Our group of four people booked Apurwa's "Charming condo with patio - 15 mins to beach!" in Lewes through Airbnb and highly recommend it! The condo with patio is just 10-20 minutes from the ocean and has two free parking spaces. It's located in a gated community near Route 1, with easy access to Lewes, Rehoboth, and Dewey Beaches. I jogged in the neighborhood every morning; you can run past two lakes, and across the street, in another gated community, you can run past two more lakes with beautiful fountains. The residents are very friendly and greet you. With vaulted ceilings and seaside decor, this private, 1,200-square-foot upstairs apartment offers the perfect relaxation space. There's very comfortable seating and a screened porch overlooking the tree-lined grounds, so you dont have to worry about insects in the evening. There's a PlayStation, a flat-screen TV, and fast internet access. We played board- and cardgames on the veranda in the evenings and cooked our meals in the clean kitchen. There are four beds in total: a room with a full bed, another room with a full bed and a bunk bed, and a fold-out sofa bed in the living room. There are no cookware provided; if you use the stove and oven, there's a $30 surcharge in case you leave it dirty. Towels aren't provided, and there's no elevator; you'll have to take the stairs. There is poor lighting in the cupboards, which could be improved. There's a refrigerator, a microwave, and a coffee maker. Apurwa is an artist, MS/PhD student in Yoga Therapy & Philosophy, and a wonderful Airbnb host. When the electronic door lock didn't work in the evening (probably due to a Wi-Fi outage), she responded promptly and gave us a code for the key safe. A wonderful Airbnb; we would stay here again! We often enjoyed the screened porch to relax after our beach trips and play games like shithead, whist, poker and spoons.

https://de.airbnb.com/rooms/618752441151150135?source_impression_id=p3_1755284966_P37dgylY7q5fvM3V&enable_auto_translate=false

Our favorite place in Lewes. Originally, Fort Miles, the southernmost tip of Delaware Bay, was a Native American fishing village, later a Dutch settlement, and during World War II, a military base. The fort protected the entrance to Delaware Bay. You have to pay a ten-dollar entrance fee for the state park, but you can also do numerous activities and park for free. We parked in the parking lot at Tower Number Nine and from there were able to walk to "The Point" Beach, a beach with calm waters facing the bay. You have to walk a bit until the water is deep enough to swim, but you can float very comfortably here. If you head east from the parking lot, you can swim in the ocean, but you'll also have to deal with larger waves. It's a lot of fun, though, to dive under the waves, and you can swim normally behind them. There are other highlights in the park, such as the Fire Control Tower 7 observation tower, the Seaside Nature Center with aquariums, and the Fort Miles Museum, which showcases the military history of Cape Henlopen. You can read more about it in my Lewes travel highlights here.

A lovely record store where you can also buy vintage fashion and souvenirs.

My colleagues were really looking forward to the restaurant, which, in addition to its menu's ambiguous references, also offers delicious seafood. It's a huge restaurant with a shop, a bar, and indoor and outdoor seating. The food is delicious; I had fish and chips, hush puppies (sweet dough balls with powdered sugar), and corn balls (corn balls with fish sauce). Highly recommended!

My friends were very excited to finally go to Wawa again. When we arrived, I was very surprised, as Wawa is just a gas station chain. What's special is the kitchen, which freshly prepares delicious meals that you can customize on a screen:

• Burritos

• Hoagies

• Breakfast Quesadillas

• Breakfast Sandwiches

• Bowls

• Toasted Bagels

• Milkshakes

• Smoothies

• Pizza

• Burgers

• Wraps

• Rolls with toppings

• Sandwiches

• Paninis

• Croissants with toppings

The hoagies are truly the highlight, so much better than at Subway and truly customizable down to the smallest detail. I tried the smoothies and milkshakes, and they're also worth it. On the way back, I picked up some toppings (cream cheese) and croissants (bacon & cheese) as provisions. Now I can understand why this gas station chain is so fascinating!

An American chain known for its ice cream. The chain now also offers burgers, fries, and onion rings, but I find it very odd to order a hamburger in a "dairy" restaurant. The ice cream is inexpensive and offers a variety of toppings. The Blizzard ice cream is flipped upside down in front of your eyes to prove how frozen it is.

Located in downtown Lewes, this bakery offers delicious baked goods (a croissant with white chocolate!) as well as delicious coffees and mochas. You can customize your drink with numerous flavors; I ordered a raspberry mocha. I've loved this combination ever since the Camphill Copake cafe offered a raspberry mocha on Valentine's Day. Another day, I ordered a frozen mocha, but they also offer smoothies with creative flavors.

An independent bookstore specializing in secondhand books and rare antiques. There's something for everyone here; I was particularly fascinated by the large selection of books on regional history. Here I learned a lot about the work of German prisoners of war in the region. I bought the biography of Colin Powell. The four-star general served as National Security Advisor from 1987 to 1989 and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993. He served as Secretary of State during President George W. Bush's first term in office (2001–2005). A very fascinating figure and a great biography, which not only sheds light on his childhood in an America marked by racism and racial segregation, but also on his controversial role in the Iraq War. There's a very comfortable seat by the window from which you can watch the hustle and bustle of the street.

A beautiful beach near the ferry from Lewes to Cape Cod with lifeguards and a volleyball court where we played together.

