Organic Bremerhaven

Located at the mouth of the river Weser, the port of Bremerhaven has been ensuring the hanseatic city of Bremen's access to the sea for sea-going ships since the 1820ies. While the container port (and unfortunately also the cruise ship terminal) continue to be important sea hubs, the historic ports of the Havenwelten ("port world") with maritime museums of all kinds make the family-friendly city a perfect destination for everyone interested in science, ships, and (e)migration.

A destination of the easy-going Weserradweg bicycle route Bremerhaven can not only be reached by regional train from Bremen, but also comfortably by bike.

Eat, drink and sleep

Since the Findus cafe and restaurant re-invented itself as an organic bakery during the covid-19 pandemics and staff shortage has been prevailing there was a period of time during which it was impossible to find a place to have (predominantly) organic dinner.

Fortunately this has changed Tuesday through Saturday as the restaurant of the sustainable Hotel Bremerhaven, the Übersee, is offering coffee, dinner and a drink in style with a view at the marina again. If you ever wanted to taste the sailor's one-pot dish of lobscouse, this is your chance (to make sure that the corned beef used that very day is organic ask whether it comes from the "Hof Icken" farm, a regular supplier to the restaurant). While omnivores may have the pleasure of feasting on a small selection of dishes typical for the region, vegetarians and vegans are catered for with salad, curry, pasta and/or risotto – and a regional soup.

The bar menu offers organic options for all types of beverages, even spirits: Scan the menu for the "bio" keyword to find them.

The hotel itself takes a lot of efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of your stay, and tries to make sustainable choices for you, including organic options for breakfast. Unfortunately you have to be a hotel guest to have breakfast here as the bistrot opens to the general public in the afternoon.

For (a late) breakfast, lunch or a very early dinner take the chance to eat out at the cafe cum restaurant of the Deutsches Auswanderer­haus, a museum dedicated to German emigration to the Americas. Referring to the mass catering to emigrants the restaurant is dubbed Speisesaal ("dining hall"), with an interior design hinting at the impersonal and overwhelming feel of refectories without creating an unpleasant atmosphere. During the warm season a spacious outdoor terrace facing the quays of the so-called new port in the Havenwelten area adds a beautiful view to extremely tasty food.

The menu consists of two parts: Fully organic, predominantly vegetarian international lunch classics like pasta, stews, and gratins, and not necessarily organic maritime classics like fish soup or fish'n'chips. The organic dishes and beverages are all marked "bio" and can be recognised by the red font colour on the menu. Fish and seafood come from responsible sources. Naturally the milk for coffee drinks is also organic. Staff shortage may occasionally lead to slow service, so enjoy the view and be a little patient.

While the Speisesaal is open to the general public, the self-service restaurants inside the Klimahaus 8° Ost a few steps away can only be accessed with a valid ticket to the museum. The museum features places located on the same lattitude like Bremerhaven as an interactive journey through the (changing) climate zones of the earth and as such is highly recommended by itself.

Before or after the "journey" you can enjoy partially organic and predominantly vegetarian food (eggs and pasta are promised to be organic), organic orange juice and soft drinks at the restaurant Längengrad. Fish and seafood carry MSC certificates, and there are no meat dishes.

Approximately after half the walk through the museum, past the exhibition over the river landscape of Cameroon, you'll find Cafe südwärts where you can have an organic break with a "Lebensbaum" tea, a "Vivani" chocolate bar or a soft-drink of either, the "Bionade" or the "Voelkel" brand.

The museum's shop is accessible for non-visitors from the entrance, the so-called Havenplaza. It offers environmentally and socially resposibly produced gifts and dry food, but unfortunately does not serve (fairly traded) coffee.

To have an organic coffee not connected with a museum you have to walk longer south, to the Fischereihafen ("fish port"). Here you'll find a small owner-run café, Grethe's, directly located at the quay. All coffee and milk is organic here, as are most of the ingredients for their cakes and vegetarian food. You can have burgers, pasta dishes, soups and stews, and most drinks apart from a few spirits are organic, too. Unfortunately also this presumably lovely place with its art gallery located in a former motor workshop closes at 6 pm and keeps open only three days a week.

An organic coffee or snack can also be had from the self-serviced cafe of the ALECO Biomarkt in the neighbourhood of Lehe, an urban train stop away from the main station.

Food and necessities

The old town of Bremerhaven sports a cosy organic package-free shop, the Glückswinkel. As most dedicated zero waste shops it offers organic and responsibly produced small-scale regional food, sustainable household items and cleaning agents, clothes for babies and toddlers, repair sets, nice gifts and more – but also fresh organic produce of the Findus organic bakery a few steps away.

The organic supermarket nearest the main train station is Der Bioladen in the streets around Holzhafen, the part of town that from 1877 for about half a century was used to land and process timber. Note that these two traditional organic supermarkets close at 6 pm and are closed on Saturday afternoons.

To find an organic supermarket with more liberal opening hours you have to go to the neighbourhood of Lehe: There you find a branch of the regional ALECO Biomarkt chain which runs many organic supermarkets in the North of Germany.

