Two Poms in Pomerania.

Well this is another 'catch up' blog as we've been without internet access for a while, but busy doing things nonetheless.

We had a couple of lovely days in Copenhagen. The weather was just starting to change to warm and sunny, and we found a great spot to park, by the coast and close to an S-tog (district railway) station so we could travel to and from the city on the train.

We visited most of the major sights but probably our favourite place was Cristiania – the old 'hippy' community. It was celebrating 40 years of existence when we visited, which meant that it was a lot busier, with more events than usual. We stopped to watch a visiting Italian brass band playing in the street, and after them a group of drummers and dancers – with some pale Danes struggling to be African in feathered costumes.



Next we called into the 'Grey Hall', a magnificent mid 19th century military riding hall with a spectacular wooden roof. A lecture and debate was under way, plus a bar selling vegan food and drinks, an exhibition of architectural drawings, paintings of Christiania-ites and giant jellyfish hanging from the ceiling. As the debate ended, a violin / clarinet duo started up playing gentle slow paced tunes, a grey haired hippy couple danced to it, and we shared a beer and enjoyed it.

The 'town centre' of the place is like some kind of permanent festival site, there are lots of colourful murals and graffiti, improvised businesses with hand made signs and big signs saying 'No hard drugs, no violence, no weapons, no bulletproof clothes, enjoy Christiania'.

Further out, on the narrow 17th century battlements that extend between the old moats, we found a lovely, quiet, informal place to live. There's lots of space and trees and idyllic spots overlooking the moat, and we particularly liked the funny floating art work.



Houses ranged from smart wood clad chalets with gated gardens, to converted eighteenth century military buildings, to patched up old road menders' cabins. It's nice to walk around an area that is completely car free, though there were plenty of cyclists, many riding the Christiania-built bikes with carriers at the front for holding shopping, children, dogs and friends.



After Copenhagen we decided we needed to be away from the cities for a while and so we spent the last few days in Denmark exploring the coastline and the chalky cliffs of Stevns Klint and Møns Klint. We stayed two nights at the lovely little fishing village of Rødvig, where we enjoyed the mini heatwave sweeping across Europe, walked along the cliff top, ate apple cake and watched the birds flying south. 

This is why we wanted a van with back doors.

On the island of Møn we braved the steps down to the beach (nearly 500 steps) so that we could look up at the gorgeous, glittering cliffs and walk along the beach looking for fossils. Stella didn't enjoy the steps back up, but the mouse, tiny toads, variety of small birds and a sighting of a black adder helped make the climb more bearable.







On 29th September we caught the ferry to Puttgarten in Germany, and started to make our way east along the Baltic coast. We've visited a series of the old Hanseatic trading ports, places that used their mediaeval wealth to build soaring spectacular cathedrals and imposing merchants' mansions, all in brick. We have read the term 'brick gothic' many times in tourist guides over the last few days.

Lübeck town hall

Today (3rd October) we crossed from German Pomerania into Polish Pomerania, swapped one stretch of reedy coast where we can barely understand anything for another stretch of reedy coast where we can understand nothing! We've settled this evening in a smart campsite on the outskirts of Szczecin, getting our bearings, getting some Zloty and planning to visit the city tomorrow. Fortunately the campsite owner speaks excellent English.