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History, Harz and Heath
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History, Harz and Heath

The title says most of it, Saxony Anhalt and Lower Saxony, cradle of Medieval Germany and gorgeous scenery. Read more
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    August 11, 2025
    Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler
    1

    Once More Into the Breach

    August 11, 2025 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

    This year's big adventure, back to Germany. Might be the last time for a long time, though there are a few sites (okay Aachen) that we haven't seen and won't be seeing on this trip. When we seriously began planning our trips over here, there were a handful of places I really wanted to visit. More were added as I did research. It would take mo ths to see them all, so we had to compromise. This time, we're hitting a few of them: the towns of the Harz mountains for medieval history, Harz National Park for hiking and scenery, one night in Spreewald for the Biosphere Reserve and Sorb open air museum, and Luneburg Heath for the heather bloom.

    So this one's going to be full of kings, emperors, nobles, nuns, bishops, backstabbing, war, and witches. There's also going to be pretty and interesting scenery. The Harz was one of the regions that inspired Goethe, and I read Faust (ugh a POEM) in preparation. Another bummer like his book The Sorrows of Young Werther. We also hope to hike the former Inner-German border. So fewer churches, less music oriented, and hopefully no need to buy another suitcase for all the schnapps and pickles.    Read more

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    212

    In Transit: Hanover, Germany

    August 12, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F

    Our flight was surprisingly on time, mainly thanks to the organized Discover/ Lufti ground staff in Philly. It was a nice flight, food not too bad, plane not too warm. Steve slept. I didn't.

    There was a pretty orange moon at one point and I tried to take a picture. It didn't come out as there was too much light behind me on the plane. Tried again later when it was back to white, also not so good. The morning sky was cloudy and pastel, pretty, but the wing was in the way.

    Good transfer at Frankfurt. We're getting to know the airport pretty well. Quick immigration. Luggage took a bit, but we got the Starry Night suitcase and found the train. Picked up sandwiches at a bakery and off we went to Hannover. We passed through Fulda again, this time west into east instead of the other way. Still no tanks.

    Picked up the car and then onto the Autobahn (cue Kraftwerk). Only managed about 130 in the no speed zones, but most of it was posted due to construction, maybe. A lot of construction...

    We reached Goslar. It's a pretty town, full of historical fachwerk (half timbered) houses. Our apartment is nice, and I wish we were staying longer.

    Will post day 1 of Goslar tomorrow. I've slept maybe 30 minutes in the last thirty-six hours, and am about to go to bed.    Read more

  • Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler
    111

    Goslar Views

    August 12, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    We finally got to Goslar, stop one on our itinerary. Goslar is an important town in German Medieval history, as it was the location of a Kaiserpfaltz, and imperial residence, and because of the nearby silver mines.

    The settlement on the Gose River is mentioned for the first time in documents 979 AD in a deed issued by Emperor Otto II, though there had been iron mines and smelting from the 3rd Cent AD. The area was an important part of the Saxon homelands of the Ottonian dynasty, and gained more importance when silver was discovered nearby.

    Goslar became a central point of government when Heinrich II convened a religious synod there in 1009 (yes, back then kings declared these things), and from then became the central place for Imperial and dynastic business in the Saxon part of the Holy Roman Empire. This was carried on under the Salian Dynasty, and Conrad II expanded the imperial footprint, beginning the building of the current Kaiserpflaz. His son, Heinrich III settled on Goslar as his favored residence, but as the empire was far flung and the emperor had obligations to appear around his domains, was only recorded as staying there about twenty times. Henry’s heart was buried in Goslar, the rest of him in the Salian vault in Speyer Cathedral.

    The next few hundred years were filled with intrigue, infighting, uprisings, church and state tensions (looking at you, Heinrich IV), anti-kings, and treachery. The next dynasty, the Hohenstaufens, including one of my favorite historical figures, Frederick Barbarossa, staged important ceremonies in Goslar. It was here that he appointed the Welf duke Henry the Lion ruler in Saxony (the medieval part, not the modern state) and Bavaria, to be imperial baliff of the mines. Not a smart move in hindsight, as it led to Henry and his forces badly damaging the mines when he was deposed in 1180. Interesting side note: Henry the Lion was the son-in-law of Henry II Plantagenat of England, and fled to his father in law’s French lands during his frequent spats and resultant banishments with his Hohenstaufen overlords.

