The Hanseatic League was a medieval and renaissance era alliance of Baltic and North Sea trading ports and merchant guilds whose footprint stretched from the east coast of England to the river city of Novgorod in Russia. Starting from a group of German cities in the 1100s and operating until its decline in the late 1600s, and run for the benefit of their merchant class, the League was instrumental in creating strong city-states that complemented the traditional land-based aristocratic and religious power of the time. They created trading networks based on law and mutual obligation, backed up by regional law courts and periodic league conferences in the port cities. The League negotiated relief from tariffs, fought pirates and attempted to monopolize certain trades.

This way, you could somewhat reliably ship a cargo of goods (a “Hanse” was a protected convoy) from Cologne to Tallinn, and get paid, when for a time Mongol invasions further south and east were live news. Lubeck’s merchants were principal originators of the League, trading from a hub between the German hinterland, Scandinavia and the Kievan Rus (itself a Federation of areas that now comprise parts of western Russia, Belarus and Ukraine).

You can still see this active society reflected in the buildings and communities in places such as Lubeck, Rostock and Stralsund, which were important Baltic sea ports at the time. It still figures in German culture, from the name of their airline to the local football clubs, and an “H” put before the town letter on car number plates.

Lubeck

Lubeck has a large and well-defined medieval city area, which is an island that the Trave River flows round. It is very walkable and has a neat port area on its northwest side along An der Untertrave with a few historical ships, including a lightship, for your nautical fix. The city’s renaissance-era ceremonial gate, the Holstentor, with its chubby ceremonial towers that appear to lean in to each other, is suitably impressive. You can “almost” not see post-renaissance buildings as you walk towards it.

Heading into the central Markt, south of the 13th-century Marienkirche, you find many well-preserved (or restored – Lubeck was bombed in WW2) medieval features, including the medieval city hall.

Hansamuseum. Lubeck’s European Hansamuseum (An der Untertrave 1) is well worth a visit to understand how trade developed in the early middle ages and developed today’s Baltic cities into prosperous commercial centers, driven by considerations separate from the Church and aristocracy. (hansemuseum.eu)

Gunter Grass House. Lubeck was home to Gunter Grass, one of Germany’s most important 20th-century writers, who was born (1928) and raised in Danzig. Danzig, now Gdansk, Poland, was part of East Prussia and mostly ethnic German at the time, and absorbed into the German state in 1939. It was the city in which the novel and film The Tin Drum was set. After wartime service and art school in Dusseldorf, Grass eventually settled in Lubeck, and the Gunter Grass House (Glockengiesserstrasse 21) is well worth a visit. Grass was politically active and attempted to articulate West Germany’s postwar identity in much of his work. Notably, he failed to reveal until 1996 that part of his forced wartime service had been in the SS, which was considered an oversight at the time.

Willy Brandt House.The garden of Gunter’s house adjoins the birthplace of Lubeck’s other famous son, the postwar politician Willy Brandt, who is best known for Ostpolitik – advancing detente between Germany and the Soviet Bloc during the 1960s and 1970s. Brandt was West Germany’s Chancellor between 1969 and 1974 but had worked his way up as Mayor of Berlin (hosting John F. Kennedy’s famous 1961 speech), Foreign Minister and other posts since the 1950s. His tenure as Chancellor was cut short by the revelation that one of his aides was an agent for the East German intelligence service, the Stasi. The Willy Brandt House (Königstrasse 21) is a good place to get an understanding of Germany’s postwar history.

Other things worth seeing as you wander round this pretty town include the Buddenbrookhaus (Mengstrasse 4), which is a museum dedicated to the author Thomas Mann, and the Holstentor Museum, which is a good way to understand Lubeck’s history and to explore the two towers.

Food & Beverage. Lubeck has a local brewery, Brauburger ze Lubeck (Alfstrasse 36), that is also worth a visit afterwards. Brewed on-site, their traditional zwickelbier is highly regarded, although they have dipped a toe into IPAs.

