A spring journey has begun

The spring has finally come and people are enjoying the sun very much.. I bet they should, as winter time is so unbelievably dark and depressive in Berlin.

On top of enjoying those warm sunny days ourselves, last week we have made it to the sea to indulge into sunbathing right there - adding a brightful blumarine note to our feeling of spring joy and excitement. It took us only two hours and a half to drive from Berlin to the North-East of Germany, where we stayed a couple of days in the Ferienwohnung offered in one of the numerous neatly arranged villages nearby the Baltic sea. 

Scandinavian spirit in Germany

On our way, we made a stop in Güstrow - a small Hanseatic town that survived the 30-year war and a countless number of bishops and dukes, most of whom came from Sweden. The town has a beautiful castle in the Rennaissance style that was built by an Italian architector Franz Parr in the 16th century.

The castle has a water canal around it as required by rules

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The ornaments of the building are exquisite and designed with an exceptional taste. The castle combines a Scandinavian ambiance with a classical Italian Rennaissance allure - a mixture that creates the perfect composition and gives a remarkable style to its three-storey building, solid and elegant at once.

Castle from the inner yard

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An element of the entrance gates

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A small garden in the backyard

Each room in the castle has its own design - Medieval, Rennaisance, Roman. All the way through, I kept thinking what it would be like to live in a place like this and that, in fact, there were those blessed (or not?) from the humankind who did it in the past.  The castle keeps the finely drawn family trees of the dukes who possessed this precious creature and their kins.

Peter the Great and General Feldmarschal Menshikov visited Güstrow in their time, too.

 The house where Peter the Great stopped once

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We had no idea before and then just bumped into this memory plate

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Another memory plate saying that Menshikov was in the town, too

Güstrow was a member of the Hanseatic Union, which, combined with its proximity to Scandinavian countries (they are all there on the opposite sea shore) explains why the town has a genuine Scandinavian spirit, truly remarkable for its noble outlooks and colourful buildings. Given my longstanding passion for the Scandinavian culture, I was truly excited to see all this here, especially as it turned out to be almost around the corner from Berlin. 

Looks so similar to Copenhagen..

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Fine bone china in an antique shop, with the reflection of buildings accross the street in its large window

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Güstrow.. We just stopped there over knowing nothing about the town and were stunned with admiration. Again, during this short trip to the Baltic Sea area in the North-East of Germany I discovered many new and unexpected places. This remarkably rich diversity of landscapes and cultures makes travelling in this country a truly exciting journey.

To be continued...