Ostern an der Ostsee!

This Easter Weekend, we made an impromptu trip to the Baltic Sea, since our planned trip to Basel, Switzerland got a little too expensive. Like last time we traveled inside Germany, we used the Schones-Wochenende ticket, which is nice and cheap and lets five people travel together.

In the fabulous German travel guide that I have (Eyewitness Travel: Germany), there was a two-page spread on the island of Rugen that lies on the Baltic Sea. Being and old East German vacation spot and having spectacular nature, I thought it would be a good place for a short visit.

We left early on Saturday morning and when we arrived in Rugen, the weather was not exactly a beach vacation. Some of our teachers asked us why we would go to Rugen in the winter, and I can understand what they meant...


[on the pier in the wind and cold...]

When we arrived in Binz, we first checked into our hostel, which was a real Jugendeherberge, run by the German Youth Hostel Association. The price of 25 euros/night included breakfast and dinner. It was definitely for youth, and their were families and kids running around all over the place.

After we got properly dressed for the weather (with lots of layers and hats and scarves), we went to find the Easter-fire that was supposed to be happening. Whether it was because of the weather or because we had misinterpreted it, I'm not sure, but we couldn't find the fire. There were, however, volunteer fireman trying to raise money.


[Firetruck in Binz]

We decided to walk out onto the long pier. If the high waves weren't enough of a warning, the people coming back from the end of the pier very wet should have been. We walked out to the end of the pier, against the wind, anyway. At the end of the pier, we watched the stormy sea and took pictures. Just as we were about to turn around, a huge wave came, struck the pier, splashed up, and got us soaking wet.


[Sean and I on the pier]


[Watching the big wave come in]


[The after-shock of being completely soaked by the Baltic]

After the shock wore off, we walked down the main street of Binz, which was about three blocks long. Binz reminded me a lot of Pucon in Chile. It is a small town whose main (perhaps only) purpose is for tourism. And like Pucon, Binz's tourism is a little higher class. Having formerly been in East Germany, Binz is now flooded with hotels, bed and breakfast inns, restaurants and stores like "Lacoste." But, this is pretty common, since Germans are the most traveling people in Europe and travel the most within their own country. Binz is just trying to capitalize on an economic opportunity. It is a cute town, but might be better enjoyed with more money.


[Binz from the Pier]


[Main Street in Binz]

The next day, the stormy weather had magically cleared and we were left with a (still cold) blue-skied day.


[Nicer weather...]

We walked around Binz some more before we took the bus to Sassnitz to see the chalk cliffs.


[On the beach in Binz]


[Binz is so small the little train is a form of public transportation...]

We walked from Sassnitz to one end of the Nationalpark Jasmund, which is world-famous for the chalk cliffs there. After a walk in the snow-covered woods, we finally got to the cliffs.


[The crew walking in the woods]


[Annie in the woods... pondering about having a white Easter instead of a white Christmas... isn't it supposed to be spring?]


[Finally at the cliffs! The water was a milky color from all the chalk]

From our walk in the woods, we took stairs down to the beach. The beach was made of rocks, most of which were flint (flint comes from veins in chalk...). The flint was mostly covered in chalk, but could easily be broken to show the black rock inside. From the rocks, high white cliffs rose above us, strangely white and strangely soft to the touch.


[Happy to be on the beach! In a National Park!]


[Looking down the beach]


[Chalk cliff]


[Veins of flint]

Walking along the beach, we magically ended up back in Sassnitz, and had an ice cream along the port, where there were lots of cafes and restaurants.


[David, Annie, John, and Sean eating ice cream]


[Very cool footbridge in Sassnitz, to get from where the main street is to where the port is]

From there, it was time to head back to the train station and go back to the city.