Beech trees and chalk cliffs

The massive chalk cliffs on its northern shore are the main claim to fame of Germany’s biggest island, Rügen. Separated from the mainland only by a 2km bridge, the island is easy to reach from Berlin and other northern cities. The cliffs can be admired on a boat tour and there are also viewpoints that are accessible by car or (infrequent) buses. We stayed in small, nearby town Lohme and walked to the cliffs through a beautiful old beech forest.

Beech forest in the North of Rügen [20mm, 1/15, F3.5, ISO200]

The forest smelled of leaves, wood and, even though we could not always see it, the Baltic sea. I think it was the first time that I walked in the midst of trees and heard waves gently crashing against the shore.

The forest is right next to the sea [20mm, 1/1250, F4.5, ISO200]

We emerged from the forest onto the car park of an (expensive) visitors and exhibition centre. We decided to pass by and found a sign that alerted us to the opportunity to descend to the beach and see the famous chalk cliffs from there.

In fact, that is not quite what the sign says. It reads:

Esteemed visitors,
the path descending to the beach was completed in 1996. It is a difference of 110 m in altitude and there are 412 stairs to conquer to get to the beach. The trip is very arduous!

In addition, there are a couple of other warnings. Because. This is Germany. We did not mind any of them and went to the beach by the 412 stairs.

After the 10 minutes climb back upstairs, we still had enough time and energy to visit Victoria’s view (Viktoriasicht), a small platform with a view to the biggest chalk cliff and the beach below.

You have just read our 100th post on perelincolors.com! Whoooohoo! All images in this anniversary post were taken with an Olympus OMD E-M10 and a 20mm prime lens.