Stralsund and Wismar were two of the great ports of the Hanseatic League, the trading alliance that dominated the Baltic in the Middle Ages, and UNESCO lists their old centres together. Both are built of brick, because there is no stone on the north German plain, and both have the high Gothic churches and gabled merchants' houses that tell of a wealth built on herring, grain, timber and salt. Stralsund sits on the Strelasund, the narrow strait that separates the mainland from the island of Rügen, and it is the larger and more dramatic of the two.
The church of Saint Mary, with a tower rising about a hundred and four metres, was for a short time in the seventeenth century the tallest building in the world, after a spire was added in the mid-1600s, though lightning later destroyed the top and the roof was rebuilt. Its brick bulk dominates the skyline. In the old market, the Town Hall has a decorative gabled facade pierced with round windows, a trick to reduce wind pressure, and it is a good example of north German brick Gothic at its showiest. In 1628, Stralsund held out against the army of Wallenstein, who famously said he would take it even if it were chained to heaven. He failed.
The harbour is a pleasure for walkers, with the three-masted sailing ship Gorch Fock moored at the quay and a big modern aquarium, the Ozeaneum, behind. From the town, a long bridge carries the road across the strait to Rügen, the largest German island, where chalk cliffs and beech forests lie at Jasmund. This is where the ride heads, in the direction of the Danish island of Møns Klint, which shares a geology of white chalk. Roads in the region are flat and straight, with long avenues of lime trees and wind that can be fierce on the coast.
Stralsund has almost sixty thousand people, with fuel on the edge of town, plenty of cafés and fish restaurants, and small hotels in the centre. Try a fish roll with pickled herring, or fried plaice with potatoes. The bridge to Rügen can be busy in summer, and a queue is likely on Friday evening, so go early. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, with clear light on the water, while summer weekends are packed with holidaymakers.