Hotel zum Strand

Climate in Warnemünde

by Leipzig

Rainy season: There is no special rainy season
Avg. Temp. in Spring: max.: 6 – 15°C ( 43 - 59°F ); min: 1 - 8°C ( 34 - 47°F )
Avg. Temp. in Summer: max.: 17 – 20°C ( 63 - 68°F ); min: 12 - 14°C ( 52 - 57°F )
Avg. Temp. in Autumn: max.: 7 – 16°C ( 45 - 60°F); min: 7 - 11°C ( 45 – 51°F )
Avg. Temp. in Winter: max.: 2 – 4°C ( 36 - 39°F); min: 0 - 1°C ( 32 - 34°F )
Watertemperature: in winter around 2°C ( 36°F ), in summer around 17°C ( 63°F) in average.

Warnow Shipyard

by Mariajoy

Warnow, just a little to the west of Warnemuende, is a thriving, modern shipyard - building huge seagoing vessels much larger than the little cruisers usually seen in the waters around the coast here.

You can just see the shipyard, in the middle right of the picture, with industrial Rostock in the background.

Warnemuende by the Sea

by starship

"Seaside Resort in Northern Germany"

Logbook~ August 7, 2005: As dawn was breaking, I awoke to see the Westerdam docking in the seaside town of Warnemuende, Germany, and not really knowing what to expect. There was a slight mist hovering in the air as men on shore scurried around to tie up the ship and began the initial process of making contact with our crew. It wasn't long before the Westerdam loaded on board what would become the makings of our ship's own magical "Oktoberfest" later in the evening... Rostocker beer, pretzels, German food of all types. The Oktoberfest would be enhanced even further by an Oompah Band providing wonderful German music and a troupe of children delighting us with German folkloric dances in their native regalia! It really was a splendid evening! But, at this point, we were looking forward to our day in Warnemuende would bring.

The ship's main purpose in stopping at Warnemuende was to give passengers a point at which to begin a day-long excursion into Berlin. But for those of us who chose not to rush a visit to Berlin (which would have been an expensive proposition for the 4 of us), we had an extra long day to explore Warnemuende, take a local train to Rostock, and later on even enjoy Oktoberfest by the sea.

"Our Day in Warnemuende"

After a great breakfast, we disembarked the ship, passed through customs and passport control and garnered another stamp in our passports. By this time the sun had risen and it looked like a fine day was ahead of us. A short walk from the ship lead us to an "underpass" beneath the train tracks where individuals were selling all kinds of souvenirs, toys, clothes and items to the visitors arriving by ship or ferry. Just beyond were steps which lead us up to the train station itself, more vendors, food stalls and then the foot bridge over to the main part of Warnemuende. The seekanal or Alten Strom was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with visitors and day tourists enjoying shops, ice cream or on their way to the wonderful, wide beach and maybe some kite flying. The village is extremely walkable and the lighthouse, the "teapot," Warnemuende-kirche, and Heimatmuseum will provide you will several hours of entertainment.

A few minutes after we stopped at a sidewalk cafe for a coffee, the skies opened up and we were caught in a drenching downpour. Everyone made a dash for cover although there was little to be had. Though it was the middle of the Summer, the rain chilled us to the bone!! Thankfully, within an hour, the sun appeared once again and gave us a glorious day. Since we had not seen much of the sun during our time in the Baltic, the sun was like an antidote to me. ( A week without sun is about as much as I can handle!!) We spent most of our time in Warnemuende walking on the beach just soaking up all the sunrays we could possibly get!!!

Then it was on by local train for a brief visit to Rostock!

"A Brief History ~ Then and Now"

Then ~

Warnemuende derives its name from its namesake, the Warnow River. " Warne" from the Warnow and "muende from "mouth" indicating that the river flows into the Baltic at this point. Warnemunde was originally only a tiny fishing village but in 1323, the merchants of the Hanseatic city of Rostock purchased the village to ensure that Rostock would always have access to the sea. An indeed, Warnemuende aided Rostock controlled access to the sea for several centuries and at one time became the most powerful member of the Hanseatic League. In later centuries, wars and a devastating fire led to the temporary decline of Rostock, while Warnemuende emerged as the seaside resort that it remains today.

Now ~

Once Warnemuende was a village of only two rows of cottages, but today Warnemuende has grown into a very charming and popular destination for German travelers as well as a port of call for cruise ships. (Generally, cruise ship passengers travel on to Berlin, Rostock or Wismar after a brief visit here.) A mix of old and a little bit of new, Warnemuende's architecture is distinguished by the "glass boxes" attached to house fronts. These "boxes" may be used as windows, window seats, verandas, or sitting areas; whatever the use, they bring a definite character to Warnemuende.

Whatever means are used to arrive in Warnemuende--ferry, cruise ship, or train-- the summer crowds attest to the fact that this is a popular little seaside village where Germans and other come to enjoy a different side of Germany!

East Germany's Port

by grandmaR

We were supposed to be at the Queens Lounge at 0700 this morning, so we had breakfast delivered, and as usual, it came 10 minutes before the wake up call. If I set the breakfast as 0600 to 0630, and the wakeup call to 0540 the breakfast comes at 0530. I can't get it right no matter what I do. I suspect they do our breakfast early because we have no eggs or hot things in it. Just coffee.

Anyway we did get up and breakfast and get dressed and up to the Queens Lounge before 0650 to find that they weren't announcing the groups there and that they had already done our group, which was #1. So we toddled right outside, and there was a tall girl named Susanne with the number one sign and she gathered all of us together in several parking places marked off on the pavement. It turned out that we were walking across to the train.

My granddaughter really likes trains.

The guide made us go into the compartments in the order that we arrived at the train and in our compartment there were already four people, two by the window. I wanted to go into the next compartment so I could take pictures, but Susanne wouldn't let me, and none of the people would move. She said there was nothing to take a picture of but forests (which wasn't true).

So we sat next to the corridor. It actually turned out to be good as we could go into the corridor easily and put down the window to take pictures of things like the big electricity generating windmills and cows.

We were also in the last car in the train which meant my granddaughter could go out and take photos of the train tracks behind us. She also took a video. Her camera has been restored to regular picture size now. There was a toilet there at the end of the car, and also a dining car a couple of cars forward if we wanted it.

Our minder passed out lunch boxes about 0800 which consisted of a sandwich, water and a piece of candy called a Haribo Goldbaren which was sort of like gummy bears. Afterwards we got a piece of butterscotch hard candy.

Our companions turned out to be two couples who were or had been school teachers in Phoenix - one of whom had a replacement knee and who was almost as slow at walking as I am. One of them commented about graffiti and asked whether it was deliberate. So there was a discussion about whether it was tagging or art. My granddaughter looked for and photographed some of the "art" graffiti. We have also had an on-going discussion about vandalism. She lumps graffiti into vandalism, and I think that vandalism is more than just graffiti.

Next: Visiting East and West Berlin

Susanne (who is a college student - married - age 26 with a five year old and a 3 month old child) gave us chips and NicNacs (both very salty) for snacks on the way back to the port.

We got back about 2030, and after dropping our stuff at the cabin, we went right to the dining room. They were having a BBQ on the Lido deck, but I was not up for that. I had Melon and Papaya slices and my granddaughter had Steamed Manila Clams as appetizers. She had double baked potato soup and I had Prime Rib. She went to bed after dinner, but I went out and took pictures of the port area in the dark (now about 2330). My granddaughter took almost 500 pictures, and I took 340.

Tomorrow we will be back in Denmark