Dining in Lubeck

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Lubeck has a fine choice of cafés, restaurants and pubs, which caters for both early-birds and night-owls - the variety ranges from in-scene and student pubs to sophisticated traditional establishments, bistros, restaurants and coffee houses.

If you are looking for typically "lübsch" specialities, you will definitely come across two famous delicacies: one of them is Lubecker Marzipan, a first-class creative sweet in many variations. In order to try it, a visit to Lubeck´s cafés, particularly the Café Niederegger is highly recommended. Here at the marzipan paradise you can indulge in and purchase all thinkable creations. And don't miss the Lubecker Nusstorte, a delicious gateau with a rich nut brittle cream and a thin coat of marzipan.

The other slightly less fattening Lubeck speciality is Lubecker Rotspon, a wine, which does not exactly come from Lubeck, but is nonetheless associated with the city. It is available at almost every restaurant.

Many of the traditional restaurants are located inside historic buildings, like the wine cellar under the Heiligen-Geist-Hospital, where you can go dining and drinking in a Medieval fashion or take part in a nice wine-testing session. If you prefer more tasty and less expensive food, the Kartoffelkeller with lots of potato dishes in the original gothic vaults might be a good place to try.

Lubeck´s most famous historic restaurant, the Schiffergesellschaft, rings a bell with people from the entire state of Schleswig-Holstein. For 450 years already, seamen have gathered here, and not just to enjoy various fish and meat dishes at the Gelage (feasts) or the Beichtstuhl (confessional). The excellent cuisine has more than once been awarded honours for the 7-naves-dish. The bon viveur with a fine palate can find other sophisticated places of hospitality with a historic ambience at the Cornelsen, the Schabbelhaus, Wullenwever, Lachswehr or at the Kleine Restaurant.

In Medieval Times, Lubeck used to be famous for its beer, and despite the fact that the last brewery closed down in 1998 and the local "Lück-Pils" is now brewed in Hamburg, the "lübsch" brewing tradition is kept alive with home-brew at the Brauberger, where you can watch how the beer is brewed and enjoy a fresh draught along with tasty rustic meals. Lubeck´s Old Town has a lot of cosy pubs and restaurants, among them the Luisen 56, the Hieronymus, Heinrich Böll, Metro and the Feuerstein - all of them with a modern and partly very original ambience or a charming Medieval interior even. Here you can meet friends for a pint and/or an inexpensive little snack.

A more intellectual and even partly cultural atmosphere can be found at the café-bars. Thoughts and opinions are exchanged here, sometimes on literature as well, like at the Kandinsky or the Sternschnuppe. Changing exhibitions can be found at establishments such as the Café Art or the Affenbrot, and once in a while there is nice live-music at places like the Alten Zolln. A cheerful atmosphere can also be found at the Flubdub, where so-called mini-events such as throw-the-dice-and-win-a-drink are frequently organised. Small snacks and hot meals are also available in some of these locations.

Nice Old Town pubs like the Theaterquelle or Papperlapap also serve little snacks to the hungry guests, especially at a time when most restaurants are already closed. But the emphasis remains on a fresh draught beer, a large mug of coffee with lots of milk and the friends one meets here while various musical styles are played.

Friends of foreign cuisine will also find many different variations and nationalities in Lubeck. At the Seoul, sushi is offered in little testing portions. Turkish specialities are available at the Ali Baba, and at the Maredo fresh and tasty Southern American meals are served along with a hearty buen provecho (enjoy your meal!). Hot Spanish meals are available at Sherry & Port, while the Donna Teresa offers Italian and French specialities. The Italian restaurant Ristorante Padre Pio is located a bit off the beaten track. In addition to the usual pizza and pasta variations, gourmet guests can taste rather exquisite specialities here. Try the duck in strawberry sauce, for example!

Every Lubeck visitor should visit the city´s most beautiful (and a bit more expensive) daughter - Travemünde. Not only the beach, the sea and the impressive ships are worth seeing, but the town also offers nice cafés, pubs and restaurants. Freshly caught fish is cooked, smoked and baked here, for example at the take-away at Travemünder Fischereihafen. Many stalls offer filled rolls with matie herring, fish meatballs and shrimps, which you should try. If licking your fingers is not your kind of thing, you can choose between several fish restaurants like the Pesel and Zur Sonne, for example. But the pub and restaurant Seebär also serves plaice, cod and the infamous Labskaus, a potato-and-corned beef mixture with herring, fried egg and beetroot. And if you don´t like to be careful around tricky fishbones or use fish cutlery and thus prefer a tasty beef steak, the El Torro steak house offers the best steaks around and you can watch the chef at work here! The Spanish variation is available at the Bodega. The spacious restaurant spreads across several rooms and offers everything a stomach with an appetite for Spanish specialities could wish for.