There are plenty of solid (some literally) food options in town. For a traditional north German effort, Alstadt-Bierhaus Lubeck (Braunstrasse 19) is worth visiting. The Kartoffelkeller (Koberg 8) is a popular cellar restaurant offering plenty of options around the potato. The Junge Die Bäckerei, a regional chain on the south side of the main square, is a good breakfast or cake/coffee stopoff, and the Kaffeehaus Lübeck (Hüxstrasse 35) is a nice out of the way place.

Rostock

In contrast to Lubeck, Rostock has a more modern feel, largely due to it’s role post-WW2 as the German Democratic Republic’s (GDR) main sea port and shipbuilding center. Coming from Lubeck, which was in West Germany during the Cold War, Rostock contrasts with postwar reconstruction carried out by the GDR, which existed between 1949 and 1990. It’s a pleasant mid-sized town that doesn’t deal with overtourism and is a good base for the surrounding region.

Rostock’s city is worth a look to see Soviet-era architecture, such as its postwar Communist parade, Lange Allee, which splits the city north and south. What is left of Rostock’s rebuilt old town, to the north and east of the center, is pleasant and unassuming and you can pass through it on the way to the waterfront on the north side of town.

Rostock maintains many of the Communist-era street names, so it will be possible to find Karl-Marx Strasse and Rosa Luxemburg Strasse – although this isn’t unusual in former GDR cities.

Rostock is a good base to see two nearby attractions, the beach town of Warnemunde and the preserved East German merchant ship Typ Frieden, which has a unique exhibit of East German shipbuilding and its merchant marine. Both can be done in the same journey as they are along the same local S-Bahn rail line that runs north to the beach.

Warnemunde. Warnemunde is a rather touristy (receiving cruise ships) but fun German seaside resort which as a fishing village grew from the late 19th century, when working and middle-class Germans – especially from Berlin and other large cities – started to be able to take vacations. It’s not really worth an overnight stay unless you are a beach person. You can either go to Rostock Hauptbahnhof and take the S-Bahn local train up, or if located in central Rostock, take the No. 1 or 5 trams west to the Rostock Holbeinplatz S-Bahn station and take the train north from there.

From the train station, you can cross west over the Alte Brucke and wander up Am Strom to the beach, and grab a backfisch and a beer along the way. It’s quite pleasant and laid back. There are also some decent places for lunch away from the main crowd if you head south along Am Strom from the Alte Brucke – zur Krim was good and had a nice garden out front.

The Typ Frieden. Rostock’s Shipbuilding and Maritime Museum is located in the cavernous cargo hold of the Typ Frieden, a 1957-vintage merchant ship built in Rostock that operated as the Dresden until 1970. It has a very comprehensive museum of shipbuilding and the merchant marine of the industrially diligent GDR. Now that that the GDR has been gone for 30 years, it’s an insight into a bygone era of communist heavy industry.

The ship’s large multi-deck cargo hold contains the museum, which has mainly photographic, equipment and model exhibits. If you are interested in heavy post-war industry or how socialist shipping lines served Soviet Bloc routes to Cuba, this is the place to go.

The bridge, engine room and crew quarters are preserved in all their 1950s glory.

To reach the museum, take the train to the Rostock-Lütten Klein stop and walk east via the conference center and the park (which is a wetlands area) to the riverfront. (www.schifffahrtsmuseum-rostock.de)

Food, Beverage & Accommodation. Rostock has a good range of food options and doesn’t suffer from overtouristed clip joints. The Braugasthaus Zum alten Fritz brewpub, located on the waterfront at Warnowufer 65, has a typical German menu and fresh draught or bottled Störtebeker beer (https://www.alter-fritz.de), brewed in nearby Stralsund. The Altstädter Stuben, in the old town to the east at Altschmiedestrasse 25, is a good neighborhood restaurant. Kaminstube, at Burgwall 17, is another low-key place in the northern old town with a large outdoor veranda to get a beer from the local brewery or a meal. I stayed at the Pentahotel, Schwaansche Strasse 6, which is central and modern, with a good lounge area on the ground level and outside.

Transport Logistics. Rostock and Lubeck are easily reached from Berlin. I went via Copenhagen to Lubeck, and both bus and rail journeys (about 4 hours) connect via the Rodby-Putthaven ferry link. You can book online (ferry ticket included) through Flixbus (www.flixbus.com) or German Rail (www.diebahn.de).