Goslar

In three short days we wanted to explore the northern part of the Harz region. The start of our explorations was the old mining town of Goslar. Here we picked up my sister Isabelle, who would join us for our trip, at the train station and then ventured into the old town.

Goslar has a rich history around mining and as an imperial city with a palace in the middle ages around 1000 B.C. It also has a beautiful old town center with hundreds of half-timbered houses in well preserved conditions. This old town center together with the historic ore mine and now Museum "Rammelsberg" as well as the water systems that were used for the mining are today part of the UNESCO World Heritage and definitely worth a visit.

Due to the ongoing Corona Pandemic the town center was not as crowded as it probably is during most times and we had a lot of fun exploring the old cobbled alleyways, enjoying some ice cream and watching the Glockenspiel at the historic market square.

After our stroll through the own town center we also walked towards the outskirts of the town, where the outer wards are located. Here some old ponds, called the "Judenteiche" made for a great atmosphere. The water is overgrown with a green weed and we lingered for a while, watching ducks swimming through the ponds and creating abstract patterns on the surface of the water.

Then we walked on along the remains of what used to be the outer walls of the city, towards the imperial palace. It did look impressive from the outside, but due to the current restrictions around the pandemic we couldn't visit the inside to take a peek at the giant paintings or the other exhibitions shown.