Tom`s travels: Emden & Leer (30/09/2023)

On the last weekend of September, Ania and I decided to visit a couple of towns in northwestern Germany. We left Hamburg in the morning and after a switch of trains in Bremen, reached the first town, Emden. Right on the border with the Netherlands, this area is architecturally and culturally similar to its neighbor, sharing a common geographic entity in Frisia. Once there, we exited the train station and headed towards the city center, stopping first by the Große Kirche. This used to be the main city church, however, following the air bombings during WWII which destroyed 80% of the old town, this building too got damaged and never refurbished. It now consists of a small part rebuilt as a church and known as the Swiss church, and the rest of the building has been turned into a library. Moving on we then reached the small harbor, the Ratsdelft, where the Hafentor a 17th-century town gate still stands. Right nearby was the main square, with the imposing town hall. This one was originally built around the 1570s but had to be rebuilt in modern form in 1962 after the war bombings, with just a few elements from the previous building. Continuing on our walk we reached the eastern end of the old town where the Neue Kirche is located. Built in 1648 in a baroque style it was also bombed but rebuilt in its original form. Nearby we reached the Kesselschleuse, built in 1880, and the only round chamber lock in Europe that connects four waterways. Here we then followed the outer ring of the canal that flows around the town's renaissance walls in the shape of a star fortress. Two bastions to the north we also stopped by the De Vrouw Johanna an early 19th-century windmill built on one of the Renaissance bastions. Eventually, we walked back through town and to the train station from where we took a ride to the next town, Leer. Unlike Emden, Leer suffered little damage during WWII and thus its old town is quite well-preserved. We noticed it as we left the train station and walked along the main street with some nice 18th and 19th-century buildings. However, the highlight was the core of the old town, with its stone and brick houses some of which date back to the 17th century. We walked along the main street, the Rathaustrasse, lined with lovely gabled buildings and picturesque side streets reminiscent of those in the Netherlands. At the end of it was the town hall, built in 1894 in a historicist style. In front of it, right on the harbor is the Alte Waage a baroque building from 1714 that once served as the building where the official scales were kept to weigh cargo. Walking around the harbor we then took a side street and reached the Lutherkirche, a baroque church from 1675 with a nicely decorated interior. A little further out of town we then walked by the Haneburg a 16th-century Renaissance castle in the form of a manor. At that point it was time to go, we turned around, walked back through the old town admiring the nice picturesque architecture, and headed on to reach the train station from where we took a train back to Hamburg.