Lübeck

Lübeck, officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and the second-largest city in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, after its capital, Kiel. It is the 36th-largest city in Germany. The city lies in the Holsatian part of Schleswig-Holstein, at the mouth of the Trave, which flows into the Bay of Lübeck in the borough of Travemünde, and on the Trave's tributary Wakenitz. The island with the historic old town and the districts north of the Trave are also located in the historical region of Wagria. Lübeck is the southwesternmost city on the Baltic Sea, and the closest point of access to the Baltic from Hamburg. The city lies in the Holsatian dialect area of Low German. Before 819, Polabian Slavs founded a settlement which they called Liubice at the confluence of the Schwartau and the Trave.