horse stable at ludwigsburg manor.
before i continue with our boat trip on the schlei inlet to schleswig there are a few photos left of a little manor we visited after we had spent one of our beach days in langholz. on the way from eckernförde to langholz you will pass by an old structure which turned out to be a manor. ludwigsburg manor was first erected around the 14th century, but it got renovated & rebuilt several times and it now looks like a baroque mansion. there are riding facilities on the courtyard, you can rent appartments & spent your holidays here and you can also take a look inside the mansion from time to time ( we didn't manage to take one of the tours that take place on wednesdays throughout the summer, though ). we also visited in the evening, so we also missed the opportunity to sit down in the local cafe for coffee and cake. while we were there we only shot a few pictures, but didn't dare to explore the place more, as it looked like a private property ( it isn't ). looking back i am really disappointed we didn't revisit the place, because it's truly a gem, especially the mansion's interior is worth seeing. anyway, i loved the place and now that i know that it's open for the public i'd really like to revisit in the future, be it for a mansion tour, or some cafe experience, or even to watch the horses being trained & cared for by their owners. i also heard there's a little park nearby, so to stroll through that park would've also been a wonderful activity.
more of the surrounding buildings of the mansion. most of them are used for the horse stud, but in others you could find the cafe & the appartments for tourists.
the front facade of the mansion.
and in full glory. it's basically a moated castle that can only be entered via two bridges.
i guess one of the stables formerly was some kind of hunting lodge, hence the antlers above its entry.
the sun was about to hide for the night, so i quickly shot this. love the rainbow rays emanating from the sun.
last picture of the gatehouse, which is still preserved from the 16th century. above the entry you can find nine sandstone plates that depict several coats of arms ( remains of the first owners of the manor ).
the old lindaunis bridge over the schlei inlet.
the schlei is an inlet of the baltic sea which reaches far into the land ( about 42 kms ) until it meets the shores of the city of schleswig. while we were in kappeln ( where the schlei is also present ) we saw that there were boat tours on offer that took you to schleswig & back. of course it was quickly decided to take such a tour and therefore we hopped onto a cruise ship to spent a day on water ( mostly ) and having a quick stopover in schleswig. being on water is always such a wonderful thing to me, it brings a totally different perspective on the landscapes around you. also, it's so soothing to plough through a body of water, watching the passing sailing boats and watching the local nature & animals native to these surroundings. or the little villages that dot the shores of the inlet. we also had good company on the ship, there was a group of women we bonded with & were chatting to almost the whole ride through. turned out they were originally from hessia & rhineland-palatinate, in fact straight out of mayence & wiesbaden. the world is small, right?
schlei vista.
there were lots of sailing boats on the schlei passing us by.
the passage through the lindaunis bridge. this bridge was formerly under monument conservation ( 'cause look at this steel lattice formwork - it's truly gorgeous ), but they decided recently that there's going to be a new construction as the old one is undersized for the current traffic and often defect. i'm a little sad about such a technical masterstroke getting mothballed. it's such a steampunk-y structure & like... a witness of the past - a time that was full of these inventions & a wordview that involved a new future. i wish they could rebuilt such architecture, but with better & more modern materials, still holding the magic of the past. unfortunately new constructions rarely show that nod of recognition & reverence towards its predecessors.
passing by stubbe manor - a little agriculture farm not far away from the bridge.
the only little islet of the schlei is this one: kieholm ( or in the vernacular it's also called love island ).
i really liked all the little houses right by the schlei shores. i think to live here must be really nice, always with a view onto the water. there's so much nature around! this was shot near missunde, which is a village that's situated in one of the most narrow locations of the schlei. everything in that strait felt... homely? i can't find a word for it. i guess the fact that everything was in such close proximity made it appear really lovely & idyllic.
the ferry of missunde. the schlei has a width of 135 meters here. quite cozy, right?
look at this hobbit house! i'd move into this immediately if i knew it was for sale. dream house!
some more shore houses.
after leaving the missunde strait the schlei opens up and looks like a huge lake. this part of the schlei is called 'große breite' - the great width. it can reach 4 kms of width here.
and then the city of schleswig with its remarkable bell tower of the cathedral greeted us. we left the ship here and had about 2 hours of leisure time. schleswig is also called the city of vikings, as it was an important trade center back in the days when vikings still lived in northern germany. there's a little village called hedeby next to schleswig that was the initial viking city, but it was attacked permanently so the vikings chose schleswig as their next hub. the people in this area are very proud to live in a former viking city and showcase their love of this old tribe constantly.
on our way to the cathedral we passed by this parking lot and it shows two things very dear to my heart: obviously the cat & the in the background the trabi ( short for trabant ) - a GDR relict. the fact that this car was parking in schleswig - NOT a GDR relict, but a city of the west - and its car plate saying SLOW, practically made me chuckle.
