Man, marzipan and the sea: with the MINI Cooper S 5-door to Lübeck.

Photos by BMW

When Hamburgers are drawn to the Baltic Sea beach, they can first follow the signs to Berlin. The Autobahn 24 not only leads to the capital, but also forms the first stage for a particularly scenic route to Lübeck and from there to the sea. After driving around 40 kilometers through the east of Schleswig-Holstein, it's time to switch from the modern Schnellstraße to the Alte Salzstraße, especially behind the wheel of the MINI Cooper S 5-door (Combined fuel consumption: 6,8 - 6,2 l / 100 km according to WLTP, 6,5 - 6,3 l / 100 km according to NEDC; Combined CO2 emissions: 154 - 141 g / km according to WLTP, 149 - 144 g / km according to NEDC), which can bring out its brand-typical agility on winding country roads much better. The historical trade route to the north is therefore the ideal terrain for driving fun on the way to the coast.

Four-cylinder turbo with 178 hp

The cockpit display and central instrument light up in the “Sport” color mode, the redesigned sport leather steering wheel fits perfectly in the hand, and the four-cylinder turbo engine with 131 kW / 178 hp reacts spontaneously to every movement of the accelerator pedal. So it goes quickly past green meadows and lush fields through the sparsely populated landscape to Mölln, a small town in the Duchy of Lauenburg, surrounded by lakes and known as the home of Till Eulenspiegel. The literary figure goes back to a roaming rogue who allegedly teased his fellow men with all sorts of pranks in the 14th century.

The second stop of the tour is in the middle of lakes. Ratzeburg is also known as an island town. A few hundred steps, regardless of the direction, are enough and the visitor is already standing by the water. The Ratzeburg Cathedral, one of Northern Germany's oldest Romanesque brick buildings, is well worth seeing. Right next door, in a baroque manor house, the Mecklenburg dukes once resided. The city is known to sports fans for the Ratzeburger Achter. In the local rowing club, the legendary coach Karl Adam laid the foundation stone for the Germany Eight, the flagship of the German Rowing Association, which has repeatedly achieved great successes at the Olympic Games and World Championships since the 1960s.

optimized balance between sportiness and driving comfort

The path continues along the lakeshore towards Lübeck. The advantages of the new adaptive chassis in the MINI Cooper S 5-door can also be enjoyed on the drive through the Grönauer Heide. Frequency-selective damping now ensures an optimized balance between sportiness and driving comfort. The go-kart feeling that is typical of the brand can be felt in every corner. At the same time, an additional valve ensures the extremely fast adjustment of the damper forces, so that the harmonious driving characteristics are not disturbed by unevenness in the road surface.

The Hanseatic city of Lübeck is reached after a good 20 kilometers. The first glance falls on the Holsten Gate. The landmark of the city is there really crooked. It's worth going in anyway, because it will probably be crooked for another 700 years. With the "Queen of the Hanseatic League", as Lübeck is also called, the question automatically arises: what should be seen first? The old town with its narrow streets? The corridors with the small outbuildings behind the merchants' houses? The magnificent churches? Lübeck is part of the Unesco world cultural heritage and accordingly has a lot to offer.

Luggage space holds 278 liters or up to 941 liters

The market at the town hall is the ideal starting point for exploring the two-square-kilometer old town island. The people of Lübeck built on it for 300 years and ultimately combined several stylistic epochs from the Gothic to the Renaissance. Right next door is the St. Mary's Cathedral with its almost 40 meter high vault, which is still a small miracle for structural engineers. After so much high culture, the sugar level rushes into the cellar. A visit to the Niederegger marzipan shop, a specialist in sweet delicacies, can help. Here you can discover marzipan in all imaginable variations. As a strong bar, as confectionery and also as ice cream. And don't forget the nut-cream cake with a marzipan topping, for which gourmets often have to go a long way. If you have already decided to bring a large number of souvenirs: there is plenty of space in the luggage compartment of the MINI Cooper S 5-door. It holds 278 liters when all five seats are used and can otherwise be expanded to up to 941 liters.

Literary enjoyment is just a few steps away. “My childhood was cherished and happy. I grew up with four siblings in an elegant town house that my father had built for himself and his family, and I enjoyed a second home in the old family house from the 18th century, with the saying 'Dominus providebit' on the rococo gable, which my paternal grandmother lived in alone and which today, as the 'Buddenbrook House', is an object of curiosity about foreigners. ”This is how Thomas Mann describes his grandparents' house, the literary model for the 1901 novel Buddenbrooks. The story takes place to a large extent in a "house in Mengstrasse", which is very similar to the house in Mengstrasse 4 in Lübeck. Thomas Mann based his novel on historical reality, but turned it into poetry. After an eventful history, the Buddenbrookhaus is now home to the Heinrich and Thomas Mann Center, a memorial and research facility in honor of the two writer brothers.

Traces of a second Nobel Prize winner for literature can also be found in Lübeck. Günter Grass lived near the city from 1986 until his death in 2015 and had an office, secretariat and archive in Lübeck's Glockengießerstrasse. The Günter Grass House is dedicated to the literary, pictorial and plastic work of the writer.

And finally, another Nobel Prize winner is the son of the city of Lübeck. The Willy-Brandt-Haus is a museum and a memorial for the Lübeck-born SPD politician, Federal Chancellor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The exhibition encompasses parts of Willy Brandt's life - from childhood and youth in Lübeck, to flight in a cutter and exile, to his time as Governing Mayor of Berlin and his commitment to peace, freedom and the implementation of human rights.

The last stop on the tour is the Lübeck district of Travemünde. Almost 20 kilometers from the gates of the Hanseatic city is the seaside resort, whose history dates back to 1800 and which had its heyday during the Belle Epoque. In some places you can still feel the touch of history - or is it just a light breeze from the Baltic Sea? The old Kurhaus now houses a wellness hotel, the casino, which was once known throughout Europe, is now a luxury hotel.

New splendor and lively life are developing on the Priwall peninsula. The tip of the land belongs partly to Travemünde, partly to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. For several years now, the area has been completely turned inside out, a new holiday area is being created directly on the Trave, where the four-masted barque “Passat” is also located. Apartment houses, marina, boutiques, cafés and restaurants form the new face of the peninsula, which with the nature reserve on the Pötenitzer Wiek and some beautiful beaches also has quiet corners. And when one of the big Scandinavian ferries goes from the Trave to the Baltic Sea, something of the big wide world can still be felt.

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With the MINI Cooper S 5-door to Lübeck.

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