    Stormed and plundered in 1206 during a dispute over the German throne (Welf v Hohenstaufen as per usual at this time), the current of German imperial history shifted from the region. The city gained market rights in 1219, the commercially minded citizens joined the Hanseatic League in 1267, trading in silver, slate, vitriol and Gose beer, which you can still drink today in at least one brewery in town. In 1290, the city gained its status as a free imperial city, meaning it could take care of itself, thank you very much, aristocrats.

    With a boom in the mining industry in the 1500s, there was increased friction between the town and the Dukes of Brunswick- Lüneburg, who seized the mines and much of the surrounding forested lands. The city embraced Protestantism, was put under imperial ban (Charles V), and in response joined the Schmalkaldic League, which looked good on paper, but didn’t perform so well in the field. Their defeat by Imperial forces, allowed the Welf dukes to take the mines. The Thirty Years War was particularly hard on the city, leading to financial crises, occupation by the Swedish, and et cetera.

    It remained an imperial city, sinking in importance, falling further into financial ruin, despite reforms enacted by the Siemens family (yeah, those guys, we mostly think of in re: World War II and now modern electronics), until it was annexed by the Prussians in 1802. But Goslar’s struggles weren’t over yet. It changed hands a few more times: Kingdom of Westphalia, Kingdom of Hannover (thank you Metternich and the Congress of Vienna). During this period the cathedral was sold off and torn down. It went back to the Prussians in 1866 after the Austro-Prussian War, and became a garrison town of the Prussian Army. In their quest to establish their legitimacy, the Hohenzollern (yes, again, those guys) emperors restored the imperial palace.

    Goslar escaped strategic bombing in WW2, despite war-industry works (supported by subcamps of Buchenwald and Neuengamme) and a nearby Luftwaffe base. I’ve heard on a few videos, this was largely because there was a POW hospital in the town, but who knows. After the war, it came under British control, and later became a garrison town for the West German army and border police as it was close to the inner German border. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the closing of the Rammelberg mines in 1988, the city again suffered a serious economic blow.

    So why are we here? It’s the gateway to the Harz Mountains. It has a lot of fachwerk (half timbered) houses and if you recall my rambling on about them back when we went to Bavaria, you know I love those things. There’s an imperial palace, and I’m a big fan of that sort of thing-- the HRE under the Germans (before the Hapsburgs took it over) is a part of history that holds a lot of interest to me. Pretty town, interesting history, close to nature. What’s not to like?

    Pictures are various interesting buildings including the old mint, the old Rathaus, and the famous Ducat Maniken statue (the little man excreting coins) on the corner of the old Guildhall of the Cloth Merchants.    Read more

  • Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler

    Along the Walls and Water

    August 12, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    Honestly, we were just killing time until we could go eat, then go to bed. We were both tired, so walked around an area behind /next to the Altstadt and the imperial palace. It was a pretty area filled with half-timbered house, a waterway with a reconstructed mill, the Tin Figure Museum (maybe tomorrow, time determining), and the remnants of the outer defenses.

    We found the Judenteich-- the Jews' Pond, but according to the sign nearby they don't have any idea why it was named that. It's proximity to the Jewish cemetery might be a clue. That and the nearby Kahnteich are said to be relics of when that area was a moat between the outer stone defensive wall and an inner earthern wall. Knowing that, one can see it. As this was a major imperial residence at one time, and the Saxon nobles were always staging uprisings (even when the king was one of their own), it would make sense to have elaborate defenses.

    Also included the house (outside only) where the famous Romantic Era writer Goethe stayed while visiting the Harz. Yes, him again. One would think I really liked his writing, but you just can't get away from him here.    Read more

  • Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler
    1

    Dinner

    August 12, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F

    Gratuitous food posting...

    Dinner was at the Brauhaus Goslar, because of the beer. They brew Gose beer, based on the Medieval recipe including salt and coriander. Because of this, the beer doesn't pass under the German Beer Purity Act. It was good though. His; dunkel. Mine: with cherry liqueur.

    As for food, apparently it's Pfifferlingsaison! Mushroom season. So there was schnitzel with spätzle and mushroom cream sauce with a salad (ew who needs that to bring you down), and beef rouladen stuffed with speck and wild mushrooms in Gose beer sauce, Bratkartoffeln and red cabbage. A good first German meal.

    After that, we shared one scoop of hazelnut ice cream on the way back, forgoing the Schlumpf (known to American as Smurfs) flavor. If my German were better, I might have asked if it was made of real Schlumpfs.

