I came across that one a few years ago during one of the Harz tours I did with my father. The ruins of the Stapelburg – only the ringwall, bits of the curtain wall and part of the palas, the great hall, remain – are situated on a hill between Bad Harzburg and Ilsenburg on the northern foothills of the Harz. The land there is already rather flat, so the 60 metres hight hill stands out and offers
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Stapelburg Castle – A Little Known Ruin in the Harz
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It is November Again
Which means I spend the time writing as much as possible during the National Novel Writing Month
I reached the required 50.000 words on Tuesday, but I'll continue to concentrate on writing until the end of the month. Regular blogging will resume in December.
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A Holy Rock – The Klusfelsen in Goslar
The Klusfelsen rock formation is a little known landmark in Goslar, usually relegated to the footnotes in travel guide books. After some initial signposts, I had to ask the locals for directions to get there. And then, passing a small path between some suburban houses, a meadow opened and on its farther edge I found this.
The Klus Rock in the evening sun
The Klusfelsen (Klus Rock) is a
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A Piece of Norway in the Harz – the Stave Church at Hahnenklee
It's not exactly a sight you'll expect when driving or hiking in the Harz area, but there it is.
The Stave Church at Hahnenklee
This Scandinavian looking stave church is located in the outskirts of Hahnenklee, a borough of Goslar. Hahnenklee became popular as spa town in the 19th century, so that a larger church was needed for the visitors to be able to attend service; the parish church had
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A Treasure in the Evening Twilight – The Romanesque Church in Gehrden / Brakel
This one was a chance find. My father and I returned from a longer tour, hit a diversion route which confused the GPS until I got out the good old road map and brought us back on track. We drove through several villages west of the Weser river in the fading light of an autumn evening and came across this beauty.
View to the St.Peter and Paul Church in Gehrden
The chapter church St.Peter and
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Another Little-Know Romanesque Church – St.Mary in Wilhelmshausen / Fulda Valley
St.Mary's Church in Wilhelmshausen, a village in the Fulda river vallley not far from Kassel, was not exactly a chance find since had I learned about its existence when I researched the history of Castle Sichelnstein. So I put the little beauty on the list for a time we would come into the area – which happened during the tour to Castle Grebenstein.
View to St.Mary in Wilhelmshausen
The
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Summer Greens and Blues – The Bruchteiche Lakes near Bad Sooden-Allendorf
We all need a bit of summer greens and blue sky after the browns and dull yellows of winter (at least there were a few days of pretty white snow as well this year), don't we? So here's a picture post about a lovely little lake.
The Bruchteiche lakes near Bad Sooden-Allendorf, first lake
I could not find much information about the Bruchteiche (Bruch Ponds). They are two artificial lakes which
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Sites of the Weimar Classicism – Introduction
When I traveled to Erfurt in 2017, I not only collected some more castles, but I also made a sort of pilgrimage. England got Shakespeare and Stratford-upon-Avon; Germany got Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832) and Friedrich Schiller (1759 – 1805) and the towns of Weimar and – to a lesser extent – Jena, connected with the Weimar Classicism.
Weimar, the Ducal House (Fürstenhaus) (1)
Since
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Sites of the Weimar Classicism – The Park at the Ilm
My hotel in Weimar was close to one of the entrances to the Park at the Ilm, so I decided for an afternoon walk upon my arrival. First, I went straight to Goethe's garden house in order not to miss the opening hours (it will get its own post), but afterwards I just strolled through the park without a list of things to see., But I came across some of the famous features like the Roman House and
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Summer Colours - Archaeological Remains in the Forest near Bad Sooden-Allendorf
I mentioned the Mediaeval ringwall and the Bronze Age burial mounds in my post about the Bruchteiche. Those sites are hidden in the forest which makes for another pretty Summer-in-Germany post with a bit of cool shade during the hot days we just got.
Forest at the Bruchteiche (Bad Sooden-Allendorf)
There is a substantial number of fortifications in Germany dating to the Iron Age or the early
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More Rugia Impressions
Just a summer photo post today. I still got a number of pretty photos from my Rugia tour in my files.
The pier at Binz
I've posted about the seaside ressort Binz here, but got more photos of the beach and the pier.
An excursion boat arriving
Excursion boats to the famous chalk cliff of the Königsstuhl and the spa town of Sellin depart from the pier several times a day.
Dunes with
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The Night the Devil Got Angry – The Teufelsmauer in the Harz Foothills
Once upon a time, god and the devil decided to divide the world between them. The devil should get all the land he could wall in during one night. So the devil set off from the north and all went nicely at first. But an old woman was walking down the Harz mountains with a cock she wanted to sell at the market. Since the way was long, she had started off in the middle of the night. She stumbled
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Views from my Balcony – Summer Flowers
This year, I didn't plant any geraniums and marguerites as usual, but decided for a 'bee friendly seed mix'. It turned out quite well; there are new flowers popping up every few days.