Rehoboth Beach is probably the most visited beach here. It is located right on a long boardwalk where you can find many nice shops and restaurants. Due to its proximity to Washington, D.C., Rehoboth Beach is a popular summer destination among members of the United States Congress. Joe Biden has a summer house here. Rehoboth Beach is also known as a popular LGBT-friendly getaway. LGBT tourists have been visiting and residing in the town for generations.

If you're on the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk, you should stop at Kiwi's Tiki Hut. They offer delicious tropical cocktails, live music, nachos, and seafood.

Our favorite breakfast spot. They have pancakes, omelets, sandwiches, burritos, avocado toast, and my favorite of the place: banana Nutella French toast with fruit. Definitely stop by for breakfast!

The lightship Overfalls LV-118 was the last lightship (acts as a lighthouse in areas deemed unsuitable for proper lighthouse construction) built for the United States Lighthouse Service before it became part of the Coast Guard. Today it is a museum ship in Lewes. The lightship was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, and in 2011 was further designated a National Historic Landmark.

A lovely shop full of delicious sweets and chocolate. The prices are a bit expensive; I paid more than double for a pack of Katjes (German vegan gummy bears) instead of €3 like in Germany it cost $7.50! A very aesthetically pleasing shop with many rare sweets that are tempting to try.

If you want to enjoy a view of Cape Henlopen and Lewes Bay, you should go to Fire Control Tower 7. Admission is free and included in the price of the state park (10 dollars for a car). Tower 7 is one of eleven fire control towers constructed during the Second World War to locate German ships approaching the Delaware Coast. They were not build to shoot ships and were not equipped with weapons. They were built between 1939 and 1942 and abandoned in the 1960s. The towers were the spotters for two 16-inch guns, two 12-inch guns and four 6-inch guns at Fort Miles. An underwater minefield was also set up from Cape Henlopen to Cape May. Towers were equipped with optical instruments for acquiring targets. The most common was the azimuth range finder. An azimuth as a measure along the horizon of the angle between an object and a reference point. An observer and a reader worked together to determine the azimuth of a target. The coordinates obtained with the scope were sent to the battery in Fort Miles. Although build to last only 20 years, the towers stood still after 60.

The Seaside Nature Center is the visitor center for Cape Henlopen. There's a shop here where I bought a state park t-shirt. There are also beautiful aquariums and information panels that tell you more about the biodiversity in the bay and at Cape Henlopen. For example, I learned that fish that live under the docks and pier have adapted to the shadow patterns. They have stripes and spots that help them hide in the shadows of the pier. Fish that live among the rocks that serve as wave cups are very narrow to get between the rocks, yet they can also push off with great force to catch unsuspecting prey that swims past the rocks. You can even touch an osprey skull; they have very large eye sockets for spotting fish during flight, and there are many cavities in the skull to make it easy to see. It's the perfect place to get an insight into marine biodiversity and its adaptability.

Anyone interested in military history must visit the Fort Miles Museum. The fort was named after General Nelson Miles. During the 1870s and 80s he served in the Indian Wars, he was instrumental in the defeat of many Native American leaders including Geronimo, Sitting Bull and Chief Joseph. As commander of the Division of the Missouri, he had overall responsibility for the troops involved in the Wounded Knee Masscare and the Pullman Strike riots. He led the Army during the Spanish American War. The fort is housed in a restored fort that was built in 1941 and protected the coast during World War II. The 2,000 soldiers who waited here for coordinates from the fire control tower to fire their guns on German ships were never deployed. The destroyer USS Jacob Jones was torpedoed and sunk off Cape Henlopen in February 1942. In June 1942, a German submarine planted 15 mines that destroyed the tugboat John R. Williams despite minesweeping operations.The biggest acation Fort Miles saw was the May 1945 surrender of the German U-boat U858 to the Atlantic Fleet. Its crew was taken to Fort Miles, where they were interned and sent on to prisoner of war camps. An American prize crew piloted the U-boat into the harbor of refuge at Cape Henlopen. The guns of Fort Miles were never fired in battle. By the end of the war, most of Fort Miles troops had been retrained and assigned to combat in Europe and the Pacific. The buildings remained empty until the mid 60s, when the US Army started using them as vacation rentals for army staff and their families. After the Second World War, Soviet submarines were searched here. The Sound Surveillance System used 40 hydrophones that were placed more than 100 miles offshore and 6000 feet down. The hydrophones sent noise in the form of electrical signals through a cable to the shore facility. At the facility, hydrophone signals were processed. The signals were distributed as lines on a piece of paper, similar to a seismograph to discover earthquakes. When the lines showed unexpected noises, it helped the personnel to locate and track enemy submarines. I was able to look at a “spotter house” that was build by the US Army Ground Observers Corps all over the coast. Volunteer observers received extensive training in aircraft recognition and had shifts in the spotter houses. Two observers occupied the shed at one time. Often members of a family took turns watching the skies. When the observers identified an aircraft, they filled out an Aircraft Flash Message Form and called the flash center using a phone. I also show a famous turret gun: Barrel 371. On the famous picture of the Japanese surrender on baord the USS Missouri, where the Japanese military delegation signs the surrender, you can see the barrel in the center in the lower turret. The fort provided security to the bay, testing areas for weapons, and training ground for artillerymen.