Winter day in Ilsenburg, in the Harz Mountains

I haven't been in the Harz mountains for over two years, after a very intense period of time when I checked, one by one all the colourful and famous destinations in this relatively underrated area in the North of Germany. From the pleasant Quedlinburg to the nature-adventurous inspiring Thale or the surprising gardens of Blankenburg, I've seen almost everything that have to be seen here. However, when checking out a place where I can have a short-term experience of winter - just a bit of snow and some ice, but nothing more, I realized that I've never considered Ilsenburg. For people living in Berlin this destination doesn't say too much, but for those living in Hannover, it is one of the favorite destinations, only one hour away by car. It's their Potsdam, I've been told so I got encouraged to spend one full day in this small town.

We arrived with the HEX after three hours of direct train ride from Berlin. Ilsenburg is very close from another colourful destination in the Harz mountains that I loved, Wernigerode, but it's lacking its business and crowds of tourists that are always on the streets snapping pics of the unusual houses. Practically, for more than 30 minutes upon arrival, we walked the empty streets without meeting anyone. No tourists, no locals, it looked like we have the town only for ourselves.

One of the features of this town is how nature is always interfering with the urban life. Ilsenburg is surrounded by mountains and sound of wild waterfalls is stronger than that of the 4x4 cars, so useful when you are living in the mountainous area.  

Ducks swimming lazily on the lake were the only active beings we encountered for a long while, in the middle of a frozen landscape.

Although empty, the streets do have their own charm, with old 16th century stone houses gently surrounded by bushes of roses that despite the cold temperatures were in full bloom.

And colourful crafted doors adorning local shops or houses which are always a pleasant surprise for the eyes.

Getting closer to the central area - thanks to the many directions leading the few tourists to the main attractions - we encounter gracious swans doing their daily lake tours.

The Harz mountains are also famous for their half-timbered traditional houses, coming in different sizes, colours and historical styles. In Ilsenburg, they make it the big majority of the constructions. 

As we are walking slowly the streets, we finally encounter a real winter landscape, as I haven't seen in a long time. I am not a necessarily winter person, but I grew up with four seasons and winters with mountains of snow that I liked to play with as a kid. 

Everything looks so quiet here too, but we can see the footmarks in the fresh snow, a sign that we are not so alone here. But with one exception, of a dog and his owner, we don't encounter too many creatures on our way.

Breathing deep the silence and the crispy air is a very healthy meditation practice that I keep repeating during the small hiking. I can imagine how beautiful this area is in the summer and how blessed are the people living here to be so close to nature.

On the top of a small hill, there is a small citadel-looking monastery.

It serves nowadays mostly as a cultural center and hosts also a small coffee place that I am not yet tempted to visit, as I want to keep filling my lungs with fresh air and my mind with clear thoughts.

I want to be outdoors as long as the day lights allows, enjoying the rays of light and using my camera to catch the silent local beauty.

In Ilsenburg, even the city hall looks like a doll house, small and colourful and very inviting.

It is time for a break though, and the first stop is at the restaurant of the five-star Zu den Roten Forellen, which has an exquisite lunch menu. I am only for a coffee and a delicious tiramisu which melted deliciously in the mouth. The service is excellent and very careful, the kind that you would love to have more often at a 5-star location in Berlin.

With sugar at high levels allowing to cope with another batch of cold hours, I keep exploring the houses and the streets, surrounded on all sides by the snow-capped mountains.

The traditional witches' motif so frequent in the literature inspired by the Harz mountains are hanging everywhere, included near an old mill dating from the 16th century.

There are a couple of hotels in Ilsenburg, but I would personally be very tempted to see how it is to live in such a heritage timbered house. The prices are more than decent, with the average price for a night in a Ferienwohnung - vacation home - for around 30 EUR. the night.

Some of the streets are ending up in the middle of the forest, but the hiking is relatively easy. You only need some normal sport shoes and a bit of walking training, which I both have so I can have another full mountains immersion for the next minutes.

Although silent, the human presence is there, with some architectural modern variations.

Our next long step is at the other famous local hotel, the 4-star Berghotel, with its stylish traditional-looking lobby. There is another place in Ilsenburg where one can have some bites, the Cafe am Markt near the city hall, but it was very crowded and we weren't so in the mood for a long meal.

How can I think about food when I've just spotted this cute pinky house in the corner?

Or this one with orange with yellow stripes on the top?

Many dozen of pictures after, we are on the back to the train station. We moved up and down around the city the whole day, but Ilsenburg still stays the same. Ready for a new day, a new week...

A Sunday in the colourful city of Wernigerode

I am always happy to return to the Harz mountains, and I still have on my list a lot of places I haven't been too yet. This time, I asked one of my friends who went often during the summer for a recommendation, and enthusiastically they mentioned Wernigerode. This was the answer I secretly expected, as I often read about the specific colourful architecture and the various festivals organized there, among which a Chocolate Festival in October. 

Shortly upon arrival, the eyes cannot have enough of the colours and the camera is moving slowly. I do recognize the usual timbered style of the houses in Harz, but the colours and patterns seem to be the result of a competition for the most beautiful appearance. Some of them are lovely enough to make me smile. It is a joyous ambiance, despite the grey snowless winter (at the time).

