Lübeck's Altstadt is famous for its Gänge (passages) and Höfe (courtyards) — narrow alleys cut between the merchants' houses on the main streets that open into tiny inner squares lined with tiny dwellings. These were the housing of the urban poor in the late medieval and early modern city: dockworkers, washerwomen, day labourers crammed into one-room cottages behind the rich merchants' houses.
Of the hundreds that once existed, about ninety survive. The Füchtingshof and Glandorps Gang are the largest and most beautiful. Some are private; many are open during daylight hours and are signposted. A quiet, free, and easy way to step five centuries off the main streets.