VIDEO: Travel #15 – Kiel and Surrounding Area I

Kiel is my wife’s home town. It is the state capital of Schleswig-Holstein, the German state that is directly below Denmark.

I has a long history of seafaring and fishing, but for many the Kiel Canal is probably the main association. I have no pictures of the canal here, but I concentrate on the main inlet and quayside. *Other pictures from Schleswig-Holstein can be found in the video Eiderstedt : https://youtu.be/yO0lwxRFNxc *

Each year there is a sailing event, for the english similar to Cowes Week, for Americans I don’t know of the closest equivalent, Sorry! * If someone could let me know I would appreciate it as I will post my video on the “Kieler Woche” event soon and would like to give a better cultural context. Thanks.* See link below.

The German Navy has a base here and this is the home port of Gorch Foch, the 3, mast sailing ship used for German Navy training.

Kiel suffered in the war. The U-boats being based in Kiel in the last war (WWII) means that much was bombed. Interestingly my Grandfather, a Czech, actually bombed Kiel in the war. We found his old log book and the name stuck out… of course.

Most visitors probably use the town as a transit for a ferry to Scandinavia, but I personally find the place interesting in its own right, and not only because of my wife’s history.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel_Week
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorch_Fock_(1958)