Summer: The temperatures rise, the nights get longer, the skin becomes more tanned. Every student in Rostock, well, in fact every citizen in Rostock knows where is best to go now. To Warnemünde! The little port town of Rostock known for its quaint canal named Alter Strom lined with small shops, cozy restaurants and brightly-colored fishing boats and, of course, known for its marina and long beachfront is the perfect spot to enjoy a hot summer day. Warnemünde has one of the most beautiful beaches in all of MV on offer and is equally popular amongst both tourists and locals.
But before you rush too quickly to the enormous white sandy beach, I would really really reeeaally (yes!) recommend you to make a slight detour via Kirchplatz to the famous ice-cream manufacturer Eisliebe (meaning ‘ice-cream-love’ in German). There, you have to taste what is called Schwedenbecher (it’s mandatory). Schwedenbecher roughly translates to Swedish ice-cream cup and describes a vanilla ice-cream sundae with apple sauce, German egg liqueur (kinda like eggnog), and heavy cream. It has been my favorite dessert ever since I was a kid (even though I was probably still far too young to have liqueur) and I love when the perfect combination of sweet and cold, fruity and sour, creamy and slightly bitter, and smooth and fluffy melts in my mouth. That exact feeling of mingling flavors and sensations has already become tantamount for me to a perfect summer day.
I’m very proud to say that this genius dessert is, despite its name, a German invention – or East German to be exact, in which Rostock was always a significant city. Already a popular dessert in Eastern Germany, it got its signature name during the 1952 Olympic Winter Games when the BRD ice-hockey team lost big-time to the Swedes. East German Communist leader Walter Ulbricht was so delighted by the disgrace of the arch-enemy that he named his favorite sundae after the nation behind West Germany’s defeat. The Schwedenbecher was born.
The special sundae is of course not only available at Eisliebe; you can pretty much get them at any ice-cream parlor in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, but the small, lovingly decorated and furnished cottage with its pastel-colored theme brings a unique experience to it in my opinion. Moreover, the different ice-cream flavors are homemade from regional, sustainable and a 100 % natural ingredients, a modern and healthy philosophy that you can taste. Personally, I absolutely love the Quark-Sesam-Karamell (quark-sesame-caramel) flavor and my tip for you is to replace one or two scoops of the vanilla ice-cream with the quark flavor. Trust me, you will enjoy the absolute best and most unique sundae before you head to the long white beach to spend the rest of your day tanning, sleeping and swimming.