We cannot have enough to walk the streets for discovering more special houses. We go Bahnhofstrasse, turn to Bartelstrasse for more colourful architecture, and after we spend some long minutes on Ringstrasse and Breitestrasse. Our main destination is the castle whose majestic presence is overseeing the small streets. Mini trains are touring around the city till the castle. Otherwise, chariots are lengthily transportations for the tourists and offer a slow motion view over the old city. We still have enough energy and want to discover the city house by house on foot.

Unusually for this time of the week in Germany, most shops are open. There is not too much place for modern locations, most of them being old houses, belonging to middle class merchants, turned into comfy locations for the 21st customer.

The walk to the castle isn't that easy and we need to stop several times. The longer stop is in the Lust Garden, a baroque creation of the 18th century turned into an English garden one century later. With the exception of some joggers and some dog owners, the big park is almost empty. What once used to be the Orangerie is hosting nowadays the town's archives. As the park has a high concentration of special flowers and vegetation and I would be happy to return for a visit in the high green season.

After a little effort, at the end of a long walk through the forest, we are finally at the castle. It is the last day of a winter festival and it's plenty of people around, especially families with children, running outside while their parents are sampling some mulled wine or beers. After we have a look over the beautiful Harz area from the top of the terrace, we make a tour of the residence. Since 1429, it belonged to the Stolberg Wernigerode family, and was open as a museum since 1930.

The small interior yard with stone statues leads to various parts of the castle. In one of the rooms, there were drafted for the first time the projects of social security and insurance later adopted by Otto von Bismarck that still makes Germany special within the other European counterparts. The interiors are modestly furbished, with a lustre of well being. Surprisingly, we discover an exquisite exhibition of fans, from all over the world and ages, including some little introductions in the secret fan communication.

It is about time to return in the city, and this time we chose the cobblestoned road, that leads us faster to the old streets of the city. The old townhall and the central square is petite, with painted wood constructions and golden decorations. I close my eyes trying to imagine how beautiful this corner could be under the light of the sun.

As it was not enough art around, modern statues are introducing the visitor busy to photograph the old buildings into the creative ambiance of our century. With so many colours and interesting shapes, everything looks perfectly at its place.

Many houses still remind of the old industries of the inhabitants in the area. Besides trade, mining was one of them, as in many other places in the region.

After hours of walking, we need a good meal. This time, I don't have to search too much, as another reason I visited Wernigerode is for checking a gourmet restaurant recommendation, Orchidea Huong, featured in many German gourmet publications. It serves Japanese and Vietnamese cuisine, very fast and always with a smile on the face. I started with a first time delicious avocado shake, followed by some tempura veggies and Yaki soba. I refused the free plum drink generously offered at the beginning of the meal, but I am happy to have a great Vietnamese coffee. The ambiance and the good are so good that I leave with a shade of regret.

Moving more slowly this time, I pay a short visit to the Schiffmuseum, explaining the evolution of the local urbanism with a beautiful photo exhibition at the first floor featuring the local natural richness. This seems to be the only museum open this time, as the local Harz museum is closed. Many of the tourists here looks to stay for more than one day and probably they can also enjoy more sightseeing and even a hike in the mountains. The accommodation offer is generous, from old luxury hotels to rooms for rent at affordable prices.

Equally rich is the offer of coffees and other desserts. As the elegant Coffee Wien, serving Harz locals since the 16th century, was relatively busy, and I was hungry for a crepe, we stop to the Eiscafé Venezia, who doesn't look extremely high-class but the service is very fast, affordable and the crepe is tasty. Good to try some proletarian choices from time to time, after all.

It is getting late and colder and darker and we don't have too much time left. Shortly before taking our HEX train back to Berlin, we have time to have a look at the local culinary specialities. It seems that people are eating a lot of wild animals around, and I suppose that they are also hunting a lot. For the vegetarians, the offers includes many local liquors and different types of honey. Another not too much known tradition in the area is the porcelain: Hütter, considered one of the smallest factory in Europe, created in 1976, alongside with other small artisan factories. The local legends frequently consider the area as a favourite location of witches hence the overwhelming presence of ugly looking ladies on brooms hanging up in all the shops selling local products.

As we are running back home, we conclude that our friends were right: Wernigerode is a beautiful place that left us strong enough memories for returning as soon as possible.

For more insights about Wernigerode, here is the dedicated Pinterest board: http://www.pinterest.com/ilanaontheroad/wernigerode/ 

Back in the Harz mountains: Visiting Halberstadt

My first hour of getting to know Halberstadt, based on the slow walking the streets on the way from the central station to the central area was a big disappointment. Everywhere I was looking on the left and on the right side of the Richard Wagner street, all I was seeing were old style communist blocks of apartments. After beautiful cities like Quedlinburg and Wernigerode, I was ready to take the first HEX regional train to a more pleasant destination.

