"Wedding town" Wernigerode by Sjalen

Wernigerode, known as "die bunte Stadt am Harz" is at the foot of the Harz mountains which were formerly a divided mountain range separating East and West Germany. Throughout my childhood I regularly visited the western side with historic Goslar, and looked across to Mount Brocken which is Harz' highest peak, in the east, with the GDR surveillance equipment on its peak (see my Torfhaus page). That is why it has been particularly interesting to start visiting the towns on "the other side" these days when it has become much easier and famous Wernigerode was long on my wishing list.

Wernigerode's fame comes from the fact that it was kept a tourist destination in GDR times. Thus, most (there are exeptions) of the wonderful half-timbered houses here have been well looked after and the town looks like the mountain town it is, with Norwegian-looking wooden houses mixed with German half-timber. New developments for more demanding consumers have quickly caught on here too, contrary to neighbouring Quedlinburg, when the wall came down. The town has therefore kept its tourists who still come to go on steam trains up Mount Brocken. That it at all survived WWII is thanks to a colonel Petri who somehow managed to save it from allied bombings. He is honoured at the lovely 19th century Wohltäterbrunnen ("Benefactor’s Fountain").

The town is also famous for being a popular wedding destination during the GDR days. My cousin who was invited to one has told me that this is another reason for Wernigerode's popularity: because of the wedding parties, the bakery in the main square had cakes like no other in the bleak GDR and loooong were the queues to its counters in those days.

• Pros:pretty, close to the Harz
• Cons:some ugly developments here and there
• In a nutshell:Steam trains and scenery