Germany, Harz Mountains - Nature, history, mysterious places

It is like a green ink spot that someone accidentally dropped on the map of Germany. It flowed out to an irregular shape, millions of years before the historic unification in 1989, and never bothered about what humans had created as the Iron Curtain between the communist and the capitalist parts of the world. This ink spot, which is a beautiful medium altitude mountain range with dense pine forest, became known in East and West as the Harz.

Overview map Harz mountains, see copyright note

It seems that the name "Harz" comes from an ancient German word for forest hill. In today's German, the word Harz means resin, the sticky gluey syrup underneath the bark of a tree. This name is very appropriate because this resin smell from pine and other trees is filling the air in the forests.

The Harz is full of anything one imagines from a region like this: nature, wildlife, history, dark mysterious forests, very old towns, legends and sagas, witchcraft and pagan traditions, cosy inns with brimming fireplaces and stews of game meat and dark beer, and even one of the best networks of narrow gauge steam trains.

Germany - Harz Mountains - Thale - the intriguing Teufelsmauer (Devil's Wall)

Germany - Harz - Harzer steam train network - Brockenbahn

Germany - Harz - Quedlinburg

And you may add a good portion of tales from the Cold War area, which divided the Harz, but on the other hand it preserved the nature and the local feel. Because the immediate border between the two worlds was a no-go area for decades, and thus the nature and the small villages remained largely unaffected by industry and commerce.

Germany - Harz Mountains - Thale - Trabi advertizing the DDR museum

Today, the Harz is a very nice place for tourists to visit. However, as with so many rural areas in Germany, tourism here is not a very international thing. The tourism industry exists, but it is very much focused on German clientele. English is of course spoken by young people working in the sector, and in typical tourist towns like Nordhausen or Wernigerode, but do not expect that all tourism information or restaurant menu's are multilingual.

Germany - Harz Mountains - Thale - where "Schwein" equals ham and sausages

It will never be admitted explicitly, but we believe that at least some German people - deep inside their hearts - would wish to keep places like this a bit for themselves, and not turn it into international tourist hypes. This is perhaps why so many beautiful parts of Germany remain somewhat "underrated". Which is fine with me, and maybe I should not even write this blog . At the same time, almost all local people are very friendly and they will make sure that you, as a visitor, will feel very welcome...