Harz Towns: Walking through History
I’ve spent the last few months perfecting my daily routine and waiting patiently for summer. So when I got a chance to spend a weekend at a friend’s place in north Germany, I took it despite knowing that the north German summer feels more like the Mumbai monsoon. Even as rainy weather cancelled our trip to the North sea, we found ourselves in the fairytale towns of the mysteriously beautiful Harz mountains!
I took one look at the towns and knew that this would have, in fact, been my plan A! As fate would have it, I found some photos from these towns saved in my Instagram library as “places I want to visit”. We first reached Goslar, and I soon realised how much I have missed strolling through medieval German towns.
Goslar was one of the most important places in Germany for centuries, and miraculously survived the war without any damage. It is home to 1800 old half-timbered houses sprinkled through the city, and its cultural importance anchored Goslar’s position among the 51 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany. The perfect half-timbered houses and the narrow streets stretch as far as the eye can see, and the Harz mountains embrace the town from all sides. The simplicity of these houses gives the town a fresh rural look, and visiting such a place is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise routine urban life.
Despite being in such a historical place, I have no shame in admitting that I didn’t do anything touristy (guided tours, museums etc). Instead, I was a traveler strolling through the gorgeous streets, gawking at every old house and getting a feel of the town! My friends and I spent most of our time battling the weather: which showed no mercy in the morning but turned sunny in the evening. And just as I thought this town couldn’t get dreamier, I saw a little choo-choo train riding through the old town. How lovely! Goslar was clearly still stuck in the medieval times, and was comfortably showing it off.
Aimlessly walking through the town has one advantage: you have no idea what you’re about to see next. So, when the narrow streets took us to the canals of Goslar, nostalgia hit me harder than I could have imagined. We had our very own little Amsterdam tucked in the Harz mountains, with lesser crowd and the prettiest houses as company! I said goodbye to Goslar in a few hours, not having thought it would warm my heart so much. Special thanks to the German shopkeeper who chatted with me about my hometown (Mumbai) and complimented me on my German fluency. It only takes so much to make an expat’s day :)
Our next stop was a quick one, the quaint town of Quedlinburg, which followed her sister Goslar into the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The narrow, cobblestone streets are lined with over 1300 half-timbered houses and the whole town stands tall, unscathed by the wars. We couldn’t spend much time here, but we celebrated the surprisingly good weather like the Germans, drinking cold coffee in the historic town square.
I have lived long enough in Germany to know that their fairytales are pretty dark, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that these beautiful towns nestled in the Harz mountains are known for their witchcraft. Witches were everywhere, on every souvenir in the gift shop. Legend says that witches meet up in the Harz mountains every year on the last night of April. Well, this witch was a little late to the party, and forgot her broomstick at home :P If there ever was a town appropriate for fairytales, it was this. It was impossible to click a single bad photo and the poet in me was secretly crying of joy, hoping and knowing that she will soon birth some poetry about this paradise.
Even though I picked up postcards and fridge magnets from these towns, the most important souvenir was intangible: the experience of walking among the oldest houses in the country and on the streets that defied the deadliest wars in history. I don’t know where I will be in the next five years, but a little part of my heart will always beat for these medieval German towns, whose cobblestone streets and half-timbered houses have forever been forged in my memory!