We departed the stellplatz ( motor home parking area) close to the railway station in Elend for Goslar at 10.45am.
Our journey today continued through the Harz National Park where the tall pine trees reach towards an overcast sky. We stopped at the dam just out of Altenau and walked along the dam wall bridge.
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| Goslar |
We continued on and reached Goslar around 12 noon. Finding one of the designated stellplatz (motor home parking areas), we parked the Hymermobile.
After some lunch we set off towards the old part of the city which led the way into town square. The medieval architecture in the town square is impressive. The market fountain, crowned by the symbol of Goslar, the eagle, forms the centre of the square. It is surrounded by the Kaiserworth building which is bright in colour and the Town Hall.
A visit to the Marktirche Goslar(church), St Cosmas und Damian, proved to be interesting.
This church mixes old with new interior architecture and modern stained glass windows.
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| The Marktirche Goslar(church) |
A payment of 2 euros each saw up climbing up the wooden stairs, 231 in total, the last 12 or so straight up wooden ladder, to the bell tower and balcony overlooking the view of the town and surrounding areas.
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| Nearly at the top!! |
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| Goslar Church Tower |
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| The clock and bell mechanism |
Unfortunately we could not read the signs posted on the pillars on the balcony below the bells and were given a taste of the loud ring of the bells, too late to cover our ears.
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| Ringing in the ears!! |
Half way up the stairs there is a viewing room of the workings of the cogs and mechanisms which drive the clock and bells. Steven was fascinated by this and spent a long time watching how it worked and how the weights provided the energy to drive the pendulum, clock mechanism and bell ringing. Not often you get close to such a large timepiece.
The clock reminded us it was time for a cappuccino each. We sat in the Canova
Italian Ice-cream Cafe in the town square with our coffee and an interesting ice-cream plate for Steven and enjoyed the atmosphere . At the stroke of 3pm we were given an entertaining show of the Chimes at the Kaiserringhaus, where the balcony door opened and out comes the king with his horse to the music of ‘Grandfather Clock’ which was followed by workers from over the years in procession e.g.. farmers and miners as the area has history of mining ore.
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| Goslar Clock and Animations |
Click below to read more……….
The mining here was in continuous use for at least 1000 years, before it closed its doors in 1988 due to exhaustion. A variety of metals were discovered over the ages, including copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold.
The town of Goslar owns its level of development to the mining industry. It achieved great prosperity in the late Middle Ages thanks to the revenues from mining, metal production and trade. Many monuments around town give testimony to this period in history.
Goslar has worldheritage listed mine-owners’ houses, underground tunnels and transportation tracks , office buildings and churches.
At 5pm we were back on the road to head for Hameln, town of the Piped Piper. The landscape from here was rich in agriculture, corn, wheat and other produce. In the distance the mountain tops were covered in cloud so the elusive Mt Brocken was not to be seen by us this time.
We arrived in Hameln around 7pm and set up in the motor home parking site for 8 euros for 24 hours and 1 euro for 8 hours of electricity. Steven went for his usual scouting walk to check out the surrounding area for points of interest for the next days sight seeing.