After a diversion inland to find a REWE food shop in the suburbs of Kiel, (don't rely on satnav POI's as it turned out to be a mini-market branch on a housing estate!), we reached the improbably named region of Holsteinische Schweiz, with many lakes in the flat countryside. We stayed for two nights at an ACSI campsite on Großer Segeberger See, with a pleasant walk to the town of Bad Segeberg, where we enjoyed a free choral concert in the kirk on a Saturday morning. From there we drove to the Hanseatic city and port of Lübeck. The old centre has seven church steeples and distinctive styles of architecture on an island. Many brick buildings date back to the fifteenth century or earlier, including the leaning Holstentor gate, and the impressive twin spired cathedral. As it was a Sunday, parking at the stellplatz by the modern concert hall was free. We enjoyed a stroll in the sunshine around the old streets and riverside promenade, where we came across a bridge adorned with hundreds of "love padlocks."
    In the afternoon we headed via a toll tunnel to the resort of Travemünde, with its fishing harbour and promenade, (being rebuilt), and eventually found a pleasant grassy stellplatz at the north edge of the town, and an easy stroll to the main beach. The next morning we had intended to take a shortcut across the estuary on the ferry to Priwall, but the workers were on strike, so we had to drive back into Lübeck and eventually found the main road east, after doing a complete loop of the city due to poor road signs and a confused satnav (operator). We stayed on the main road to Wismar, another Hanseatic town, with a large industrial area and a massive shipbuilding yard. The centre has been well preserved and is now Unesco listed. We took a pleasant stroll around the streets, with many interesting buildings and features. We found free parking near the quay, where boats were moored, selling every variety of smoked seafood.   

The centre is unspoilt with one of the largest town squares in Germany, surrounded by traditional Hanseatic buildings with their distinctive brickwork details. Along the side streets we came across a colourful old art deco fire station, a bronze pig statue on a bridge much polished as passers-by stroked its belly, and an unusual street name ABC-Straße.
There are two ships figureheads called the Alter Schwede, reminders of the era when the town was under Swedish rule, commemorated in August every year. We felt Wismar was well worth stopping at with a lively centre yet a relaxed atmosphere. 


Continuing along the coast and an overnight stop at a small clifftop stellplatz at Wittenbeck, we drove to Heiligendamm, apparently the first German seaside resort, built in 1790. It was a strange mixture of exclusive hotels and a row of neglected grand villas along the seafront, although a couple were being restored. The beach had ticket machines €2 in high season, but the place was virtually deserted apart from dog walkers. After a quick stroll to the small pier, we walked through the woods to the Mollie steam railway station, but there was no activity there either, so we drove inland along pleasant flat roads, lined with linden trees, to Bad Doberan then, thanks to the satnav leading us to a non-existant MH service point, we got lost among large blocks of flats in the suburbs of Rostock, eventually following a bus to reach Warnemünde, where there were crowds of passengers embarking on two massive Baltic cruise ships. (it wouldn't suite us!). As we crossed on the car ferry we spotted many motorhomes parked on the quayside although we hadn't noticed a stellplatz listed there.