mecklenburg vorpommern is quite a mouthful which is why locals refer to this region of lakes, castles, and beaches in the north east of germany as mv, or meck pom the pom refers to pomerania, now mostly in poland it has a long coastline on the baltic and is the third largest of germany's 16 laender   but the least populated so you can walk for miles on a sandy strand or drive all day on the autobahn and not see a sausage, except in your lunch back in focus: 'meck pom' offers blissful beaches along germany's baltic sea coastline  after world war ii, meck pom was part of communist east germany, which might account for its low profile the regime concentrated on the cities and neglected the countryside, so castles and seaside resorts deteriorated since reunification 25 years ago, all that has changed the result is a clutch of wonderful hotels and beautifully run resorts the sea accounts for the region's ancient wealth and the cities along the coast   wismar, rostock, stralsund and greifswald   were part of the 13th century trading confederation, the hanseatic league, which did business with scandinavians and slavs around the baltic two of the cities, wismar and stralsund, are world heritage sites towering medieval cathedrals and customs houses on market squares as big as football pitches are built of ancient revolutionary red brick, moulded and baked from the sodden clay the harbour has bars, cafes and shops for windsurfers, anglers and bucket and spaders on the road, go kart tracks and wildlife parks fill gaps between the farms and forests a day's fishing off a boat costs €39 (£27), including lunch from a stewpot at the beach resorts of boltenhagen and warnemunde, holidaymakers on hire bikes (£650 a day) pedal through pine filled parks to the sea front a steam train called molli plies a coastal route to heiligendamm, location of the five star grand hotel it has a sanatorium, a michelin star chef, a castle (for weddings) and a children's house with games quietly charming: the pretty alte markt square in stralsund sums up the region's appeal  meck pom is a refuge in peace and war forewarned of the allied bombing, citizens of hamburg, berlin and dresden fled here 'the castles were full of refugees,' says freiherr helmuth von maltzahn, proprietor of 16th century schloss ulrichshusen, which his ancestor ulrich built among the inland lakes helmuth, born in 1949, bought back his burnt out family home and turned it into a 40 room hotel at sunset, cranes fly over the lakes in their thousands in what looks, for a moment, like an intricate, interweaving mv formation british airways (0844 493 0787, wwwbacom) flies to hamburg from £79 return double rooms at the grand hotel heiligendamm (wwwgrandhotel heiligendammde/en) cost from £136, on a b&b basis for the mecklenburg vorpommern festival and schloss ulrichshusen, visit wwwfestspiele mvde/en and wwwulrichshusende
mecklenburg vorpommern germany twenty five years
mecklenburg vorpommern is one of the less known of germany's 16 states . it was trapped behind the iron curtain after the country split into two parts . twenty five years after reunification, it is an enclave of beach and resorts 