With our base for the second half of our holiday in Germany being the town of Hildesheim, located around 30km to the south-east of Hannover, it would have been remiss of us to not spend at least one day exploring the capital of Lower Saxony. With two S-bahn lines and a regional train service connecting Hildesheim to Hannover, it’s a quick 30-minute train ride to the heart of Hannover city centre. From Hannover Hbf it’s easy to get around the city, with connections to the city’s U-bahn as well as being just a short walk from many of the sights.
Having spent a lot of time during the holiday exploring the centres of towns and cities, we decided to start off by doing something different, heading out towards Stadtwald Eilenriede (Eilenriede City Forest) with the intention of visiting the Wald-Hochhaus observation deck. From the station its about a 10 minute walk to the edge of the forest, and as we reached the former grand Neues Haus entrance gate we made a spur of the moment decision to hire some city bikes. The Donkey Republic app was pretty easy to use and we were soon enjoying speeding along the forest paths to its north-eastern corner. What we hadn’t factored in when hiring the bikes was by the time we reached the Wald-Hochhaus we were knackered and couldn’t be bothered to climb to the top. However our time exploring the forest was great for the soul and we had lots of fun which is the important thing!
Emerging from the southern edge of the forest, we parked up the bikes and ended up paying a very reasonable €5 for 70 minutes, before jumping on the U-bahn from Kantplatz to get us back into the city. Jumping off at Kröpcke, the Hannover U-bahn’s equivalent of Bank with its labyrinth of passageways and multiple exits, we had a short walk to Brauhaus Ernst August where we had decided to have lunch. As with the vast majority of German Brauhauses, the food here was amazing with Beth opting for the Cordon Bleu whilst I went for the Spanferkelrollbraten (suckling pig roll roast). The beer also tastes much better when it’s brewed in the same building as you’re drinking it in!
Suitably full from a great meal, after lunch we took a walk through Hannover’s Altstadt, passing the Leineschloss, home to the Landtag of Lower Saxony (state parliament). As with many buildings in Hannover, the Leineschloss was destroyed during World War 2 and the present building is a 1950s reconstruction of the original former residence of the Kings of Hannover. Across the road from the Leineschloss is another former palace of the Kings of Hannover, Wangenheim Palace, now home to the Ministry of Witchcraft! Actually its home to the Ministry of Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Bauen (Economic Affairs, Transport and Construction) but you can see how we first read it wrong… Wangenheim Palace again is a reconstruction of the original dating from the late 1950s, with the modern building having a connection to a non-sympathetic ‘functionalist’ building behind.
Crossing Friedrichswall, a main road built along the route of the former city walls, we reached the Neues Rathaus, or New Town Hall. Built between 1901 and 1913, the Neues Rathaus was only damaged during WW2 and features an almost 100m high dome which you can ascend in an elevator. We decided to spend some more time enjoying the good weather and took a walk around the lake in the adjacent Maschpark, enjoying the views of the town hall across the lake. Between our bike ride and walking around the city, we had definitely got our exercise in for the day and so treated ourselves to a drink and ice cream from the town hall café before we headed back into the city centre.
Our final stop was Hannover Kiosk, a ‘pop up’ miniature museum displaying some of the exhibits from the Hannover Historical Museum whilst that is closed for refurbishment. The kiosk is free to enter and is worth a look around, however it only takes around 30 minutes to see everything and is very much the tip of the iceberg of the exhibits the actual museum has to offer. Heading back to the Markthalle/Landtag U-bahn stop, we passed the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) of which parts date from 1410 and are the oldest secular building in Hannover. As with many of the other impressive buildings in the city, the Altes Rathaus was restored in the mid-20th century following extensive damaged during WW2 and is now home to various shops and restaurants whilst still retaining its Brick Gothic architecture.
Our visit to Hannover was a fleeting one, with us spending a few hours either side of lunch exploring the city. It was nice to do something a bit different by heading out to the City Forest, whilst also getting to explore the city centre and see some of the impressively restored buildings. Hannover is certainly a city I’d like to see some more of, and I think it would be a great base for a holiday as there’s plenty to do in both the city and across Lower Saxony.
Flights & Times 