Large helpings of inexpensive meals can also be found at the Greek restaurant Olympos. With a solid base for a tour de pub you can now dive into Travemündes nightlife, which doesn´t really get going before 11pm. Bars and pubs get busy towards midnight, and the quiet places get lively and cheerful. The Hofklause is the most popular and funny among the Old Town pubs. Travemünders of all age group come together here, where they can dance to oldies, hits and chart breakers from the jukebox on "Europe´s smallest dance floor". The Seesternbar with a night-club flair is a bit more comfy and stylish. You can dance a bit slower here or enjoy a nice cocktail.

All in all, Lubeck is a valuable, traditional cultural Hanseatic city where you can also have lots of fun enjoying the traditional northern German dishes, drinks and the nightlife within one of the world´s cultural heritage centres.

Translated by Susanne Schmelzer

Entertainment in Lubeck

Lubeck, the cultural capital of the north, definitely has an extensive range of cultural activities to offer; there is a large number of museums and theatres here and the list of events during the year is a long one.

Theatre
By far the most famous theatre in Lubeck is the wonderful City Theatre. The city theatre has a varied offering - opera, operettas and musicals as well as acting are on the programme. Lubeck´s theatre scene is also enriched by the Theatre Combinale, a private theatre with a range of challenging entertainment, as well as by the VITA theatre and the Theatre Partout, which offers outdoor productions now and then. Variety is provided in the form of Cabaret, Song evenings and dance theatre performances, which are also sometimes to be found in the Museum Church of St. Katharinen.

Children can get a taste of theatrical atmosphere in many places. Apart from the programme at the Freilichtbühne Wallanlagen (Open air stage) in the summer, and the Lubecker Unterwasser Marionettentheater (Puppet Theatre) in the winter, the Marionettentheater Fey (Fey Puppet Theatre) and the Theater am Tremser Teich both offer exciting performances for kids.

The Christmas stories in the Stadttheater (City Theatre) are always sold out and thus booking early is recommended.

Guest ballet performances mainly take place in the nostalgically shaped Kolosseum, but some performances do also take place in the Stadttheater (City Theatre).

Museums
Museums are to be found on every corner in Lubeck. The St. Annen Museum, one of the nicest museums in Germany, is located in the late Gothic buildings of the St. Annen monastery. It´s not just fans of medieval religious artwork who will be inspired here, and the rooms and the garden are themselves worth a visit. The Buddenbrook House should be no less famous. It was newly opened on the 125th anniversary of Thomas Mann´s birthday. Here you can learn everything about the Mann brothers and their works as well as find out information about the Buddenbrooks. Information on Lubecks style of home furnishing can be found at the Museum for Art and Art history of the Hanseatic city in the Behnhaus/Drägerhaus. A collection of Romantic paintings, as well as German Impressionism and Expressionism of the 20th century, can be seen here. At the Holstentor, Lubeck´s landmark, there is a lot of city history to discover. Lubeck´s best known delicacy, the famous marzipan, is on display in the Niederegger Marzipansalon. The Museum for Nature and Environment contains, amongst other things, the skeleton of a whalebone whale which was stranded many many million years ago. Barlach sculptures decorate the façade of the Museum Church of St. Katharinen in which many art treasures are to be found, including a painting by Tintoretto. Finally there is also, apart from the Ethnological Museum, the Burgtor Monastery where the famous big Lubeck coin treasury and various art and archaeological exhibitions can be seen. Living and working nearby the former blast furnace works is the theme of the Herrenwyk Historical workshop.

Live Music
Live music can be found in various locations in Lubeck. The most elegant is definitely the Music and Congress Hall in which the opening concert of the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival also takes place. In addition to this, there are also numerous live events in the Werkhof which is very informal. Lubeck´s bands as well as international musicians and cabaret artists find a stage here. Jazz can be heard, and how could it be otherwise, in the Dr. Jazz Club Lubeck. There is also a whole host of clubs and pubs in Lubeck in which live music is offered. An inside name in this respect is the Flou which regularly engages musicians of varying genres. Atmosphere is created by special live music events provided in the Rider´s Café, Body & Soul, Hüx, Alten Zolln and the Alte Feuerwehr.

