Lubeck was once the queen of the Hanseatic League, the medieval trading network that dominated the Baltic and North Sea. From the twelfth century, merchants here shipped salt from Luneburg, fish from Scandinavia, grain and furs from the east, and the wealth they made went into brick: huge churches, tall gabled houses, warehouses and a city gate that still leans slightly under its own weight. The Holstentor, built in 1478, with its two round towers and sagging central block, has been the symbol of the city ever since.
The old town sits on an island formed by the Trave river, and the skyline of seven church spires is one of the most distinctive in northern Europe. UNESCO listed the old town in 1987, one of the first German old towns to be recognised. On the night of 28 March 1942, British bombers hit the city, and much of the centre burned, but enough survived to make the survivors' effort to rebuild worthwhile.
Lubeck is also the home of marzipan, and the confectioner Niederegger has been selling it here since the early nineteenth century, so a small box of marzipan loaves makes a sweet souvenir. Thomas Mann, born here in 1875, put the city into his novel Buddenbrooks, and the Buddenbrookhaus is a museum about the family and the author. Brick Gothic is the architectural style that defines the place, and you see it everywhere in the red walls and pointed arches.
For riders, Lubeck is a pleasant city with a manageable centre, though parking near the island can be tight, and many streets in the old town are cobbled. From here, the road to Travemunde, on the Baltic coast, is short and flat, with a beach promenade. Fuel is available at stations on the outskirts, and food ranges from fish rolls to elegant restaurants with local specialities. About two hundred thousand people live here, so every service is available. Visit in spring or early autumn, when the light is clear and the crowds are smaller, and leave time for a walk along the canal and through the gabled streets.