BALTIC beauty

While exploring Germany’s northern-most province, Schleswig-Holstein, I discovered one of the most typical ‒ and evocative ‒ emblems of its rich seafaring tradition in a simple, stark Protestant church. On the antique linen altar cloth was a long row of ship’s anchors, each one painstakingly hand-embroidered in red thread.

There are similar symbols of this maritime heritage wherever you look: weather-beaten lighthouses, rows of red brick merchants’ warehouses and ‒ on a more light-hearted note – chocolates in the shapes of starfish, shells and anchors.

My trip began in Hamburg where I was met by friends eager to view the