Germany’s Belle of the Baltic

LUBECK, Germany —  After many trips through the most popular tourist regions of the south--Bavaria, the Black Forest, Heidelberg and the Castle Road--my husband and I wanted to see the Germany where Germans like to go. So we turned to a German friend for counsel.

“Go north,” he advised. “Go to Lubeck. It’s only an hour’s drive from Hamburg. Americans still haven’t discovered the northern Hanse cities, which don’t have much of that modern touch. They seem to belong to another Germany.”

I became more intrigued when he mentioned that Lubeck is the place where novelist Thomas Mann was born. But when our friend added that the city is also the self-proclaimed world capital of marzipan, my husband snapped to attention.

“Marzipan?” he said wistfully. “I haven’t had any decent marzipan since Salzburg in ’82. Where’s the map?”

After looking at one, we discovered why there’s a German saying that “all roads lead to Lubeck.” Not only does Autobahn 1 lead to this Baltic port city (and thus to the entire European network of highways), but so does the Old Salt Road, an ancient route that winds past secluded villages and verdant farmland. The road’s name refers to the salt mined for centuries in Luneburg and transported to Lubeck for shipping.

The entire 700-mile Baltic coast, near which Lubeck is situated, was once West Germany’s easternmost outpost on its border with East Germany. The area was mostly forgotten by outsiders after the iron curtain fell just beyond Lubeck’s city limits after World War II. (The watchtowers of the former German Democratic Republic were just two miles away.)

Located on an oval-shaped island in the Trave River, off the Baltic’s Mecklenburger Bay, Lubeck’s roots lie with the Hanseatic League, which began in the 1100s and dominated northern European maritime trade for centuries. (A hanse was a medieval company of merchants that traded with foreign lands.) By the late 12th century, these firms and “free” merchant cities (which paid no taxes to ruling powers) had united to protect their lucrative trade monopolies.

At the height of its power in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Hanseatic League was made up of about 150 northern cities and even had its own navy. Lubeck was the league’s capital, minting its own currency, even executing its own foreign policies.

But after Columbus’ discovery of the New World, the league’s status would eventually diminish as competition from other powerful nations such as England and Spain began to sap its power. The Hanseatic League’s last meeting was held in Lubeck in 1669, but because it was never officially dissolved, the northern cities of Lubeck, Bremen, Hamburg, Rostock and Wismar are still referred to as Hanseatic.

The area became a Prussian province after Bismarck’s defeat of Denmark in 1867 and chose to remain part of Germany at the end of World War I. But it has retained close ties with the Danes, and Lubeck connects by ferry to Denmark, Sweden and Norway, which explains why so many tourists here are Scandinavian. (Last year only 8% of American visitors to Germany ventured to the northern cities, with the exception of Berlin.)

We discovered what everyone has been missing. Dubbed the Venice of the North because of its many intersecting canals, the city is dominated by Gothic red-brick towers and the massive Holstentor, the most important of the town’s two city gates. It looks like the entrance to Oz.

“Lubeck,” wrote Mann, “is melodies transformed into stone.” Undoubtedly one of the prettiest of German towns, this seafaring city of about 250,000 people is far removed from the cliche castle-filled Germany many foreigners expect.

Its heritage can be traced by exploring the well-preserved buildings that line crooked alleyways and cobblestoned streets. The locals’ well-deserved reputation as preservationists does not go unnoticed: Lubeck has more than 1,000 ancient buildings and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987. The town council recently spent $50 million just to restore the Stadt, Lubeck’s landmark theater that reopened this spring.

