa. But only this summer I finally did it because my sweetie asked me to do so and a friend of mine immediately purchased the tickets for the three of us.

So one sunny morning we took the bus to Lübeck’s port and hopped on the MS Hanse. It’s a kind of panoramic boat or ferry that goes 4 times a day between Lübeck and Travemünde along the river Trave. The tour is about 2 hours and offers a cozy place where to enjoy the view on the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, the beautiful ‘wild’ landscape along the river and finally Travemünde.

The big port of Lübeck is already interesting with its big ships, ferries and also fishing boats. The ‘Lisa’ is an old cog (12th century clinker-built ship) which reminds you about the history of the place.

Leaving the lively harbor you are immersed in greenery that you maybe would not expect. I didn’t, but I have never seen the landscape from the river. Wilderness all around, a lot of sea birds and swans everywhere, black cormorants sitting in the trees… nature everywhere you look. And we are sitting on the deck of the ship, enjoying the sun and a nice, big cocktail.

The captain explains a lot of things (in German only) and makes the boat ride also a lesson in history.

We approach Gothmund, a little fishing village at the Trave right out of Lübeck. It looks gorgeous from the boat, nearly romantic. It is easy to start imagining old stories about fishermen living here, having their daily, hard life to survive but also having the opportunity to sell fish in the busy Hanseatic city of Lübeck.

Gothmund is known since 1502 and gained its own rights for fishing in 1585. It was used as a kind of stopover between the sea and the port of Lübeck. It has a little natural port, very much protected by reeds. Today there are living a lot of sea birds and swans. The houses were damaged very much during the Baltic sea flood in 1872 and less than 20 years later it was nearly destroyed by a fire. In the end of the 19th century it became a village for artists.

Today the little village is completely closed for cars, there are some historically protected houses and one walkway through the village. There are around 80 inhabitants living in typical houses with thatched roofs.

Very interesting to me was to see where the tunnel under the river is built and the bridge, that I remember so well, is gone. We had to try to figure out where exactly it was, it is not seen clearly.

Finally, we got to Travemünde. I always have a heartbeat more when I arrive to the town and see it from this perspective. I was amazed at the big international ferry port of Travemünde, the Scandinavian Quay, I usually see out of the bus window only. The famous Vorderreihe of Travemünde with its old houses in the style of 19th century baths architecture is always spectacular.

We enjoyed the tour along the Trave river very much and it should really be a ‘must-do’ when you are visiting Lübeck.

Enjoy the photos!

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Travemünde, Schleswig-Holstein/Germany:

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For further information:
Travemünde
A little bit about Gothmund (in German)
A little bit about Lübeck
If you want to see the timetable of the MS Hanse (English translation available)

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