• Übersee, Am Neuen Hafen 19, Tue–Sat 14–22
• Speisesaal at Deutsches Auswandererhaus, Columbusstr. 65, daily 10–18
• Grethe's – Café am Kai, Fischkai 57, Fri–Sun 12–18
• Längengrad inside Klimahaus, Am Längengrad 8, daily 10–17, closed Dec 24,25,31 and Jan 1
• Cafe südwärts inside Klimahaus, Am Längengrad 8, daily 10–17, closed Dec 24,25,31 and Jan 1
• 8° Ost, Am Längengrad 8, daily 11–19
• Glückswinkel, Bürgermeister-Smidt-Str. 196, Tue–Fri(Sat) 10–19(15)
• Der Bioladen, Friedrichstr. 19, Mon–Fri(Sat) 8–18(13)
• ALECO Biomarkt, Langener Landstr. 28, Mon–Sat 8–20

Closed

Bremerhaven's only fully organic day cafe Findus resettled its activities during the covid-19 pandemics and became an organic bakery only. There are plans to re-open the cafe in 2024, so check on location and/or ask at the Glückswinkel.

• Findus, Bürgermeister-Smidt-Str. 212
• Grünschnabel, Theodor-Heuss-Pl. 17 (organic supermarket)

Germany: Bremen and Lilienthal

The hanseatic city of Bremen is one of Germany's most bicycle-friendly cities and a destination of several short and long distance well-kept bicycle routes, among others the Weser bicycle route. Given the shortage of bicycle space in rapid long distance Deutsche Bahn trains it may however be challenging to get here by train with bikes, especially on short notice and during high traffic periods on summer weekends or school and public holidays.

The city has been climate- and environmentally (as well as socially) conscious for a much longer time than most other major German cities, and so you'll find probably many more interesting places than I am able to list here.

• Coffee and tea houses
• Restaurants and fast food eateries
• (American) bars
• Ice-cream
• Package-free and zero-waste shopping in Bremen and adjacent Lilienthal
• Convenience stores open on Sun- and holidays

Public transport and bike rental

Bremen has a generally well working tram and bus system for which tickets are easily available from ticket machines inside the vehicles. As these ticket machines accept cash you can travel without additional carbon dioxide emissions generated by data tracking apps.

People in Bremen use the bike a lot: With many bicycle lanes, bicycle-first streets paved in red and virtually no hills it's convenient to ride a bike even with a Dutch bike and when it's raining. Compared with other major (German) cities most car drivers are used to bike trafffic and behave respectfully.

To rent a bike there are several app-based schemes. I prefer the friendly service of local bike shops which not only spares the climate for extra carbon dioxide emissions by privacy-invading data tracking, but allows for chats with interesting local people.

Unfortunately, the most convenient of them, the ADFC-Radstation at the main train station closed in 2021 in consequence of the covid-19 pandemics. So you have to invest half an hour or so to find one of the reliable bike shops with rental service during their opening hours. You may prefer to ring in upfront to make sure a bike is waiting for you (especially for the weekend). Prices in 2022/23 were about 12 EUR per day for a 3 to 6 gears city bike.

Most of the shops I am aware of are in the bicycle-friendly neighbourhood of Neustadt: The Fahrradstation Neustadt (which I have not used yet) and Fahrrad Witt a few steps from the tram stop "Pappelstraße" are both located south-west of the river Weser. The Witt bike shop is very convenient as you can return the bike out of their opening hours: Lock it to a chain in front of the shop, put the key into the letter box and send a text to the shop. The number also works as a help line in case the bike is broken, even outside the opening hours.

While the Witt bike only has three gears, the third Neustadt-based bicycle rental, 1-2-3 Rad at Buntentorsteinweg, rents out six-gear bikes with a hub dynamo at the same price plus a 30 EUR deposit which you'll get back when you return the bike. They also offer bikes for kids and youth (as well as tandems) and run a rikshaw service.

From the main train station tram no. 6 to Arsten will take you there. A little German is helpful in order to communicate with the friendly (but nerdy) mechanics. Do not hesitate to return with the bike when you find it misbehaving after the first few hundred meters. As long as you stay polite they will see whether they immediately can fix the problem or hand you a new bike. I also love the place for their hand-written (and stamped) receipts.

Renting bicycles for kids isn't easy, but with the Bartels bike shop in Oberneuland there's a second bike shop which is happy to help you if you let them know in advance. They also rent out child carriages (your kid should be able to sit, though). The downside is that this shop is quite a way from the city.

• Witt, Langemarckstr. 232, Tue–Sat 10–13,Tue–Fri 15–18 (summer-closed until Sep 4th, 2023)
• Fahrradstation Neustadt, Lahnstr. 33, Tue–Sat 10–13,Tue–Fri 14:30–18
• 1-2-3 Rad, Buntentorsteinweg 270, Mon,Tue,Thu,Fri(Wed,Sat) 10–18(13)
• Bartels, Oberneulander Landstr. 39, Tue–Sat 10–13,Tue–Fri 15–18

Closed

• ADFC-Radstation, Bahnhofspl. 14a