We were on an Easter roadtrip through Germany and had decided to shorten our planned two-night stay in Berlin down to just one, leaving us with a spare night somewhere along the way to make up. We'd heard of the beauty of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region before and so, having just visited Magdeburg and needing to be in Hamburg the following day, a swing into the state made the most sense. It was such that we found ourselves in Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Our Easter roadtrip started in Munich where my partner lives. The Easter long weekend is always a perfect time to head out on a trip, what with shoulder season in full swing, the spring weather looking better and prices still reasonable. In previous years, I've spent my Easters in Northern Ireland, Ibiza (Spain), New Zealand, Calgary (Canada) and hiking in Vancouver (Canada), among other trips.
I have a German mother, so I have visited many parts of Germany many, many times as a child. I currently live in Salzburg in Austria and so this Easter was the perfect excuse to re-explore northern Germany and many of the places of my childhood - plus a few other stops along the way.
Our first stop was actually in neighbouring Czechia, where we spent a night exploring the colourful spa town of Karlovy Vary. From there, it was time to kick off the German leg of our trip and we crossed the border again and headed towards Dresden, a delightful university town. Then, it was time to see some bridges; we drove first down to the Basteibrücke where a wooden bridge passes through million-year-old rock formations over the River Elbe before heading east, almost to the border with Poland, to visit the famous Devil's Bridge. Then, it was on to the capital of Berlin, the city of my mum's birth and a chance to retrace the steps of my own visit from so many years ago. We spent a night in beautiful Magdeburg and, on the way to Hamburg, found ourselves in Schwerin.
