Hamburg, Germany – day 2

We finally started off with a clear morning. No rain, but cloudy. A big improvement on the prior days. We were off to Luneburg, a medieval town about 30 miles from Hamburg.

The land in this part of Germany is flat. Quite a change from the mountains and waterfalls of Norway. We drove through mostly farmland. The farms are very large in this area because they are passed on the the oldest son. Therefore they are not broken into smaller parts so all the sons could inherit. The autobahn (highway) going into Hamburg was about 7 lanes wide and crawling along. We were on a busy road but it was moving along nicely.

The town of Luneburg was founded in the 8th century. It came to prominence when salt was discovered close to the surface of the land. The town was never destroyed because in the time of Rome, they never came to this area. During WW II the town was never bombed because the British planned to use it as a headquarters once Germany was defeated.

Our tour started at the Town Hall built in 1230. It has been enlarged and expanded of the years. It has a Baroque facade. We learned about the way that salt was mined. It was a very complex industry. There were 34 families that ran the whole operation. They were quite wealthy. They called the salt “white gold”. Many of their homes are still standing today and are in use as homes or shops. The homes of the wealthy were quite ornate. We learned that over the years as the salt was mined various parts of the town sank because the water levels that washed the salt up to the surface changed.

We saw the town harbor where the salt was loaded on flat bottom boats to be brought to other place to then be shipped around the world. The harbor had a gate in olden times that was locked each night to protect the salt. We saw the warehouses where the salt was stored prior to being shipped and the crane that was used to lower the barrels of salt onto the boats. Inside the crane were 2 big wheels on which 4 men walked to raise and lower the crane bucket. They worked in 4 hour period and had to walk forward and backward to raise and lower the bucket.

There are 3 big churches in town. We went inside St. Nicolai. It was built in the 15th century and was a church dedicated to the sailors. There were boats hanging in the main area.

There were several squares around the town. The main one was near the town hall with many historic building surrounding it. On the day we were there, there was a group of 2nd grade children performing. They sang and played simple instruments. We even saw 2 couples going into the town registry to get married.

It was an interesting town and we learned a lot from our guide, Gertrude, who actually lives in Luneburg.

We sailed late afternoon, on our way to Scotland.