At the foot of the Harz mountains just over the border in Lower Saxony, not far from Quedlinburg and Wernigerode, is yet another town with 1,800 half-timbered houses, the epitome of adorable. One of Germany’s hidden treasures with an imperial past whose wealth came from the surrounding zinc, copper and silver mines. The town has remained practically unchanged, making it a must-see UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best cities to visit in Northern Germany!
Throughout Germany, trains play a vital role in the movement and transportation of people and goods, intricately holding towns and cities together. But gone are the days of luxury rides on steam engine trains as they have been replaced by more high speed, modern trains… or so I thought.
Located in the Harz Mountains in northern Germany, historic steam trains dating back to 1898 are alive and well. Considered to be Germany’s largest network of narrow-gauge railways, the principal towns of Wernigerode, Quedlinburg, as well as Nordhausen are all linked together via the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen (HSB), criss-crossing through the states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.
In Germany, you don’t have to look very far before you find a fairy tale village! If you have to, you’re clearly doing something wrong! But, if you’re looking for some of the most STUPID PRETTY towns in Europe, you don’t have to look much further than Wernigerode in the Harz region of Northern Germany!
What could possibly be more idyllic than strolling through a medieval town with over 1,400 half-timbered houses down rows and rows of cobbled-stoned streets that haven’t changed much for hundreds of years on a sunny afternoon? Not much in my book! Quedlinburg is one of the most STUPID PRETTY towns in Europe and it doesn’t get much better than this!!
I know. It’s terrible. Please forgive me now for what I’m about to say! I’ve never felt this way before about any town! Sure, there were a few cities I just didn’t care for that I had had high expectations about, for example, Aachen, Germany. Then there were cities like Stuttgart, Germany that I just overall didn’t like. But never before have I absolutely hated a city and wanted to leave ASAP as I did with Sofia, Bulgaria.
When I first visited Belgium back in August 2014 for the Flower Carpet Festival, I had no idea then just how much I would fall in love with this amazing country. Had I discovered Belgium at a much younger age, my life would have been completely different. Along with my waistline!
Before I discovered Rila Monastery, I knew next to nothing about Bulgaria. The country wasn’t even on my radar and I wasn’t even entirely sure if it was safe to visit the country. Over time, I started collecting other beautiful pictures of stunning buildings throughout Bulgaria. Before I knew it, the country made it on the itinerary for our honeymoon road trip.
While on our recent trip to the Harz Region in Saxony-Anhalt, we saw Germany’s smallest house in Wernigerode, the oldest house in Quedlinburg and read about the country’s oldest surviving industrial structure in Goslar, and it got me thinking about all the superlatives of Germany we have visited and heard about. So I made a listicle of all (ok not alllll) of Germany’s oldest, biggest, smallest, tallest, longest things!
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Ever dreamed of rubbing elbows with the rich and famous? Ever dreamed of laying on a private beach completely to yourself, without any screaming children, obnoxious tourists or loud cars? Ya, me too! Does a place even exist?
