A Visit to Goslar in the Harz Mountains.

Oh what a lovely place is Goslar, a small town that nestles at the foot of the Harz National Park.  The River Oker rises in these hills, and starts its long journey, that takes it eventually through Braunschweig.  We wandered beside the river, sat in the square eating ice cream and watched the world go by.   A horse drawn sightseeing carriage clip-clopped by, the glockenspiel figures danced the hours, and we sat for half an hour in front of a former watermill, and watched the overshot wheel slowly circle under the pressure of the gently moving water.  It was a lovely day, which was rounded off by a meal of curry wurst and chips for me, downed with a half pint of beer, and a sensible turkey salad and red wine for P.   The photo above shows part of the riverside walk, with tightly packed half-timbered houses bordering its edge.  The town is a UNESCO "World Heritage Site," and has many fabulously decorated, beautifully preserved, half-timbered buildings.   This is how Braunschweig must have appeared before the bombing of 1944, only on a very much larger scale.

We sat in one of the large squares, and while eating cherry and walnut ice cream, watched the horse drawn carriage of visitors go past.  The day was sunny in parts, and really comfortable for wandering around and enjoying ourselves.

Goslar travel guide - Wikitravel wikitravel.org/en/Goslar



Unfortunately we assumed that a train to Braunschweig would run every hour, but we arrived too late for the 18.10 and the next direct train was at 20.59.  We decided to do part of the journey, and took a train to Bad Harzburg, where I photographed the above attractive stained glass window at the station, and almost lost P, when she ventured into the town for a whistle-stop tour and to buy a litre of milk!    After a forty minute wait, we took another train to Vienenburg, which is the oldest, (built in 1840)  original, still standing railway station in Germany. 

We visited a small, open-air railway museum here, and had time to wander around the old locomotives, carriages, goods wagons, signal gantry, station signs and indication boards.  We eventually arrived in Braunschweig at 21.36, ran for the M5 tram and managed to catch the 22.15 bus home to Timmerlah.   Next time we check timetables for the return journey home, lesson learnt!