Trees on the Hotel Island of Rügen

I had always wanted to visit the Island of Rügen. Rügen is Germany's largest island in the Baltic Sea and I had booked in to stay the first week at a Hotel in Rügen and the second week at the Baltic Sea Apartments. What a great holiday it turned out to be. Rügen is a diverse island of seaside resorts, quiet little fishing villages, mile long beaches, dead straight tree-lined avenues, wild sea buckthorn hedges, 100 year old lighthouses sparkling lakes and the Jasmund National Park, which is Germany's smallest national park.

On the first week of my holiday I cycled along the paths to the flint fields near Mukran and walked along the cliff top to the great chalk cliffs of the upper-east coast. These majestic cliffs of snow-white chalk rise dramatically out of the green-blue sea. In the last two years large pieces of chalk have crashed into the sea and I picked up a piece to take back home with me. Amber is everywhere along the Baltic Coast and the best time to hunt is after a storm when the sea is cold enough for amber to float. I took a ride on the Racing Roland steam train that goes around the island making it easier to visit Rügen's main sights and seaside resorts.

The second week of my holiday was spent at the Baltic Sea Apartments (Ferienwohnung Rügen) where I decided to see how many different types of trees I could see. I have always been interested in trees and was eager to see if I recognized any on the Island of Rügen. I had heard about someone saying they had seen a roe deer being chased through the woods by a Borzoi dog so I thought the first place to go would be the beech forests. The beech forests are thick and dark with tall hunting platforms and wooden lodges where you can stop, take a rest and have a picnic. I looked around for any trees that I might recognize, but because the forest was so dark I couldn't really see very well and began to wonder if there might be a Borzoi dog waiting to spring out on me. I was glad to get out of the forest and into the daylight again. The only trees that I saw while on holiday in Rügen were palm trees and maple trees. I did see evidence that a lot of the trees had been cut down at sometime in the past, so perhaps there had been other types of trees. I'm afraid I shall never know. I decided that maybe I should visit Hiddensee just off Rügen which is a small car-free island and a paradise for birds. Also I had read that large parts of the island are designated nature conservation areas maybe I would see different trees there.

I arrived back at the Baltic Sea Apartments feeling as though I had wasted my day searching for trees that don't exist.