This adds up to a town that appears very much as it has for centuries. The view from atop 13th century St. Peter’s church shows Lubeck divided into two very differing quarters. On one side is the Gruben section, with its chic mansions, where Thomas Mann was born and grew up; on the other is the less-prosperous but fascinating East Side, which was home to artisans, craftsmen and seafarers. Here, winding streets lighted with old gas lamps still bear their original, delightfully descriptive names: Spinning-Wheel-Makers Alley (Spinnradmachergang), Bell-Founder Street (Glockengiesserstrasse), Bakers’ Alley (Backergang), and narrow, half-timbered dwellings open onto peaceful, flower-filled courtyards. Old sea captains’ houses have been lovingly tended, and two amusing alleyways--Hellgruner Gang and Berrhansgang--still have the footprints of neighborhood cats and dogs that tiptoed through freshly laid mortar more than 800 years ago.

Visitors to Lubeck can get a good taste of Mann’s life at both the Heinrich and Thomas Mann Zentrum (sometimes called Buddenbrooks Haus) and Dragerhaus, austere mansions turned into museums that chronicle the lives and works of Thomas and his brother, also a writer.

Both Manns wrote historical novels, and whenever Thomas discussed his life, he spoke first of his Lubeck heritage, returning to the theme often in his fiction. Although Lubeck’s citizens felt maligned by “Buddenbrooks,” considered his masterpiece, it made Mann an international star and helped earn him the Nobel Prize in 1929. (Mann’s public antipathy toward the Nazis prompted his exile to the U.S., where he built a house in Pacific Palisades in the early 1940s.)

Beyond literature, the stylish influence of the Hanseatic League’s architectural heritage hovers like a specter over every Renaissance roof and Baroque meeting hall, every tall-stepped gable and Romanesque arch, some almost as old as the city itself. No way were Lubeck’s city planners about to chuck a heritage this rich in favor of functional modern concrete blocks, even though Allied bombers flattened most of the Old Town (Altstadt) area in 1942.

Instead, the city rebounded with masterful restorations and reconstructions in the old style. Five of Lubeck’s famed seven cathedral spires, which so distinctively etch the skyline, were hit in the bombing and have been restored. So protective is the city of these towers that construction of anything that could mar their aesthetic effect is still strictly forbidden.

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Although not a major musical mecca, Johann Sebastian Bach nevertheless once walked 200 miles, from Eisenach to Lubeck, just to hear Dietrich Buxtehude, the master organist and cantor of St. Mary’s cathedral, perform in recital. And each summer, classical, folk and rock concerts are held in colorful venues--churches, palaces, even barns--culminating in the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (named for the German state in which Lubeck lies), a six-week-long orgy of performances by artists from around the world. (It runs through Aug. 25 this year.)

In a city graced with many historic restaurants, we ate in two of the best known, Alte Schiffergesellschaft (Old Shipper’s Guild) and Schabbelhaus, a 17th century Baroque treasure with one of the best kitchens in town. The first is an old tavern from which women were forbidden until 1870. Seated at a long, communal table made of gnarled timber, with models of Hanseatic-era schooners dangling overhead, we dined on hearty fish soup and passed tankards of dark ale to a boisterous group at the other end.

At Schabbelhaus we dined with a bit more dignity (and expense) in a classic, candle-lighted merchant’s mansion, surrounded by 12-foot-tall armoires and obsequious waiters bearing silver-lidded trays of souffles and fillets of sole.

Yet while there is much for the eyes and ears to feast upon in Lubeck--the outstanding German Impressionist Behnhaus Museum Collection, set in a Baroque manor house; St. Mary’s cathedral, with a 15,000-pipe organ; the enchanting Lubeck Puppet Theater and Museum that was a favorite of Mann’s--the thought of marzipan weighed heavily on my husband’s mind.

Lubeck’s Marktplatz (Market Square), with its rainbow-hued stalls of fruit and flowers, seemed like a good place to find it. On Mondays and Thursdays throughout the year, trumpeters sound off high above this former jousting site, and fishmongers, antique dealers and marzipan-makers decked out in traditional straw bonnets and white aprons loudly hawk their wares.