Operettas and concerts on the open air stage in Wallanlagen are a highlight in the summer.

Lubeck´s churches are just some of the locations for classical music events - it is not just organ recitals which are staged here. St. Petri, for example, often rings with the sound of gospel music. Fans of classical music will get their money´s worth at the concerts given in the Lubeck Academy of Music. The cathedral courtyard is the stage for concerts, and not just in the summer - Christmas carol singing with a great atmosphere can be found here around here at Christmastime.

If you are still not satisfied with the things that Lubeck has to offer, than you should make time for the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival where numerous events are held in barns, riding stables and estates in and around Lubeck, as well as for the summer festival in Eutin.

For a couple of years, children´s concerts like Peter and Wolf have been lovingly staged in the Stadttheater (City Theatre).

Cinema
An extensive programme of popular films is shown at the Filmpalast Stadthalle. Quality films are shown at the Lichtspiele Hoffnung which is a very intimate place, seeing as it has only one cinema. The cinemas Kommunales Kino and zwei50 are similar. Films which have already been shown in the big cinemas for a while will then be shown at the Capitol.

In the summer, open air cinema evenings on the Freilichtbühne (Open air stage) in Wallanlagen enjoy a great amount of popularity.

Night Life
In Lubeck you can easily leave your car at home or in a central location since many of Lubecks discos are only a few minutes away from each other. The three Lubeck clubs Body & Soul, Queen´s Club and Hüx make up a triangle. In the traditional Body & Soul on the Elbe-Lubeck canal, a stones throw from the Old Town, Rock and Pop is on the programme at the weekend, Black Music on Fridays and fans of alternative rock come here on Tuesdays. The small Hüx, with a sizeable regular clientele, is one of the old-established discos on the edge of Lubeck´s Old Town, where Rock, Soul and Funk is played. Moreover, in the comparatively big Queen´s Club, techno and hip hop is played. The Red Zone on the other side of Lubeck´s Old Town, which plays mainly House, attracts Lubeck´s more stylish clientele. Varying events take place here on Fridays. The Eishaus, which lies out of town, is cool, and the dominating taste in music here is again House. In the Rider´s Cafe, away from the mainstream, you can hear Trance, House, Goa and Rock. If you swear by hard rock music, then the right place for you is Route 99. Outside of Lubeck, in the direction of Stockelsdorf, is the large disco Abaco. The scene in Travemünde´s Nautic, where many tourists also go to dance, is stylish and chic.

Events
There is always something to celebrate in Lubeck. The most famous event is the Lubeck Christmas Market which takes place in front of the Old Town Hall. The Town Hall is complemented by the Märchenwald which is to be found in the shadow of the Marienkirche on the Christmas market on the Koberg. The Christmas Market in the Heiligen Geist Hospital enjoys such a crowd that you have to join a long queue in order to gain entry. Less well known but no less pleasant is the St. Petri Art and Crafts market which also takes place at Christmas. At Easter there is a people´s market in the Heligen-Geist Hospital, in which art and craftwork from around the world is offered. In spring, the Spring market takes place on the Wall peninsula in front of the Music and Congress Hall. The kite festival benefits from the windy conditions in Travemünde and has already been staged successfully on the beach many times. In summer the Public and Remembrance festival is firmly marked in on the calendar, taking place on the Festival Square and with many Lubeck families accompanying the festival procession. Summer is also the time for the Schleswig-Holstein music festival, street festivals such as the Hüx street festival, the younger Friendship Party and the high quality ten day Trave Bank Festival. But what would the summer be like without the Travemünde Week in which boating enthusiasts and fans of the unique atmosphere on the Travemünde promenade celebrate the entire night long. Autumn is the time for Lubeck´s Old Town Festival which takes place every two years, as well as for the Lubeck Autumn market on the Wall peninsula, something which the Lubeck youngsters particularly look forward to. If the weather in Lubeck is stormy, the cinema in Lubeck has a special event ready - the Northern film days with showings and premières of new Scandinavian and Baltic films.

Dining in Europe > Lubeck
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