    Also special treat: the carillion played while we were eating, and part of it was the miners' song I inundated everyone with on our Christmas Market trip, "Gluck Auf"    Read more

  • Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler
    13

    Marktkirche St Cosmas und Damien

    August 12, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    We actually saw this before dinner, and got in under the wire. Built as a Romanesque church in 1151, but was redone in a more Gothic style as the years went on. It was not THE church of imperial Goslar, that was at the end of the Hoherweg next to the palace. It did, however, survive, and that one didn't. Like most churches around here, it went Protestant when its town did (1521 in this case).

    Of note: stained glass windows of the lives and martyrdom of Sts Cosmos and Damian, which are among the oldest cycle stained glass in Northern Germany (1250). There's also a baroque altar, and a Renaissance pulpit. Nice church, big, but I do miss those overdone churches of Catholic Bavaria, though their aesthetics were not always great.    Read more

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    Morning Stroll

    August 13, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    After breakfast, but before the Kaiserpfaltz opened, we wandered over to that side of the Altstadt. First, I took a picture of the garden at the place we're staying, then a bus stop. And why would I do that? Because it's a replica of the throne the King/ Emperor used here in Goslar. The ad: you can feel like an Emperor.

    I wanted to see the outside of he Siemenshaus, just because it's one of those family names that crops up often in German history. Couldn't visit the inside.

    We also walked through the grounds of the Frankberger Kirche which makes up one of the old walls. Again, didn't go in because it wasn't opened. There were a lot more impressive half-timbered and decorated structures. A cute fountain, and then onto the reason I came to Goslar in the first place...    Read more

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    323

    Domvorhalle

    August 13, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    This is what's left of what was THE church in the Middle Ages. It wasn't the cathedral, but they called it that from time to time. It's actually a collegiate church, and was built by Emperor Henry III, whose favorite palace was the one just up the little hill, and consecrated in 1051. It was named after Saints Simon and Jude, whose feast days were on Henry's birthday. In 1056, he entertained Pope Victor there. When Henry died that same year, he had his heart entombed in the church.

    It survived war, Reformation, more war, but lost its importance and more important, financial support. After the mediatisation and secularization of the late 1810s, the church fell into disrepair and was sold off to a builder in 1822, who used it for building materials. Only the front "porch" and a few pieces remain, hence the name--more or less the forward/front hall of the cathedral.

    It was well endowed, and grew.    Read more

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    3

    The Kaiserpfalz Outside

    August 13, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    Still too early to go in, so we walked around the outside. They were setting up for an event, so I'm glad we got there early because by the time we came out the front was a mess of stands, portable toilets, and the beginning of a giant stage.

    The palace was rehabilitated in late 1800s, much of it was to do with the new united Germany, and the need to establish the first Kaiser, Wilhelm, as a legitimate ruler connected to the long duration of German history. We'll see that a lot on this trip, and we've seen it before. Wilhelm and Barbarossa. Of course I didn't get an up close picture of them together.

    Also on the grounds, a memorial to the returned prisoners of war and missing persons of Germany. And for today, a lot of porta-potties, but I didn't take pictures of those.    Read more

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    The Kaiserpfalz I

    August 13, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    Finally, I'm in the house of the emperors. Yes, I've been in one before (Nürnberg's castle), but this is really it! So many historical figures I've read and taught about were here, it's one of those history nerd dreams come true.

    There are three rooms open to the public: the Wintersaal, the Sommersaal, and Saint Ulrich's Chapel. The Wintersaal has a display of the various kings/emperors who were in residence here for some part of the year-- the court moved frequently because the empire was big. There were some artifacts, some reproductions of pictures, and some new ones.

    That's what follows in pictures. My favorite was the king and his guys setting a town on fire...    Read more

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    Kaiserpfalz II

    August 13, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    The Sommersaal is upstairs, and was completely remodeled in that same spirit of "let's connect this new German Kaiser Wilhelm I to the glories of the past". It contains huge paintings showing various important moments of the past Empire and connecting them to the new Hohenzollern rulers. Kaiser Wilhelm's picture is one of the biggest, right in the middle.

    I'll put a link to what they all are-- to the artist's Wiki page, you'll have to scroll down to see. Now we took them backwards, but I'll try to arrange them the right way. (Yeah, never mind, it's late, maybe I'll do it in a re-edit).I also might have missed a few. I was so excited to be there. There's an extra shot of Barbarossa coming out of his cave to rescue Germany though, because he's my favorite, and we're planning to visit his cave soon.

