Sightseeing In And Around Hanover in Germany
This North German Area Has Plenty To Offer Visitors
Apr 19, 2009
Close connections with Britain, magnificent gardens, a year-round calendar of events and Germany’s largest collection of department stores put Hanover firmly on the tourist trail.
The Unsavoury King George I and Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen in Hanover
Its imposing neo-classical Leine Palace is where the heirs of Sophia, Electress of Hanover and granddaughter of King James I, were declared as the successors to the British throne in 1701. Unfortunately the first to inherit was her unsavoury son George I. He moved to London accompanied by several mistresses, sentenced his wife to life imprisonment for infidelity and never learned bothered to learn a word of English.
Sophia helped design Hanover’s famous Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen. Only a 10 minute tram-ride from the city centre, this remarkable park is laid out in formal baroque style with avenues of trees, neat flower borders, fountains and statues. Its summer-long programme of events ranges from open-air concerts to an international fireworks competition.
Follow the Red Thread to See Hanover’s Sights
Parks, gardens, woodland and the large Masch lake take up a third of Hanover's area, making it attractive for walking, cycling and watersports. In December the main shopping streets are filled by a huge Christmas market with hundreds of stalls.
A 3-mile long ‘Red Thread’ painted along Hanover's pavements helps you find your way around the main sights. One of the most imposing is the Town Hall which overlooks the Masch park. Four 15-foot-square models in its grandiose foyer show the city in 1689, 1939, 1943 (after 90% was devastated in air-raids) and today with its wide streets and pedestrianised shopping areas.
Bird's-Eye View of Hanover
For a bird’s-eye view of Hanover and the flat Lower Saxony countryside all around, take the unusual inclined lift up to the 97-metre-high gallery around the building’s distinctive green dome.
Then after dark, there’s nowhere better for a typically Hanoverian night out than Lehner’s Wirtshaus pub in Knochenauer Strasse which specialises in meatballs and sausages washed down with Herrenhauser pils beer.
Lower Saxony’s Cobbled Streets and Half-Timbered Houses
Picturesque little towns are dotted around Lower Saxony and in the gentle foothills of its forested Harz mountains. Their cobbled traffic-free streets are lined with half-timbered houses featuring fancy plasterwork and high gables.
Goslar: World Heritage Site
Goslar’s Old Town area is classed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, having no less than 168 houses built before 1550. It also boasts a Gothic town hall and the Kaiserpfalz imperial buildings which date back 900 years.
Hamelin and the Pied Piper
Hamelin, famous for its Pied Piper legend, on the River Weser is another jewel of picture-book half-timbered buildings. Every Sunday throughout the summer a modern Piper in a jaunty red, yellow and purple tunic re-enacts the story playing a merry tune on his flute to entice the town’s children, dressed as rats, to follow him.
Celle’s Ducal Palace and Stallion Parade
Celle too has a remarkable collection of medieval buildings and also a unique gem - a tiny renaissance chapel - within its icing-cake white Ducal Palace. This stands in large gardens beside the River Aller which meanders through the town on its way north to the Luneburg Heath.
The town’s annual Stallion Parade at the State Stud is a reminder that Lower Saxony is also notable horse-breeding country, particularly for its Hanoverians and Oldenburgers. Horse shows and auctions are held regularly in Verden, north-west of Hanover.
Easy Access Throughout Lower Saxony
Access to the whole region is straightforward, not only by road but also by the trains which radiate from Bremen and Hanover.
River trips are a relaxing way of exploring the area’s heather-covered moors and woods. They can be combined with sightseeing by bus or bike to its many outstanding abbeys and churches such as the 13th-century Wienhausen Convent, famous for its wall paintings and tapestries.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
