Hanover; Saturday, 19 September, 2020

First stop of the morning, after breakfast, was to walk through the station to the square in front of the Hauptbahnhof and to the bus stop for the city tour. Despite the sunny warm weather, the company had decided that winter was coming and had locked the roof into place, but the big windows still opened so I was still able to get some decent photos from the bus. For a relatively small city the bus takes quite a long tour round the main sights which takes nearly 2 hours to complete, so after two full circuits to take in all the views from both sides it was lunchtime by the time I made it back to the station.

I popped into the station to visit one of the wurst stalls for a quick lunch and then headed down onto the U-Bahn to head out to the Maschee. The Maschee is a large lake located to the south of the city centre, and regular ferries operate around the edge of the lake. With all the Covid precautions in place the ferries don’t currently make any stops, so instead of a ferry service it’s more a sightseeing cruise, but from the lake you get some of the best views of the city skyline – most importantly the city’s stunning New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus).

Having done the cruise round the lake I walked the short distance back into the Maschpark which is effectively the back garden of the town hall from where there are excellent views to be had of the the town hall, especially with a clear blue sky and it reflecting in the water of the pond in the park.

From the park I caught a bus back over to the Hauptbhanhof to pick up the start of the Roter Faden – Red Thread. This is a 4KM walking trail that takes a circular route round the historic and architectural sights of the city. It’s easy to follow as it’s a thick red stripe painted on the pavement most of the way round the route. I followed the route to do a near full circuit, stopping just short of the end of the route at the Market.

Along the way I stopped off at the Aegidienkirche. The church was badly damaged during the bombing of WWII and was left as an empty shell. Today it’s kept as a symbol of peace and houses a bell that was donated to Hannover by it’s twin city of Hiroshima. The bell is rung every year on the anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on the Japanese city.

From the Aegidienkirche I continued followed the Red Thread round past the New Town Hall and along part of the Sculpture Mile before making it to the Markt with the impressive Marktkirch and the Altes Rathaus. The Marktkirch and Altes Rathaus bearing testament to the fact that Hannover is the point where Northern European/Baltic building styles stop with the whole area looking like it could be in Tallinn or Lübeck.

From Marktplatz I hopped on the U-Bahn and headed up North out of the city centre to the Herrenhäuser Gärten. These are large formal gardens that were once part of the royal palace and today provide a large green space just north of the city centre. I arrived with about an hour to spare before the gardens closed and about the same time until sunset. It was the perfect time to arrive as most of the visitors for the day had already left so I was able to wander around the gardens with them almost to myself.

After a long wander round the gardens I headed back to the U-Bahn stop and caught the tram back into the city centre and popped into the Lidl in the Hauptbahnhof to pick up some dinner. As I was staying in a suitehotel which included a small kitchenette area in each room I thought it would be Covid-healthier to have dinner in my room rather than heading back out (also with all the walking from the day I was feeling knackered and didn’t really feel like heading back out again).

Dinner and a later drink from the hotel bar completed I turned in for the night.

Weather

Sunny Sunny
AM PM
Hot (20-30C, 68-86F)
23ºC/73ºF