    Also, shots of the various ducal shields and of course, the ceiling, because I like ceilings.

    Wiki link unfortunately in German, but it should be able to be translated up top.

    https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Wislicenus    Read more

  • Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler
    2

    Saint Ulrich's Chapel

    August 13, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    The last public room, and old chapel. Here is where you can find the burial place of Emperor Heinrich III's heart. He didn't die here, but his heart was removed from his body and entombed in the walls of the church of Saints Simon and Jude, the one he built down the hill. Thankfully, they took it out before that builder did something with it.

    So like the old joke goes around here, his body is in Speyer, but he left his heart in Goslar. What was left of the chapel, not really over the top impressive, but Henry's heart... The steps in and out were really sketchy, though.    Read more

  • Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler
    21221

    Rabenklippe

    August 13, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F

    A nice hike, in and out about 7 miles. Unfortunately the first half is all up a mountain. It was also hot, mid '90s no matter what the temperature at the top of the post is saying. So not a lot of pictures because I was struggling on the way up, and while it was pretty, wasn't extremely scenic.

    We stopped to take pictures of that infamous GDR spy mountain, the Brocken (yep, we're planning to go, train ride up and back though, no hiking). We reached the view point, took some pictures, then went down to the lynx enclosure. Lynx have been reintroduced to the area, and they have a few that are kept in an enclosure. They get fed every Wednesday at 230.

    So we had lunch at the hut up there, and I ran down at 230 to see them. No luck. The ranger said something about, "normally they show up, but they're animals..." and about half of the people left. I stayed for a bit, no luck. So went to eat my very late lunch (local wurst and Steve had fried camembert with cranberries, just zitrone limonade to drink, because hot, hiking, and driving).

    On the way down, we stopped by the enclosure and Steve spotted a lynx walking along the ridge. He pointed and all the kids freaked out and dragged their fathers up to show them. Finally, he came up to the front, walked the length, and lay down with his back to everyone. Typical.    Read more

  • Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler
    222

    Grenzweg

    August 14, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    I'm a person of a certain age (on the cusp of old) so have an interest in such things as the Inner-German border. The split between the US and USSR was the background of my life growing up, as it was for all of my generation, whether we cognizant of it or not. Many of us in the US had a happy "Gen X free range" childhood, but even back then (thanks to my father who loved history and current events) I always knew something was lurking.

    So we went on this short hike outside the village of Sorge, along the service road that was used by the East German border police and troops. Sorge is one of the villages that wasn't liquidated by the Soviets/ DDR, though the residents were placed under severe restriction of movement limitations. There are re-creations, sometimes with original materials, of a border tower, road and water barriers (to keep one from crossing rivers), and very good informational signs in German and English. YAY! I didn't have to figure out the German-- we'd still be there hours later. Thankfully, they picked up all the land mines though.

    There's also the Ring of Remembrance, in honor of the people who were killed attempting to cross. It's an outside installation right around the old border. Short video included. Video isn't my thing. I'm tech-challenged.

    Sobering exhibit, but something I really wanted to see. It's very beautiful around there, with the rolling mountains and fields of flowers. Today, there are hunting blinds in the fields (a lot of deer and wild boar here), a handful of vacation rentals in the village, and a train that takes tourists up to the Brocken, passing just in sight of the border.    Read more

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    221

    Okertalsperre and Cream Puffs

    August 14, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 88 °F

    So we doubled back to the west after the border museum. I wanted to see this dam, and go to this cream puff place everyone online raves about, Der Windbeutel König, the cream puff king.

    The water level in the lake was extremely low, and there was no water being passed through the dam. The structure itself was all right. Not the Hoover Dam or Cody Dam, but nice if you like dams. I do. It's another of those weird things that interest me.

    The cream puffs were good. Really good, actually. I felt like, since it was actually lunch, we shouldn't just eat cream puffs stuffed with ice cream. Good thing they also had a few "hearty" selections. We went for the cheese, with local cheese and a whipped cheese filling that was a bit sharp and spicy. The other one, hazelnut ice cream, whipped cream, nuts, and chocolate sauce. Both were good. The drinks, just pressed cherry juice, since Steve was driving.

