In East Germany, (that was )

From Travemunde we sailed around the coast East into the Wismar Bucht. Nice sail of about 25 miles with the wind abeam or aft. We are well into what used to be the GDR, (East Germany) now. We moored in a tiny marina close to the centre of town opposite a coaster unloading coal! Fortunately the wind was blowing the dust away from us, but it was quite noisy. We had told been by a skipper at the rally to go to the Alte Haven, (old harbour), but it was narrow, dirty and full of tripper boats. It must have changed since he was there! Next day, August 22nd, we spent walking around the town. A beautiful small 16th century town with lots of half timbered houses that has been totally restored since re-unification. We saw two aerial photos of the town, one in 1990 about the time the wall came down, and another in 2005. The changes are amazing. When it was The GDR, all the plaster was peeling off the buildings and power lines were strung everywhere, really third world looking.
To us, there still seems to be quite a difference between West Germany and what used to be East Germany however, The people are not so jolly and very few of the folk older than thirty speak any English.
On Thursday August 23rd we sailed all of eight miles to an inlet in the island of Poel which is just North of Wismar. There we moored in a box mooring in the village of Kirchdorf. Really like going back to the nineteen fifties! The harbour master has to come and unlock the electricity box and the water tap and you have to go the the library to get a WIFI connection. Still, a pretty little place with cheap restaurants and well worth the visit.
Tomorrow ( 25th), all being well we will cross back to Denmark to visit Gedser.