Pre-Tour “The hidden gems of Lower Saxony”
Monday 30.09. – Thursday 03.10.2024
We invite you to a four-day trip through our beautiful Lower Saxony, where you can get a unique insight into a diversity of landscapes and traditions.
The first day (Monday) will take you to UNESCO World Heritage sites. First you will see one of the oldest cathedrals in Germany – the Hildesheim Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, dating back to the 11th century, but the history of its origin reaches as far back as the year 815 AD. Afterwards we will explore the historic market town of Hameln at the river Weser, where the legendary Pied Piper of Hamelin will tell us his story. We will spend the evening and night there, a real insider tip not only because of its famous legend, but also because of its lovingly restored half-timbered houses and magnificent Weser Renaissance buildings.
On the second day (Tuesday), we will drive through the Weser Uplands (“Weserbergland”) to the residential town of Bückeburg, where the princely family of Schaumburg-Lippe will open up their historic state rooms of the castle, the extensive park and the largest private mausoleum in the world with its imposing gold dome. In addition, you can take a look at Germany’s only princely riding school. In the afternoon we reach the East Frisian North Sea coast, where we fortify ourselves in the East Frisian Tea Museum with a traditional tea ceremony with East Frisian tea and raisin bread. Afterwards you enjoy the sunset at the Unesco World Heritage Wadden Sea.
On the third day (Wednesday), we will drive through the Ammerland to the large lake: the Zwischenahner Meer. There we will take a look behind the scenes of an eel smokehouse and taste this centuries-old speciality of the fishermen on the Zwischenahner Meer. In the afternoon we reach the “Altes Land” region along the river Elbe. This man-made landscape is unique in Germany and was wrested from the marshlands by Dutch colonists more than 800 years ago. Here is the largest fruit-producing area in Northern Europe. We will visit the Farm “Herzapfelhof”, which has evolved from a traditional to a modern organic fruit farm and you can taste their delicious farm products and eat homemade fruit cakes. We will spend the evening and night in the small, picturesque Hanseatic town of Stade, where the old town with its typical brick buildings and the historic harbour can be explored.
On the fourth day (Thursday) we will make a stop in the largest heath area in Europe, the Lüneburg Heath. This historic cultural landscape is kept open by grazing the special breed sheep “Heidschnucken” and it unfolds as a landscape of lively purple in late summer during the heather blossom. We will take a covered wagon to the heath village of Wilsede. This historic village can only be reached on foot, by bicycle, horse-back or carriage and resembles a museum village with its thatched-roof houses but is still inhabited quite normally today. In the Heath Museum “Dat ole Hus” (The old House) we will be able to experience the life of the simple farmers around the 1850s. Later on Thursday afternoon, we will be back in Hannover in time to tell the newly arrived ladies about the secret treasures of Lower Saxony.
The tour includes three nights’ accommodation including breakfast, 4x lunch, 3x dinner, entrance fees and transport costs