    After lunch we walked up to see the Romkerhalle Wasserfall, which was more or less dry. Cute statue of the Frog Prince, though.    Read more

  • Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler
    1

    New Place...

    August 14, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F

    Along with the border and the dam, this was our transition day. We moved to the apartment we'd be staying in for the next 8 days. It's much easier doing this with a car, then taking your luggage on a train, because you can see things in route. Of course, if we hadn't rented a car, we would have packed a lot less.

    Anyway-- not a smooth afternoon, and the morning had gone pretty well. First, we decided we'd go see the Teufelsmauer-- the Devil's Wall, or at least a section of it. Looked easy enough. Somehow though, we couldn't find parking, or the wall, or anything. It was reminiscent of our trek in the snow through the Schwarzwassertal last December, looking for the Devil's Wall there. Maybe I'm just not meant to see his wall, who knows?

    Then, after being overheated, frustrated, grumpy (no afternoon coffee), we decided to just go to the apartment, even though we told the landlady we wouldn't be there until four. Yeah. Well, the car GPS (the phone was being hinky, because the burner is old and google maps on it is less than good), kept taking us on a route where the road was closed.

    I had to route us through the town of Thale, which is the biggest tourist trap (not that I have anything against that sort of thing) in the area, and it was packed. So many people. So many cars. It's like the Harz version of Gatlinburg, but with witches instead of hillbillies. Looks interesting .though, and we'll be sure to go back next week.

    As we're driving up the very narrow (barely fitting two cars), very twisting road, speed limit 100 km (yes, it's only 62.4 mph but), with cars coming at us fast and rocks sticking out almost into the road... Yeah not fun.

    Finally reached the village of Altenbrak. It's remote, tiny (not even a bakery or convenience store) and seemed like a great base because nothing is far from anything here. It's pretty, lots of hiking nearby, but that road in and out... Not so sure about that.

    We went back down the mountain to the town of Blankenburg for dinner. It has a castle (now a hotel), a couple restaurants, but was kind of run down. The main reason we went, to go to Lidl and get food for breakfast and a couple dinners. And beer. Success.

    Dinner was a shared doner plate. It was good. The last time we tried doner, was at the Dresden Christmas Market, made of duck. This was more traditional, and pretty good.    Read more

  • Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler
    2

    Wernigerode: Part I

    August 15, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    Crossing the former border, we have Wernigerode, in Saxony-Anhalt. Another town of fachwerk houses, with its own castle, and a beautiful town square, Wernigerode sees its share of tourists these days, but mostly Germans, from what I’ve read. Unfortunately the iconic Rathaus is covered in scaffolding, but I took a picture from the side. The castle is also under construction, but that makes it look AUTHENTIC, as if they're rebuilding the walls after one of the many sieges that took place in the empire during one of the periods of revolt against the king/emperor, or just war between the various dukes or lesser nobles. Or maybe, shoring up defenses in case the Slavs were going to come to seek revenge for killing all their leaders at that party: looking at you, Gero Magnus...(939 invited thirty Slav leaders to a banquet and killed all but one who got away).

    First mentioned in records in 1121 naming one Adalbert of Haimar as count, town rights were granted in 1229, a great achievement and important step up for any medieval settlement. The counts of Wernigerode managed to keep out of too much trouble, it seems, undertaking positions as vassals to a parade of more important nobles until they died out in 1429. Not a bad run for a family in those times, in this part of Germany. The Counts of Stolberg took over, until they gave up to Prussia in 1714, still retaining some of their noble rights until 1876, and even getting a promotion to prince in 1890. Side note: apparently being a prince in Germany is not as big a deal as it is in say, England. Herzog-- that’s the rank you’re after, duke.

    After world war II, Wernigerode found itself on the Soviet side of the line, and became a border town of the DDR. Today, it’s the jumping off point to visit the Brocken. We know the Brocken from Goethe’s Faust, where the sabbath of the witches take place, based on pre-existing legend. We also know the Brocken as the highest mountain in northern Germany, and the site of a Soviet era listening/spy post overlooking West Germany. In fact, during DDR days, the entire mountain was off limits. Today, you can hike (not happening due to time), or take a cool old timey steam train up to the peak (also not happening due to cost, at least at this time). No broom flights, unfortunately, not even on Walpurgisnacht or Zwolften.

    There's a plaque on the inside of the remnants of the old city wall, commemorating/ apologizing for the deaths of people in the city's witch trials in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. As that was the focus of my undergrad thesis and what I intended to turn into a dissertation (darn Latin...) that caught my eye.