we finally reached the schleswig cathedral. it was built around 1134 in a romanesque style, but today it's appearance is mainly gothic. from the outside it doesn't really look like much, but inside it's truly atmospheric. the main access is through the petri portal by the way, which dates back to 1180. this breathes an old-world quality.
loved the patterns on the brickstone facade of the cathedral and the slender & kind of minimalistic bell tower.
there's nothing that beats a good brickstone pattern :3 this felt very old.
while this facade felt more new.
let's enter the cathedral & marvel at its glorious interior.
it was really dark outside due to rainy weather, but when you were inside the cathedral you really didn't notice. everything was tinged in a warm atmosphere.
i LOVED the art. definitely not your typical gothic/baroque/renaissance christian tableau. my first guess was that they were painted around the early 20th century, and i classified them into the expressionistic category of art. turns out i was almost right. this painting from 1919 is by hans grohs - a very controversial figure in german art history as he seems to be one of the many degenerated artists the nazis hated so much, but in fact he was a fervid follower of nazism.
this triptych was painted in 1927 by max kahlke. you can clearly see a little change from expressionism to new objectivity. kahlke unfortunately didn't have a long creative development, he died very soon at the age of 36 due to cancer ( only one year after this painting came into existence in 1928 ). he was always against war ( he was badly injured during world war I ) and showed a huge interest in pain, loss & death. but he also painted things that were filled with light & positivity, and for this fact alone, the connection of light & dark, i felt a special kind of bond to this artist. this triptychon felt really impactful to me. here's a german link to his profile ( don't shame me for saying this, but wasn't he such a dreamboat? and it now makes me even more sad he died so young 😢 as if that would change anything lol, i just was born much too late :P )
the other side of the triptych. excuse my bad photos.
have a look at another important art piece - the bordesholm altar. it was created 1514 to 1521 by hans brüggemann.
the grave of king frederick I of denmark. this is one of 2 danish kings that were buried outside of denmark.
love the interior of this church. brickstone & clinker brick work is like... cakes to my brain. this aesthetic really pleases me visually.
the bell tower. it got erected much later ( late 1880ies to early 1890ies ). very gothic revival, don't you think?
we waved goodbye to the cathedral and continued our way through the streets of schleswig.
passed by some really cute old houses.
a former patrician house, the last one in schleswig. such a beautiful one! patrician houses were very common around the 1600s.
the rathausmarkt ( city hall plaza ). even more beautiful old houses.
the actual city hall in the front and the graukloster ( grey abbey ) right next to it. the abbey was founded in 1234, the city hall was erected in 1793 on the basement of the former abbey church.
abbey details. since we only had very little time for our schleswig visit, we didn't really get closer looks at some of the sights that await you there. that's why we basically only ran through the city without really enjoying it. i'm pretty sure schleswig has a lot more to offer ( like a castle! hedeby viking museum! fisherman's district! & lots more ). hopefully i'll make my way back there some day to explore it a little more.
the streets were so cute. with all the rain and so little time on our hands, we couldn't even cherish the beauty surrounding us :(
loved the decoration & the facade of this house.
and then we were back on our ship again for the return to kappeln. before we boarded the ship we had a little scare moment as i thought i had lost our tickets. whenever i'm in a rush i always get so nervous and anxious that i will lose all sense of logic and freak out over the tiniest things. i eventually found the tickets in a place that was too obvious and it made me feel ashamed of myself, so... shushhhh.
back on the water again.
leaving a trail.
we passed by the love island again.
a former school camp & villa marga in ulsnis.
it got darker & darker and it started to rain.
the scenery was kind of repeating what we had already seen in the morning. well, at least i can't get enough of sailing boats cruising over the water.
passed by the lindaunis bridge again.
and the harbour of lindaunis. lindaunis is a really small village which got known in german television through the series 'der landarzt' ( basically a series about a doctor practicing in the country ). it seems to be a rather idyllic little place.
we also passed by arnis, the tiniest city of germany by population and by area. actually, it's a village with only 300 inhabitants and an area of 0.45 square kilometers. the reason why it's an actual city is because the inhabitants didn't want to serve anyone and wanted to have their own rights & obligations & fought for independence. they enforced their status over 350 years ago and are very proud of their little city, even today.
some of the dockyard buildings of arnis. apparently they are not in use anymore.
our little trip ended soon after we passed arnis & we left kappeln for eckernförde again. for me it is definitely set in stone that i will revisit this part of schleswig-holstein again, just to have a closer look at the little villages of the schlei & also to explore the city of schleswig more.
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