Tourist information

Stralsund

Stralsund is a city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, located directly at the southern coast of the Strelasund, a sound of the Baltic Sea that separates the island of Rügen from the mainland. It has a population of approx. 58,000 people. The city was founded in 1234 and joined the Hanse trading association at the end of the 13th century, a step that has been very formative. That and the fact that large parts of the city are well-preserved have led to its acceptance into the UNESCO World Heritage program.

Places of Interest in Stralsund and Surroundings

Stralsund and its surroundings have quite a bit to offer to tourists.

• Historic City Centre: Stralsund's historic city centre is located on an island and well-known for its gothic brick buildings, including several churches and the city hall. In 2002, it was accepted into the UNESCO World Heritage program. Guided tours are available.
• Museums: Several museums deal with different eras and aspects of the regions history, e.g., the evolution of a small fishing village to the Hanse trading centre.
• Organ City Stralsund: Stralsund has a number of churches that house very elaborate organ constructions.
• Music: Regularly, concerts are held in churches.
• Hansedom: The spa and amusement park offers all kinds of swimming, sauna, and relaxation environments.
• Stralsund Zoo: The zoo has specialised on native and rare species, as well as domestic species in danger of becoming extinct. This includes white wolfs and donkeys, for instance.
• KdF sea bath Prora, Rügen: The massive building complex was built between 1936 and 1940 as a holiday locale project of the Nazi organisation Kraft durch Freude (KdF, Joy Division) but never finished. From the originally eight identical buildings, five still exist and house several museums and exhibitions today. The complex has a formal heritage listing as a particularly striking example of Third Reich architecture.
• Jasmund National Park, Rügen: In the north of the Jasmund peninsula, a chalk cliff runs along the coast between the cities of Sassnitz and Lohme, about 15 km long and 100 m high. With the white stone contrasted by trees and sea, this is probably the most interesting coast landscape in Germany and part of the Jasmund national park that also includes large areas of relatively untouched copper beech forest, moor, and meadows.
• Rügenpark Gingst: An amusement park with a display of over 80 miniatures of world-famous places of interest.
• Amber manufactury, Ribnitz-Damgarten: This manufactury offers a display of very beautiful amber pieces and insight into the creation process.
• Karl's Erlebnishof, Rövershagen: Lots of stuff centered around the strawberry.

Sea and Ships

• Gorch Fock: The mother of the German navy's current school sailing-ship that is well-known from sailing events around the globe. After WW2 she was handed to the USSR as reparation and served under the name Tovarishch. In 2003 she was acquired by a number of sponsors and shipped back to her former home ports Stralsund. Since then she has been serving as a musuem ship. In 2008 extensive repairs were carried out, resulting in her being sea-worthy again.
• Ozeanum: While being a part of the German Oceanographic Museum, the Ozeanum takes a more lively approach to its topic than one might expect. With aquariums and exhibitions, it takes you on a fascinating underwater journey through the northern seas.
• German Oceanographic Museum: The German Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund is the largest museum of natural science in North Germany. It is located in an early Gothic monastery, an architectural gem. The exhibitions provide a vivid picture of the diversity of marine life as well as its use to and exploration by man.
• Nautineum: Located on the island of Dänholm, it deals with fishing (vessels, methods, devices), scientific marine and fishing research, shipping on the Baltic Sea, and shipbuilding in Stralsund.

Trains

• Rasender Roland: The Rügensche Kleinbahn is a steam-powered narrow-gauge railway that runs from Putbus to Göhren on the island of Rügen. It is still running regularly today on the track of 24 km with historic locomotives and coaches.
• Rügen Railway and Technology Museum: The Eisenbahn- und Technikmuseum Rügen in Prora has a display of locomotives, lorries and cars, fire-engines, and tractors.
• Molli: The Mecklenburgische Bäderbahn is another steam-powered narrow-gauge railway that runs from Bad Doberan to Kühlungsborn West.

General Information about Germany

• Currency: Euro (1 € = 1.29 $US approx.)
• Standards: Metric system
  (miles->kilometers, feet->meters, pounds->(kilo)grams, etc.)
• Time format: Military (e.g., 6pm = 18:00)
• Numbers: "Decimal-point is comma" (for those knowing COBOL programming) and "dots" can be used for scaling (not mandatory).
  Example: "Two-Thousand-Twenty-Five and a tenth" looks like this: 2.025,10
• Phone code: +49
  For international calls from Germany using, e.g., public phones dial 00 (double zero) then the country code (except where noted).
• Time zone: CET (called "MEZ" in Germany)
  Germany uses the central european daylight savings time (DST).
• Power voltage: 230V AC, 50Hz