    Included here: beginning with St George's Chapel (couldn't go in, on elderly home grounds), the Westerntor (west gate into the city), some carvings of trout (yummy see later), examples of the houses everyone comes here to see, the town hall and famous fountain. You can see the stunning orange of the Rathaus on the side, sorry to have missed seeing it without the scaffolding and sheet in front of it. Also, note all the witches. They've become a selling point for the north Harz region, including holding huge festivities on Walpurgisnacht, people come from all over Germany to participate.    Read more

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    Schloss Wernigerode

    August 15, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F

    It was going to be another hot day, so we decided to take the walk uphill to the castle nearly first thing. It wasn't far, but was steep at times. As we were laboring up a particularly steep part near the top, we heard the little tram/train going by on the road above us. Meh, we saved two Euros each and at today's exchange rate, that's something.

    We opted not to go into the castle, as it was completely updated when it was rehabbed in the Nineteenth Century. We've seen the insides of quite a few castles, some as authentic as they could be (Marksburg on the Rhine), some straight out museums (Nürnberg), and some in their neo-Gothic renovations.

    As I said in the original post-- the work they're doing on the walls was less of a hindrance. Seemed very historically authentic, to be honest, as this area was constantly undergoing war, sieges, et cetera as dukes rebelled against the kings, nobles against the dukes, nobles versus each other, and you never knew when the Slavs or even the Poles might show up. Further south, it was the Magyars and Czechs.

    (You can tell the building was significantly renovated by all of the very large windows)    Read more

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    Das Kleineste Haus

    August 15, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    This house is literally the smallest house in Wernigerode, at 9.6 odd feet wide, and slightly longer. Built in 1792, it has two full floors and little attic. The biggest room is 10 square meters, about the size of a large bedroom. It was occupied until 1976, at one point by a family of eleven.

    Today, it's a museum with various odds and ends, including a mannequin of old Oma on the outdoor privy, a display of dishes, dolls, and kitchen tools. Interesting little place.    Read more

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    23222

    Saint Sylvestri Church

    August 15, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    Today, an Evangelical (Lutheran/Reformed) church, but originally Saint Sylvestri was founded by the early Benedictine missionaries. The original church was enlarged into the current Romanesque structure in the 1100s. Gothic elements were added later, but in the 1800s, it was returned closer to it's original state.

    Some things of interest: an early Fourteenth Century crucifix, a very nice Gothic altar from Brussels (1480), textiles from the 1500s, a Baroque organ, and a sacristy cabinet from the Thirteenth Century. Oh, and a wood carving of Martin Luther. Can't forget that.

    Nice church, very Protestant, in that it's quite plain. As we saw on our last trip to Germany, these Protestant churches in the eastern part of the country are nothing like the ones in Nürnberg.

    And I missed the war memorial, which was outside the church in the back, apparently. A little salty about that, as I like to see them.    Read more

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    Wernigerode Street and Baumkuchen

    August 15, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F

    We made our way back to the car, and again, there were a lot of things to look at. Wernigerode is a very attractive city, architecturally. Our plan was to go to the home of the original Baumkuchen, which is a kind of cake made of thin layers, shaped into a circle. They used to be plain, served warm with maybe a bit of sugar. Now of course, things are complicated and there are various fillings, coverings, etc. We got one natural, one with dark chocolate. The natural was better.

    Then, we set off for the next place: Schierke.    Read more

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    5

    Schierke

    August 15, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    Schierke is a mountain village near the famous Brocken. It's been of interest to tourist since the Romantic Era when writers and artists flocked to the area. At the end of the century, a narrow gauge train line was built, connecting Wernigerode and Schierke, encouraging the expansion of the tourist presence and winter sports.

    With the end of World War II and the creation of the DDR, access to the village was restricted, the rail line closed, and tourism ended. One could only access the area with special permission, and there were restrictions on residents, because it was so close to the Inner-German border, and even closer to the infamous spy-mountain, the Brocken. Some of the hotels and resorts were converted for use by the German Trade Union, Stasi members, and other government officials. A border police base was also established there.

    After the fall of the Berlin Wall, tourism increased, and the train line re-established.

    Schierke is also known for the local liquor, Schierke Feuerstein, which was developed by a local apothecary in 1924. That's what we drove up to buy, for a friend who knows quite a bit about liquor-making. We got a small bottle for us. It was interesting. Apparently it's known for it's reddish-brown color, but we drank it out of the bottle and didn't notice.

