Destination: GERMANY
Things To Know Traveling in Germany The North and the Baltic The Rhine The East The Black Forest and Bavaria Spa Towns Mad King Ludwig	The North and the Baltic Northern Germany has a maritime character. Schleswig-Holstein, a province Germans and Danes have often fought over, is made up of two former dukedoms and shares the coastline with Lower Saxony. Together they take in a shore ranging from the fjords and hills of the Baltic coast to the wind-lashed North Sea beaches. Inland, the countryside is wide, rolling farmland and peat bogs; offshore, the North Friesian islands are favorite summer destinations, with beaches and brisk sea air. The inhabitants of coastal Friesland have maintained their own separate culture and dialect. Northern Germany's cities were a force to be reckoned with in the Middle Ages. In the interests of trade and power, they banded together to form the Hanseatic League, a protected market that monopolized trade between the North and Baltic seas. The league's merchants made huge fortunes and had impressive houses and churches built in seaports such as Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen. Some of their legacies have survived - or at least have been rebuilt after the heavy bombing raids of World War II. The Gothic/Renaissance architecture of Bremen's Town Hall and Lübeck's Music Academy, both converted from merchant homes, still suggests the affluence and style of the region's medieval heyday. Lower Saxony has many features that are quintessentially German. Its historic center, Hannover, is a thriving commercial city; towns such as Hildesheim and Wolfenbüttel, the latter with its painted, half-timbered facades, have been immaculately restored after wartime damage. The winter sports resort of Goslar, once a silver- and lead-mining town, has picture-book streets and squares lined with Gothic, Renaissance and baroque buildings, some inscribed with gold lettering, others featuring curving, sinuous slate roofs. To the east are the Harz Mountains, on the old East/West border, where witches are said to celebrate their Sabbath on Walpurgisnacht, the eve of May Day.	COUNTRY Introduction Things To Know Survival Guide TimeLine Essential Info REGION CITIES Berlin Cologne Munich MAPS World Europe TRAVEL BOOK