Hiddensee: Hidden Charm of the Baltic Sea

Dornbusch Lighthouse

This weekend I discovered hidden beauty of the Baltic Sea; Hiddensee island. I have been in Gdańsk/Poland at the Baltic Sea cost before and I liked there a lot. Hiddensee was a part of DDR before the fall of the Berlin Wall. At some point they tried to be a part of Sweden without success. In order to reach there first I took the train until Stralsund from Berlin Hauptbahnhof. After getting off at Stralsund, I catched the ferry from the port to Hiddensee. All together the journey takes about 5 hours.

I stayed in a small charming pension called Lachmoewe, "laughing sea gull", directly situated in front of the port Vitte. (I learned this is a sea gull species.) It has cosy rooms, a nice cafe with very seductive choices of home made cakes and the staff is very hospitable. The prices are reasonable.

One should visit Hiddensee, only if he/she likes nature. The cars are forbidden, so no bus no metro. You can either rent a horse or a bike for transportation. But bringing your own bike to the island is forbidden. Because they rent the bikes, this is one of the limited incomes of the island. It costs about 7-8 Euros per day.

By my bike I made my way down to the south of the island. There are more things to see in south. The costs of the island are well maintained. The smell of the roses suppresses the smell of the sea. One can see the farms around. Actually, the whole island is like a big village.




Don't be optimistic with the weather. At the end of May the weather was cold, windy and time to time rainy. Nevertheless, inhaling fresh air made me fell good.

The nature was blossoming, all colours of flowers were attracting my attention all around.

Horse carts

In Kloster, there is Heimatmuseum where the history, flora, fauna and some pieces of Wikings' treasure are exhibited. Gerhart Hauptmann Haus has been used as a cultural centre in the island after Gerhart Hauptmann (1912 Nobel Prize in literature). However, I heard from the people of the island, he was not used to be a beloved one there because of his arrogance towards to the poor fishermen habitants. He was not the only artist of the island. Actually, Hiddensee hosted many artists, especially in 20's. The german expressionists Walter Grammatté, Erich Heckel of the Die Brücke group ("The Bridge"), painter Elisabeth Buechsel, stunt film star Asta Nielsen, dancer Gret Palucca also lived in this island.

The artistic spirit is permeated to the island. There are galleries, arts & crafts ateliers processing famous amber of the Baltic sea and the charming small theatre See Buehne cherish the island. I saw an interesting version of Goethe's Faust at this theatre. It was a puppet theatre and the play was very successfully adapted.

To eat in a fisher island of course my first choice is fish. Annemarie's Fischkist offers quick, delicious and very cheap fish sandwiches. It was interesting to see, every house has totems in their gardens such as hanging stones, sailor marks etc.

Fischkist

Strandkörbchen

Strandkörbchen are very characteristic to the beaches of the Baltic Sea. They are designed to protect people from the wind, not surprisingly. I enjoyed walking along the long beaches-without anyone swimming or sun bathing:)-, being alone with the sound of the waves and the wind.

Windmill

There is a charming old windmill along the cost. It has been used as an atelier nowadays.
In the south of the island there is Dornbusch Lighthouse. For me it is the most impressive attraction of the island.

Dornbusch Lighthouse

I came by my bike until the entry of the national park-then bikes are not allowed. After hiking a small hill, I reached the lighthouse. Dornbusch Lighthouse lies at 54° 35' 57'' N, 13° 7' 10'' E. It was built in 1887/1888. The tower height is 28 m and the light height is 95 m.

View of Baltic Sea from the top of the lighthouse

They say the lighthouses stand alone. But this lighthouse was not alone at all with so many visitors. One needs to just climb the stairs! But there were chairs at the floors to rest for a while. And the view worts it.




On the way back, I visited the Nationalpark Haus where the geological history of the island can be learned. I was amazed when I saw how fast the north of the island is rising and getting larger.

Ponys can be seen and smelled everywhere of the island.

One day on the cost I saw people searching something among the seaweeds. A woman showed me the ambers she found. I started searching for them, too. And I was lucky! At the costs of Baltic Sea I found ambers.