Hi Hive Friends,

today I'm back after a long break here with you - with a post about a day trip I took to Wismar. On the day, the weather was quite changeable. Above all, however, icy cold. Sometimes it poured and thundered, sometimes the sun came out - I was of course very grateful, also because I could then take more beautiful pictures;).

I went with a friend from Rostock to Wismar by train. I think, the trip by dme train cost us 15 € each. The trip lasted about an hour and a half.
We chose Wismar because it is famous for its old town and is one of the larger cities that are relatively close to Rostock. On our list was also Schwerin, but Schwerin is about an hour away from Wismar. Since the weather that day was also not the best, we decided to take the shorter route and thus Wismar.

They say Wismar is one of the most beautiful cities in Germany on the Baltic Sea. When I was there, I knew why. Even though it makes a big difference whether you visit a city in the summer when the sun is shining or in the cold rain in the winter - the old town of Wismar was still always worth a visit. It is an old Hanseatic city - and you can see that in every street and square.

Wismar has one of the largest old towns in terms of area in the whole of Europe

Wismar, I was not surprised, was even named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This also gave it more international fame and more and more tourists come here.
As you can perhaps already see from the buildings, Wismar is a city rich in history. I would like to tell you something about this history - and it goes back several centuries. In the 13th century, and even into the 14th century, Wismar was the residence of the Mecklenburg princes. At that time, Wismar developed into a well-known city on the Baltic coast.
Especially this old town, which also developed during this time, fascinated me a lot during my visit. Actually, we were almost only in the old town on the road. because this occupies almost all of Wismar, at least the center. Here, newer, modern buildings are rather a rarity - to our delight. There are supposed to be 300 old monuments here. And we really discovered a new one at every corner. What is striking is that the monuments are all very well preserved. As I just mentioned, the old town here dominates the cityscape very much. It takes up a whole 76 hectares. This makes the old town one of the largest old towns in Europe in terms of area - truly incredible!

The "Schabbelhaus"

In the "Schabbelhaus", which is also often just called "Schabbel", is the city history museum of the Hanseatic city of Wismar. The address is Schweinsbrücke No. 6 and 8. The building is a listed building. The striking building was erected for the later mayor of the city of Wismar, Hinrich Schabbell. It was to serve as a residential and commercial building and brewery. The house was built in the early Renaissance style and is located directly on the Schweinsbrücke (I'll tell you more about that later;)).

Unfortunately we couldn't visit the museum because of corona, but I will definitely visit Wismar again in summer and then I'll take you there with me :)

A great variety, many different styles of buildings: Baroque, Classicism and Neo-Gothic

What struck me very strongly as we strolled through the city is that many old buildings in the old town were built in the Gothic style. You can also find many brick buildings here. As a result, the cityscape and streetscape is also very much characterized by red-brown color - but see for yourself!

These brick buildings were built in the wedding of Wismar.
The most common styles that you can find in the old town of Wismar are Baroque, Classicism and Neo-Gothic. It was really one of the most beautiful things for me about Wismar: that there are so many different styles of buildings here. Buildings make up the cityscape - and there is such a great variety here! There are even buildings from the Renaissance - admittedly, but much less of them.

the pig bridge

a laughing pig statue

The historic pig bridge with her four laughing pigs

The funniest sight we saw in Wismar was the Pig Bridge. The name alone says it all. On the bridge there are pig figures on the left and right side of the railing. The upside down bill looks so funny ! Like it's rolling around in the mud haha.
The historic street is also named after the Schweinsbrück. It is located near the Nikolaikirche north of the center of the old town. Like the port, it is also under the protection of UNESCO.

In general, I noticed that the street names here all have original names. For example, we walked on a dog street or on an ABC street. To the ABC street I tell you but something in my next post, that would blow up the length here something;).
There is also a mill road, a street "Hinter dem Chor" and "Frische Grube". The pig bridge leads in the direction of the church St. Nikolai, of which I will tell you auc hnächstes time. So be curious;).
How do you like the laughing pig figures? They are not that old, they are from 1989. The pigs should remind you of the times when pigs were still driven from the Anger at the Poeler Tor over the Schweinsbrücke into the city or to the market. This is where the name of the bridge comes from. The bridge is also made of brick.

the pigs bridge in the distance - already from here you can recognize the brick

I hope you enjoyed Wismar as much as I did - the pigs made me laugh, did you too? I'm curious about your feedback and I'm really looking forward to it :) I wish you a nice rest of the day!