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Published: January 14th 2023
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I am not too much into celebrating New Year’s Eve, and most of the time, I do not attend a party or event, often I do not even stay up until midnight. However, after a year of Covid lockdowns, little travelling and almost no celebrations, Christiane and I felt that we needed to do something special at the end of 2021. We booked an arrangement in a hotel in Ilsenburg, Harz. I had been in the region for a hiking holiday in August and it seems that I had fallen in love with it. Last time, I had booked a hotel in Braunlage in Western Harz, but I had gotten the impression that the Eastern part of Harz was not only prettier, but also that people there were a lot friendlier. Ilsenburg was only 15 minutes from Wernigerode at the foot of Brocken, the tallest mountain in Harz (1,142 metres ASL).
We arrived at our little hotel after dark on the 30th of December. After checking in (and presenting a recent Corona test), we went for a walk into the village. There are old, half-timbered houses around a pond that is located in the centre of the village. Everything was
Wernigerode II
The Crooked House. illuminated beautifully, and the walk around the pond was very romantic. The subsequent dinner in our hotel was, well, okay. I am a vegetarian and Christiane was on a special diet, and while staff were extremely friendly and tried to accommodate as best as they could, I think the cook was not used to cooking our kind of food. We did not mind too much, however.
The next morning, we took things slowly, had a little sleep-in and a late breakfast and then headed into Wernigerode. There is a tourist train in the city that we caught. It was fun to ride it, and we learned a little bit about the city. The city was first mentioned in a document the 12th century, but there was a settlement far before that. It is called “Die bunte Stadt am Harz” (“The colourful city on Harz”) because it has a lot of old, colourful half-timbered houses. Town hall has two impressive towers to the left and to the right of its main entrance, and there are carvings of different professions on each of the beams around the building. There is also a Crooked House. The building used to be a mill,
Wernigerode III
Backyard with shops. with a stream running past it. Due to the wet ground, one corner of the house sank into the ground so that the floors now are not even anymore. And there is the fairy tale castle. Originally, it also dates from the 12th century, but it was reconstructed and changed several times since then. It is now a very picturesque building, with big towers and battlements, gates, and half-timbered houses, some of which have nice wooden carvings. Moreover, the castle offers a nice view of the city and its surroundings. Christiane and I hopped off the tourist train at the castle to take a little walk around it and enjoy the view before heading back into town. We quickly took another Corona test because in the hotel it was mandatory to have a test that was no older than three days, and with this test we were good for the rest of our stay.
Back in Ilsenburg, we took a walk up to the castle there. It is a former Benedictine monastery that was taken over by the local counts in the 16th century. Nowadays, it belongs to a trust and will be turned into an arts and cultural
Wernigerode Castle I
Tower and main building. centre at some point. From the castle, we walked up into the valley of the Ilsebach for a bit before returning to our hotel and getting ready for our New Year’s Eve dinner. There was buffet food, which is never a good option for a vegetarian unless it is a vegetarian or vegan buffet. Again, the cook did her best to accommodate, but there was only so much she could do. After dinner, a DJ came in, and there was “music and dance”. Dance, however, was not allowed because of Corona, and the music was Schlager music, which is, well, not exactly the kind of music Christiane and I enjoy. The other guests (we were by far the youngest) seemed to love it, though, and became more and more active and ultimately started dancing anyway, ever wilder as they got ever more drunk. Christiane and I sat and enjoyed the show for a while, then we got bored and tired and went to bed at around 11 – not without asking for a fill of our hot water bottles. This is of course what you do on New Year’s Eve 😉, and we got the corresponding looks from the other
guests.
The next morning, however, we earned the fruit of our early night: We were fit and not hung over and could enjoy a beautiful New Year’s Day. We went to Thale and caught the cable car up to Hexentanzplatz (“Witches’ Dance Square”). The legend goes that witches meet here on the last day of April, Walpurgis Night, and celebrate a ritual before flying to Bocken where they dance and ask for the devil’s hand. Accordingly, there was a witch museum up there that we visited. It was not an official museum, and the guy running it had put together some real facts and some fun facts as well. Moreover, we enjoyed a beautiful view of the Bode valley below the mountain, called the Grand Canyon of Harz. There are all kinds of tourist attractions as well, but we did not attend any of them, we preferred enjoying the view.
After arriving back in Thale, we drove to Quedlinburg, a very charming, very old city, first mentioned in documents as early as in the 9th century and nowadays a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has incredibly pretty half-timbered houses, elaborately decorated with carvings and paintings. Christmas decoration was
Wernigerode Castle III
View towards the city. still installed, and we were enchanted by the city. However, we did not have much time to walk the streets because we had a dinner booked at a great restaurant in Ilsenburg, called Nagelschmiede. It used to be a nailsmith’s workshop, and nowadays it is not only beautifully decorated, but it has an excellent menu. After the pretty average food we had had the last two nights, we really enjoyed this dinner.
The next day was our last day already. We went to Bad Harzburg and caught the cable car up the mountain. There is an attraction up there that we wanted to try out: A special suspension cable railway that one can ride down the hill. One sits on a kind of swing that is attached to a rope, and the swing runs into the valley past the treetops. It is a slow ride that goes in several turns, and it is fun. We enjoyed it. At the bottom of the suspension cable railway, there was a guided walk that one could take where we learned a little bit about the local fauna and flora.
We went into Bad Harzburg for a late lunch. We did not
find this town to be so pretty. It is one of these spa towns that has seen better days. There was no real city centre either. But we discovered a nice pizzeria with friendly staff and were happy with our lunch. Then, we headed off back home, into a year full of change.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Wernigerode Castle
If ever I venture to Germany it will be to see the castles, among other delights our kids have experienced. I have posted yours on TB's "Palaces & Castles' thread in the Photography Forum. Check 'em out. You have an interesting life Katha, so even without dancing due to Covid and requiring a hot water bottle on New Years eve, I trust you had a great time!!! My New Years Eve was on a Queensland Beach (my sister's place) and the only down side was we had to wait for the hour delayed broadcast of the Sydney fireworks due to Queensland not being on Daylight Saving Time. Mustn't grumble. Every New Year is expectation of the Year ahead. May your 2023 be a good one!