Around Quedlinburg - City Countryside Sea - Germany 2022 - 7
Stage 7 - Around Quedlinburg
As good as dinner was, breakfast is lousy. They try to prepare as much as possible. But when it stays there for a long time, the eggs get cold, the pancakes tough, and the rest doesn't get any better. If the coffee is thin and at the next table there is a discussion about whether one could get the scrambled eggs fresh, then "service" clearly has been misunderstood.
Today we are heading a little bit further toward home. First on the highway and then across the countryside. Our first destination is Halberstadt [↗]. We want to see the cathedral and the cathedral's treasures. But what did we forget? It is Monday and everything is closed. Never mind, we walk a little bit through the city center with the old half-timbered houses. Here many things have not been fully restored yet, which gives the one or the other street a morbid charm.
Before we go to Quedlinburg, we first go to Wernigerode [↗], where there are more half-timbered houses to see. Due to the proximity to the Brocken, Wernigerode is much better developed for tourism and the available money can also be seen at the houses. We walk a good hour through the narrow streets. Here one could have spent much more time, but the parking time we paid runs out and we do not want to walk back again.
So now we're off to Quedlinburg [↗], where we plan to stay for two nights at the Hotel Schloßmühle. The hotel, also a Best Western, is great. Because Jürgen often stays in a Best Western, we get an upgrade and stay in a Junior Suite.
We are already a little tired, but that doesn't count when we're on vacation. So we bring our stuff to the room, Jürgen parks the car and we walk off.
Since the hotel is located directly below castle hill, we want to go there first. Well, the castle or the monastery is under renovation, but the collegiate church [↗] at the top and the cathedral's treasures can be visited. So we climb the steep stairs to the top, only to find that also here it is closed on Mondays. But at least we have a great view of the landscape from here.
The old town is virtually a medieval museum with narrow streets, cobblestone squares, and many half-timbered houses. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994 and is one of the largest area monuments in Germany.
At the Ruinencafe we sit down and order two black beers. After about 10 minutes the waitress comes and tells us that the black beer is out. So we decide to go for the Zwickel beer that is offered. After about 15 minutes we ask and yes, they are on it. We have to ask twice more and Freya says if it doesn't come now, we'll leave. Well, at some point there are two glasses in front of us and Freya just asks whether the glasses are also available in full? No matter, that is drunk now.
In the meantime, we have decided to have dinner at the Greek restaurant and walk to the restaurant Helena. We sit down, are served quickly, get two beers and an ouzo on the house. Then we wait for the food, wait and wait and then, Freya calls for the waitress. She says "coming in two minutes". Well, after 4 minutes the starter salad comes, then again nothing for a long time. At a certain point, Freya wants to pay for the two beers and leave. There comes the food. After almost an hour of waiting, we are not really hungry anymore. Our glasses are also empty but we are not asked if we still want something. Somehow we take it personally now. To the bill, there are two more complementary Ouzo, but that doesn't help anymore.
In contrast to what we have read, the city is actually not so full. What are the restaurants going to do when all the Chinese tourist groups arrive again?
We walk back to the hotel where Jürgen fetches his tripod. Freya mumbles to herself and follows her husband. When he wants to stop somewhere, she waves him off. You really don't have to reinforce a bad mood with alcohol.
When we go to the breakfast room the next morning, it drizzles, but after breakfast, it is only hazy. That fits well because we want to go to the forest. On the way, we see places named Elend (Misery) and Sorge (Worry) and a lot of damaged forests. We stop briefly at the Königshütter waterfall, which is almost directly beside the road, and then drive to the Bode waterfalls [↗]. Freya collects the bark of bark beetle as a printing block, Jürgen takes pictures of the lively creek.
After our walk, we go again to Halberstadt to have a look at the cathedral and the cathedral’s treasures. This is more a Freya event - but so be it. The cathedral itself is again worth seeing for both of us and e.g. much more interesting than the one in Schwerin.
In the evening we walk again through Quedlinburg. We have chosen for dinner the Cafe Roland and yes, beer comes quickly and the food after a normal waiting time. It also tastes good. There you go.