    There's a small war cemetery in the village, not something I could pass up.    Read more

  • Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler
    21

    Down and Up to Treseburg

    August 15, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    We wrapped up our great big, very full day by driving down through a series of mountains towns, including one with a couple caves, one of which purports to have a cave bear skeleton in it, until we came to Treseburg. Treseburg is a village, since incorporated into the much larger Thale, that sits at the confluence of the Bode and Luppbode Rivers. It's the gateway to the famous Bodetal Hike, and is also on the route of several other heavily traveled trails, most famous of them the Hexensteig, the Witches' Way.

    There was a castle up on the hill above the village at one point, you can hike (a really steep climb it looks like) up from the road to the ruins. Didn't do it, but might. The town expanded when mining for iron and copper began in the Fifteenth Century, but the mines closed in the Nineteenth. There are some very impressive looking Jugendstile/ Art Nouveau mansions on the bank of the Bode.

    Something I didn't know when we visited: it was the site of the murder of nine unarmed Hitler Youth Volkssturm by American troops from the 19th Infantry Regiment, First Infantry Division on April 19.

    Not a happy way to end the post, so I'll just add, we ate dinner in the village. I had local fish (trout) and I'm not a fish eater, but it was really good.

    edit: the unit implicated in the killings mentioned above was the 18th Regiment, First ID, not the nineteenth.    Read more

  • Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler

    Quedlinburg, the Town

    August 16, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F

    Quedlinburg was an important center during the Ottonian dynasty in the 10th and 11th century, and a favorite of none other than Heinrich Himmler himself because of the town’s role in the foundation of the first German Reich. The castle, church, and old town-- filled with more fachwerk houses-- became a UNESCO site in 1994.

    There has been a settlement in the area since the early ninth century, on the bank of the Bode River. The first mention of it as a town was in 922 in connection with a land donation made by Heinrich der Vogler-- the first Ottonian king. You can read more about him, and his wife Saint Matilda, in another post. In terms of Quedlinburg: Heinrich began the building of the imperial palace, and his wife founded a great abbey.

    The castle was improved by Emperor Otto I, who imported a Byzantine princess (Theophanu) to marry his son Otto II in the vain and really stupid hope of reuniting the Western and Eastern empires. A for effort though.

    In 994 Otto II granted the town market rights, as well the right to tax and coin money. The town joined the Hanseatic League in 1426. Several of the abbesses of the Quedlinburg Abbey (it was always run by a woman), sought to reign in the town’s independence, seeking outside help from outside secular forces. In one case, the Abbess Hedwig had her brothers attack the town and expel the forces of the Bishop of Halberstadt, who traditionally acted as a protector of the town. Forced to leave the Hanseatic League and all of the money and privileges that came with that, the town fell under the “protection” of the Elector of Saxony, and in the end, the town Burghers had the last laugh against the abbey when they converted to Lutheranism in 1539, taking the abbey with them.

    In 1697 Frederick August I of Poland and Saxony (remember him from the last trip, the one who fancied up Dresden?) sold his rights to the Elector of Brandenburg. This was contested by the now Protestant Abbey, which was still putting forth their medieval claim to control of the town. All that was moot when all such institutions were secularized in 1802, and it passed to Prussia, then the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia, then the Prussian Province of Saxony in 1815.

    In the Nazi era, Quedlinburg saw a resurgence, due to its connection with Heinrich I. Himmler was said to have believed himself to be a reincarnation of Henry the Fowler, and Quedlinburg became one of the mystical touch points for the new religion Himmler crafted, with another being Wewelsburg castle. The town was captured by the Americans. During the initial occupation a number of medieval manuscripts and other treasures from the collegiate church were stolen by an American army lieutenant, who had a BA in art so knew a good thing when he saw it. It was found out after the soldier’s death when his family sold one of the pieces to a German organization which was buying back lost German art. That got the church involved, and then the US government stepped in. Details of the whole thing are in Wiki, too tired to go into it

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_of_medieval…

    Being even further east than Wernigerode, Quedlinburg became part of the DDR. It has since become another popular tourist spot for people interested in fachwerk and Romanesque architecture.

