48km (30 miles) NW of Kiel, 34km (21 miles) S of Flensburg

This one-time Viking stronghold on the Schlei (an arm of the Baltic) is Schleswig-Holstein's oldest town, with 1,200 years of history. Everything is steeped in legend, even the sea gulls. According to tradition, the birds nesting on Seagull Island in the middle of the Schlei are fellow conspirators of Duke Abel, who in 1250 murdered his brother, King Eric. The crime was discovered when the king's body washed ashore. The duke went mad, eventually died, and was impaled and buried in the Tiergarten. His followers became sea gulls, doomed to nest forever on Seagull Island.