The weather was pleasant though and I still kept the hope to really find out the interesting places that I was supposed to visit during my stay. We walked more, noticing a slight improvement of the urban view: more interesting architecture although the streets remained mostly deserted. It was the day of the European elections, but except some old people walking their dogs, we did not encounter too many beings on the streets.

We tried to keep following the arrows guiding us to the historical area, while noticing even more surprising presences hidden in the front of ugly buildings.

Sooner, all the grey will be recent history. In the rhythm of the classical music, we entered the Gleimhaus, where we started with a contemporary exhibition about the works of the German author and film director Alexander Kluge, and continued with the local literary history. The museum was named after Johann Wilhelm Gleim, a local personality and poet, and literary partner of many German's famous literary personalities like Kleist or Lessing. The 'Freundschaftkreis'/'Circle of friends' that he built up in long years of intensive correspondence are the equivalent of the fast and communication of the social networks nowadays.

The meeting with the old city streets changed completely my view on Halberstadt, especially after seeing the half-timbered houses, typical feature of the architecture in the Harz mountains.

For more information about the area, we stopped next at the city museum, presenting an extensive historical overview of Halberstadt. Here we discovered, for instance, that one of the most famous brands developed here are some special canned 'wurst' produced since the 19th century and still available in the German supermarkets nowadays.

In the same yard, there is a special museum dedicated to the local flora and fauna, where you can also hear the different sounds of the many birds living in the Harz area. Since then, we are more careful listening the sounds uttered by the birds.

The Domsquare is the main attraction point of the historical center. The streets around are offering another views of the historical architecture.

After all, it was wise to not give up Halberstadt and continued to hope that I will see the better days of the city.

In the old times, Halberstadt used to have a significant Jewish population that grew permanently since the 17th century, till the WWII. One of the most important personalities was the Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer who introduced more secular studies in the curricula of the Orthodox learning centers in the German lands. We visited the remains of the Baroque synagogue, built by the banker Issachar Berend Lehmann, destroyed during the infamous Kristallnacht.

On the other side of the street, there is the Klaus synagogue, nowadays a museum and a documentary center. A bold cat, one of the many we encountered on the streets near the former Jewish quarter, followed us till there, and made her way through the objects of Jewish art made by the artist Rachel Kohn.

Nowadays, there are no Jews left in Halberstadt, but there is a coffee, Hirsch serving a very fine selection of kosher wines. Named after Aron Hirsch, a local middle class entrepreneurs in the years of glory of the Jewish life, it was created almost 10 years ago.

We tried a huge and delicious bagel with salmon, with fresh veggies, while talking with some of the guests about the place and the memories of Jewish life. Regularly, here are hosted concerts, some by Jewish musicians living in Germany. School children are offered from time to time the experience of a 'Jewish breakfast'.

But more interesting than the conversation were the home-made blintzes. We enjoyed our meals in the small interior garden, with a view to the Berend Lehmann museum.

Thereafter, we burnt the calories walking more on the old streets. Even we went sometimes twice on the same street, we didn't bother as the colourful view, sometimes with some lovely cats enjoying the sun, gave a certain feeling of well being. Even though the number of the people out on the streets that we meet after long hours of walking was easy to count on four hands.

Every time we discovered a new green angle, we realized how wrong we were to misjudge Halberstadt.

The time seemed to have stop many years ago behind the beautiful wooden doors remained mostly closed. Or at least we wanted to wish it was so.

More to the center, the modern life was omni present. The huge Roland, an usual presence near many German city halls, was a bit trapped near the parked cars, but still big enough to look far into the future and to the Harz mountains. The original townhall was built at the end of the 14th century and destroyed during the war. As most part of the city, it was rebuilt respecting the latest construction plans.

Near the townhall, there are the most coffees and restaurants - mostly Italian, but also Vietnamese -, many open on Sunday. After going near another ugly communist-looking area, we discovered Schutzenstrasse, that goes through a park, near the old city walls.

Am Kulk, there is the 15th century old Watertower, the only remainder of the former seven tower bordering the entrance in Halberstadt.

And when we thought we saw it all, we noticed beautiful horses. True is that we previously spotted the usual sign warning the passers by that they might meet horseback presences, but we could not believe our eyes till the actual meeting with the beauties.

On the way back to the old city, the only place where it seemed that the European elections mattered was at the section organized within the Martineum Gymnasium, a piece of interesting architecture itself. More people, mostly old, were coming and going through the big gates to express their political opinion.

Before returning to the train station, the last coffee stop, at the Loeper, where the delicious Ethiopian coffee brought back the energy consumed during the long hours of walking. Everything looked nice, except the surprise we had when after ordering a Coke and asking a slice of lemon and maybe some ice: we received some lemon juice instead that we were told to add to the glass, and some pieces of fridge snow instead of the ice cubes.

But by then, we knew already that Halberstadt is really worth a Sunday visit and we did not bother to argue against the usual Coke table manners. We were taught another good lesson in travel: never made a conclusion about a place only after the first 60 minutes of walking. There might be always something better waiting for you on the next street.

For more insights from Halberstadt, have a look at the dedicated Pinterest board: http://www.pinterest.com/ilanaontheroad/halberstadt/