Marigolds, bluebottles and other pretty flowers
There had been a rain shower right before; the drops lend an extra sparkle to the flowers.
Bluebottles, petunias and more
A veritable wilderness. Those flowers
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Impressions from the my Hiking Tours in the Lüneburg Heath
I finally managed to get in a few days of travelling this year – still in Germany, due to Corona. I chose the Lüneburg Heath (Lüneburger Heide), an area between Hamburg and Hannover that still has stretches of various heath landscapes, most of them protected nature reseves.
A hiking way in the Lüneburg Heath
The weather was ideal for hiking, moderate temperatures and an overcast sky, though
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A Neolithic Necropolis – The Totenstatt near Oldendorf/Luhe
Neolithic Tombs can be found in various locations in northern Germany. I've already posted about the historical context and some finds here. Another group of tombs can be found in the 'Burial Site' (Totenstatt) near Oldendorf/Luhe (not far from Amelinghausen) in the Lüneburg Heath. Of course, I couldn't resist adding more big ol' stones to my collection.
Heath landcape with boulders belonging
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It's NaNovember Again
The reason I didn't post anything in November is the usual one: National Novel Writing Month
And here's the winner certificate, meaning I managed to write 50K again, the 8th year in a row..
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Brick Architecture, Hall Houses, Monasteries and more – A Tour of Stralsund's Old Town
The town of Stralsund was one of the leading members of the Hanseatic League and thus one of the few German towns that still carry the denomination in official documents ‒ Hansestadt Stralsund. The historical buildings in the old town are so well preserved and/or have been painstaikingly restored that Stralsund, together with Wismar, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002. There are lots
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It is Nano Time Again – And some Personal Remarks
I know I’ve not been blogging for several months, partly due to private problems, partly because of the geopolitical situation that takes up some of my free time.
Tangermünde at the Elbe river
Another reason is the lack of feedback in the comments and visitor statistics – sometimes I wonder if all the work I’ve put into this blog still pays off, and I often think it no longer does after
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Mediaeval Lanes and Old Houses – Treffurt in Thuringia
It was more or less a flyby visit to Treffurt on our way back from Normanstein Castle. We wanted some tea and a piece of cake, so we went down to the little town of Treffurt – and found a charming place of old houses and narrow lanes; quite Mediaeval in part. (1)
View from Treffurt to Normanstein Castle
The old town of Treffurt brings you back in time: the pavement is mosty cobblestones,
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Half-Timbered Houses and a Graduation Tower – Bad Sooden-Allendorf
I’ve mentioned the German spa town Bad Sooden-Allendorf at the Werra in my post about the Bruchteiche reservoir and already told a bit about its history and the geological foundations of the salt deposits. I recently visited the town itself and collected a whole bunch of photos of half-timbered houses ‒ Bad Sooden-Alledorf is famous for those ‒ and the fascinating history and processes of salt
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Lithuanian Impressions 1 – Klaipeda, Kaunas, Rumšiškes
It’s quite some time we last had a real Back with Booty post due to that Evil C and some private reasons. But this year I did a longer tour outside Germany and spent two weeks in Lithuania.
Klaipeda, Theatre Square
One way to get to Lithuania is to take the ferry from Kiel to Klaipeda, so Klaipeda (formerly the German Memel) was my first stop on the way.
Pretty lane in Klaipeda
Klaipeda
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Lithuanian Impressions 2 – Vilnius, with Trakai and Kernavė
The hightlight of the tour was Vilnius, of course. There will be more detailed posts (I got enough photos, lol), so here’s just a little teaser.
View over Vilnius’ old town from Gediminas’ Tower
Vilnius is a town of churches, Roman-Catholic, Orthodox, and a few Protestant ones. Most of them have been altered at a time when the Baroque flourished in Lithuania, but there are some Gothic ones as
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Photo Parade 2023
A bit of fun at the beginning of the new year. I’m following several German travel blogs, and that way came across the annual Photo Parade (Fotoparade) on Michael’s blog Erkunde die Welt (Disvocer the World). He’s been doing it for several years now, and the replies of the contributors have offered a whole bunch of new blogs for me to browse. Since photos are omnilingual (and there’s DeepL and
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My Spring Tour 2024 – Part 1: From Riga to Helsinki
This year I wanted to complete the tour of the Baltic States, and since it’s only two hours by ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki, I decided to add a bit of Finland to the list. I enjoyed three weeks of mostly sunshine and temperatures unusually warm to hot for the countries so far north. The Fins were shaking their heads at +28 °C in late May; they are more used to about 15 °C and rain. There are
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My Spring Tour 2024 – Part 2: From Turku back to Kiel
Helsinki also offered the chance for a day trip. Turku, the oldest town in Finland, is only about two hours bus ride away, and a nice ride through an interesting landscape it is, too. I put it in this post because the other post got too long already.
Turku, the Aura river with the cathedral in the background
For a long time. Turku had been a Swedish town (Ǻbo), because Finland had been part of
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