Though marzipan is said to have originated in the harems of the Middle East and may have been introduced to Lubeck by a wandering sea captain, legend has it that one of the city’s bakers stumbled on the local formula during a famine in 1407. Since grain was unavailable, he concocted this sweet substance with the only ingredients he had: sugar, almonds and rose water. It’s still regarded as a local delicacy, and groups can even book a short course on how to shape marzipan figures at local confectioneries (this can be arranged through either the town’s tourist office in New York or in Lubeck, at Beckergrube 95, near the center of Old Town).

The most famous purveyor is J.G. Niederegger (located at Breite Strasse 89), but the Marktplatz provided stall after stall of the candy in every shape imaginable.

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On our German friend’s advice, we also spent some time in Lubeck’s adjacent seaside resort suburb of Travemunde. It was like lifting the lid of an old trunk.

Every summer day at precisely 3 p.m., the orchestra in the garden of the 19th century Casino Travemunde strikes up its first waltz, and an old-fashioned tea dance begins. This resort, the third oldest spa in Germany--think Baden-Baden by the sea--attracts prosperous, silver-haired couples who return every summer as they have done for more than 30 years to stroll arm-in-arm along the promenade, to “take the waters” and to twirl slowly to the music.

Beyond the dance, vacationing families stretch out on wide golden sands to tan (many au naturel) or play tag in the waves or rent individual striped cabanas called strandkorbe for $7 a day.

This was a boyhood haunt of Thomas Mann, who summered in Travemunde, and was nostalgic for his blissful idylls here.

“The brightest days of my youth were spent at Travemunde on the Baltic bay,” Mann wrote, “with the mornings bathing at the beach, and the afternoons, almost as passionately loved, by the steps of the bandstand opposite the gardens of the hotel.

“There in Travemunde, the holiday paradise, I spent days of profound contentment, of wishing for nothing at all . . . There music and the sea merged into one within my head and heart.”

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GUIDEBOOK Learning About Lubeck

Getting there: Lufthansa, United, Delta, KLM, Northwest, Air France and British Air fly from LAX to Hamburg, with one change of planes. Lowest round-trip, advance-purchase fares start at about $1,180. (Charter service available on LTU; round-trip fares start at $1,030.)

Lubeck is 35 miles northwest of Hamburg, a 30-minute journey by car or train. By car, take the Autobahn 1 from Hamburg to Lubeck.

Where to stay: We stayed at the small historic Hotel Absalonshorster, Absalonshorster Weg 100, 23562 Lubeck, Gross Groenau, about a 10-minute drive from Lubeck’s city gates. Rates: $85 for a double, breakfast included; from the United States, telephone 011-49-450-91040.

Hotel Alter Speicher, 91 Beckergrube, D-23552, Lubeck; (we did not stay here but friends have) modern and comfortable, designed in an old warehouse style with 60 rooms; doubles start at $130, breakfast included; tel. 011-49-451-71045.

Hotel Kaiserhof, Kronsforder Allee 11-13, 23560 Lubeck; (we did not stay here but friends have) a first-class choice, centrally located in Lubeck, just outside the Old Town area; 72 rooms, six suites; doubles start at $170, breakfast included; tel. 011-49-451-703-301.

Where to eat: Alte Schiffergesellschaft (House of the Shipper’s Guild), Breite Strasse 2. Be sure to make reservations for dining in the historic hall, Langenhaus, not in the restaurant’s other, less-interesting rooms. Dinner for two is about $50, without drinks; tel. 451-76776.

Schabbelhaus, Mengstrasse 48-50; formal dinners by candlelight. Dinner for two: about $85, not including drinks; closed Sunday; tel. 451-72011.

Tea dancing at Casino Travemunde, on the Strand, Travemunde. Tea or coffee and dessert: approximately $20 for two; tel. 450-28410. Reservations are not necessary.

For more information: Hamburg and Hansestadt Lubeck North America Travel Office, 38 W. 32nd St., Suite 1210, New York, NY 10001; tel. (212) 967-3110; fax: (212) 629-6052.

--L.M.