Tom`s travels: Eutin, Plön & Kiel (24/02/2019)

The weekend promised good weather so we decided to do another day trip into Schleswig-Holstein and see a few towns on the way. After getting the regional train from the central station in Hamburg, we reached the first town: Eutin. We headed towards the old town and reached the Markt, the town's main square surrounded by pretty low buildings. Right behind it was the town's church, dedicated to St Michael. Built during the 13th century it features a mix of romanesque and brick gothic. It was unfortunately closed as we tried to get in which meant continuing forwards on our walk. We then reached the town's main attraction, the Eutin castle, originally founded during the 12th century but now presenting a 17th-century Baroque style. It is surrounded by a nice moat and as we walked through the main gate reached the pretty inner courtyard. Unfortunately, the castle was closed and could only be visited during the summer period so we just settled with admiring it from the outside. We then continued on foot and walked through its large park, partly english lanscape garden, and partly orderly french styled garden with patches of earth for growing use. After the nice stroll while enjoying the sunshine we headed to the station from where we took a train to the next town: Plön. After reaching the destination we continued on foot through the old town passing by the main square where the church of St Nicholas is located. As we found it open we entered and admired the fully wooden 17th century Baroque interior. From there we continued onwards walking slightly uphill and reaching the castle. Located on a terraced hill overlooking the Great Plön Lake, this 17th century palace served various functions throughout its history. It was in fact turned into a military school, then boarding school and recently is houses an optometry qualification centre meaning it can be rarely visited. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the sunny day and view of the lake from up there and strolled a little around the building. We then continued on and not far ahead reached the Prince's House, a nice 18th century building which served as summer house. It is surrounded by a nice park, part of the castle's premises which we decided to walk around. From there we then descended downhill and reached the lakeshore which we followed until arriving back to the station. We then caught another train and reached Kiel a little later. The city, mostly modern looking, was heavily bombed during WWII which meant most of its old town was completely destroyed. As we exited the train station we walked through the city center and reached the Rathausplatz, a central square with the 1911 town hall to the south, the opera house to the west and open to on the north towards a small lake. The town hall featured an interesting tower which was based on one in Venice, most probably the one of St Mark. After walking further we then passed by the ciy's main church, St Nicholas. Originally dating to the 13th century it was rebuilt in the gothic revival style during the late 19th century, completely destroyed during WWII and rebuilt after. Unfortunately it was closed so we continued onwards through the center. Walking on we passed through a nice park which incredibly featured some crocus flowers. I was definitely not expecting them at this time of the year and so far north and was most probably due to the unsually hotter than average temperatures. Further on we walked along the seaside on the large pier which holds many transport and leasure boats as Kiel is one of Germany's largest ports. At one point after a bit of walking we decided to turn around and head back through the city center to look for a place to eat. We found a small chain called Campus suite which Ania suggested as having good dishes for cheap prices. After a filling lunch we then decided to reach the station from where we took a train taking us back to Hamburg.