Lüneburg

We've been laying low for a few days, staying close to home, as it's been rainy and windy outside. I was looking through my photos thus far, and found a few that I haven’t mentioned yet.

Here's a photo of the Hanseatic town of Lüneburg, southeast of Hamburg. I find these old Hanse towns so pretty that it was worth it to me to read three whole books on the Hanseatic League before we came. This is how I learned that Lübeck has herring to thank for its early wealth, and that Lüneburg provided the salt to preserve it with. 

The story behind the Hanseatic salt trade is that a hunter near Lüneburg shot a wild boar that he saw bathing in a puddle. After hanging up its hide to dry, he found salt crystals in the bristles, and went to take a closer look at that puddle, as salt was hard to come by and very valuable. The result was a rich trade between Lüneberg and Lübeck, along what became the Old Salt Road. The wagon trip to Lübeck took about 20 days, past forests, heath bogs, and small villages, with occasional surprises from the usual thieves and marauders who seemed to be lurking everywhere back in those days. 

Here's a detail from a Lüneburg fountain . . 

another street view . . . 

. . . and some cute bird feeders for sale in front of a hardware store, which made me think of our friends back in northern Minnesota, for some reason.