    Significant pictures: Roland of Quedlinburg statue, the Rathaus, the super cute green car    Read more

  • Wolpertinger WanderingsHistory, Harz and HeathTraveler
    3

    St Servatii/ Quedlinburg Abbey

    August 16, 2025 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    This is it, the place (besides the Kaiser Pfalz) that I'd been waiting for. Not the abbey per se, but the church built by its founder. It's history geek heaven here on this trip, similar to when we went to Rome so many years ago and walked through the Forum (when it was still free). It's a big, mostly empty as they were, solid construction. I liked it.

    Founded 936 at the behest of Saint Matilda (formerly queen of Germany), as a memorial for her husband Heinrich der Vogler (Henry the Fowler). It was founded as an order of secular women, and as time went on, was usually headed by wealthy, noble women who had great power in the city and surrounding area. It was also a self-ruling abbey with the right to vote in the Imperial Diet. When Quedlinburg went Lutheran under the Abbess Anna II. In the course of secularization and mediatisation in 1802, the properties, territories, and subjects of the abbey went to the Kingdom of Prussia.

    From its founding, it benefited from the patronage of wealthy donors, including the families of many of the noble women who were members. This, along with the abbey’s growing power and religious independence led to come grumbling on the part of the town of Quedlinburg, local nobles, and the Bishop of Halberstadt who thought he should have jurisdiction over the abbey. Of course, this hostility went both ways as such things do, and there was a bit of back and forth over the centuries.

    The abbey is the site of Heinrich I’s burial. Heinrich was the first Ottonian king of Germany and the first Ottonian Holy Roman Emperor, and is considered to be the founder of the medieval German state. Yes, no state of Germany as it is today, a unified chunk of land called Germany. It was a feudal-cultural-linguistic idea, a sense of “Germanness” and the idea a group of particular lands and people belonged together. So that aside here’s the story…

    Heinrich, an enthusiastic hunter who had been duke of Saxony for seven years, was out fixing his hunting nets one day in 919 when messengers arrived from the recently departed King Conrad I saying, “Surprise, you’re up next! Now good luck with all those revolting nobles of which you have recently been one, and oh, don’t forget about the Magyars raiding the eastern side of the kingdom.”

    The rest is history. Literally. Heinrich had a good run. He defeated the rebelling dukes of Bavaria and Swabia. Made a good(second) marriage and increased his holdings, built up fortifications and mobile heavy cavalry to face the Magyars, and defeated them in 933 at the Bottle of Riade. He spread German power in Europe, defeating the Slavs in 929, and in the same year invading Bohemia to gain concessions from Duke Wenceslaus. He expanded German power in Schleswig. All of this made him powerful enough that the other two kings of Karl der Große’s former empire in West Francia and Burgundy both accepted subordination to him, entering into a new alliance. Unfortunately, Heinrich died before he could be crowned as emperor by the Pope. He left a secure kingdom and strong monarchial position for his son Otto I, who almost immediately screwed things up, by feuding with his brothers and the nobles, but managed to get back on track.

    Henry the Fowler is a seminal figure in German history. Of course we wanted to see the abbey and palace (couldn't it's closed) for historical reasons and to view whatever treasures might be left, but mainly, I wanted to visit Heinrich’s tomb. While he doesn’t have the mystical power in popular culture of Frederick Barbarossa, he’s had his cults of adherents and fans over the years, including Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, who believed very strongly he shared more in common with the king than just a first name. Heinrich der Vogler became a centerpiece in one of the mystical cults Himmler created. In fact, there’s a famous picture of Himmler laying a wreath on the grave in the abbey (the picture is down at the bottom of the wiki article if you want to see it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Fowler ) , even though the Nazis closed down the church and stole all of its treasures.

    So this place is a good find for us, combining two of the eras of history I’ve studied quite a bit about in one. Not to mention, it has a great ecclesiastical treasury and I have a fondness for Romanesque churches. I mean, they’re not Gothic, but in a pinch they’ll do.

    Note: the treasury is really small. It's not the Wittlesbach hoard in Munich, or the Wettin hoard in Dresden. Mostly ecclesiastical items, no more than twenty pieces. Still, nice ones.

    Note Two: Pictures weren't allowed in the treasury (wah) or the crypt (WAHHH!), but we bought some postcards, and took pictures of them so you could see what I'm so jazzed about. Heinrich's burial place is third from the end, the next is his beard comb, the last the tombs of three of his daughters and the Abbess Agnes of Meissen, another very influential figure in the time period.    Read more

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