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Greifswald i Tyskland

15 August 2019 / 15 Comments

Greifswald in Germany - attractions and Swedish history

Greifswald in Germany is a charming and beautiful city, full of sights and Swedish history. We arrived in the city by sailboat, strolled along the river Ryck, had dinner at a fish restaurant in a boat and went on a guided city walk among all the beautiful historical buildings.

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Greifswald in Germany

Greifswald is a city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, located on the Baltic Sea coast. Around 60 000 people live in the city today, many of whom work either at the university or in the city's large shipyards. We came here with sailing boat from Krummin - a sailing trip with strong winds! We travelled along the river Ryck all the way up to the Greifswald Maritime Museum in Dänische Wiek, a bay in the shallow Greifswalder Bodden.

Swedish history in Greifswald

Greifswald belonged to Sweden, as part of Swedish Pomerania, from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 until 1815, when Prussia took over the area for a large sum of money. In other words, there is a lot of Swedish history here.

Gustav II Adolf i Greifswald i Tyskland
Our guide shows a monument to Gustav II Adolf

Square in Greifswald

The town square is charming with several beautiful and historic buildings. These include the red town hall and some buildings with impressive brick facades.

Greifswald torg
The 1551 town hall on the historic square
Torget i Greifswald
Greifswald square

Churches in Greifswald

Today Greifswald is home to around 60 000 people, but in the Middle Ages there were probably only around 3000 inhabitants. Nevertheless, three large churches were built for the population. In the city, you can still see the 13th century St Mary's Church, the 14th century Church of St Nicolai and the Church of St Joseph. The churches were originally Catholic and still retain their Catholic names, although they became Protestant during the Reformation.

Kyrka
St Mary's Church
Kyrka
Church of St Nikolai

Pomeranian National Museum

Greifswald is home to the Pommersches Landesmuseum. This museum tells about the entire historical region of Pomerania. Unfortunately, we did not have time to look in here, but our guide thought that the museum is well worth a visit.

Museum i Greifswald
 Mayor Rubenow founded the city's university back in 1456.

University of Greifswald

Greifswald is a university town with around 10 000 students. You can study medicine, for example, but also humanities and languages. For example, you can study Swedish, Danish ... and even Faroese!

Universitetet i Greifswald

More attractions in Greifswald

Walking around the city, you will see many beautiful houses and decorative facades from different periods of history. The beautiful red facade in the picture below is located on a street that is otherwise considered "Scandinavian design".

Skandinavisk gata
Hus i Greifswald

Guided city walk in Greifswald

If you have time and opportunity, it is interesting to go on a guided city walk. We walked around with a knowledgeable guide who, among other things, told us a lot about the period when Greifswald belonged to Sweden. If you do not go with a guide, there are also several information signs around the city, and on several of these the information is also in Swedish.

Guidad stadsvandring i Greifswald
Our guide tells you about the pictures on the Town Hall gate

The harbour on the river Ryck

You should also go down to the river Ryck, which runs through the city and is connected to the Baltic Sea. There are lots of beautiful old wooden boats of all kinds, as well as several boat restaurants and places where you can buy "fischbrötchen", i.e. bread with herring or salmon.

Båtar vid ån Ryck

Fish restaurant on a boat

We had dinner in one of the boat restaurants, called the Pomerania and as you can see in the picture below. We got a round table at the back of the boat, fantastically cosy! Also good service and good food, so we can recommend this place. The restaurant mainly serves fish, but also has some other dishes on the menu. We chose cod and pike perch and were very satisfied.

Fiskrestaurang i båt

Cosy Greifswald in Germany

All in all, Greifswald is a very nice and charming little town. If you come by boat, there is a central guest harbour with a modern service house, and if you come by motorhome, there is a central parking area along the river (Marienstrasse 10) and a campsite a little further away (Dänischen Wiek). We highly recommend a visit to this small, cosy town!

Greifswald i Tyskland
Kyrka i Greifswald

Video from the trip

In particularthe barge The Wind, moored in Greifswald harbour.
All our top tips about Germany. Click on the image!

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15 August 2019 6:00
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10 Comments

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  1. Ama de casa says:

    But what a beautiful and cosy city! The buildings are just soooo delicious!
    Sweden should have kept that city! 😉 😀

    15 August 2019 - 10:02

    Reply

  2. Britt-Marie Lundgren says:

    How many city gems are there along the Baltic Sea coast?
    Greifswald seems to be one of the most cosy! ?

    15 August 2019 - 10:20

    Reply

  3. Lena in Wales says:

    Nice city and interesting history. This whole part of Germany is full of Swedish history, which is interesting.
    It has been several years since I was last there.
    Nice to have a walk through the city again, a lot of familiarity.

    15 August 2019 - 13:12

    Reply

  4. BP says:

    A very nice little town (by German standards that is). The buildings are very beautiful and extremely well maintained. A bit surprising that a city with only 60,000 inhabitants has 10,000 students. Impressive.

    15 August 2019 - 21:07

    Reply

  5. Ann-Louise Paulsson says:

    Oh what a cute city with nice houses. It's also nice that it once belonged to Sweden.

    15 August 2019 - 21:44

    Reply

  6. Lena - good for the soul says:

    Well, yes, but the houses to the left of the red one actually look like they could belong in Scandinavia. It seems to be a charming little town there.

    Hug Lena

    16 August 2019 - 9:51

    Reply

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