Late that afternoon we reached Quedlinburg, the last stop of our short tour through the Harz region. As Wiki says, it's "... one of the best-preserved medieval and renaissance towns in Europe". And I tell you: what a beautiful, little town! We strolled through its centre (the Altstadt) and fell completely in love with the narrow cobbled streets and the tiny medieval houses.

This town was so full of photogenic scenery and lovely details that it was very hard to decide which pictures to show you... I hope you don't mind that this post actually contains a little more pictures as usual - so, come with me!

Before going home we stopped the car to have this wonderful view across the region with the steeples of Quedlinburg in the distance.

Tour de Harz {Hexentanzplatz}

The next destination of our one-day tour-de-Harz was the Hexentanzplatz (Witches' Dance Floor), a plateau in the Harz mountains near the small town of Thale. Legend has it that there once lived an old witch, turning fair maidens into witches themselves and calling all the witches of the region to large meetings on her plateau. One day when she tried to lure another innocent virgin from Thale to her place a storm came up and she was thrown against a rock and turned into stone.

Every year, on Walpurgis Night (the night before the 1st of May when all witches come back to their dance floor for one night), there is a huge festival on the Hexentanzplatz of Thale with bonfires and dressing up and dancing. We were there two days before Walpurgis Night and there was already huge excitement and a bustling activity of preparation.

The plateau itself is really touristic, a large market place with many stalls selling food, drinks, hats, witch dolls and other souvenirs. But you can walk around it, enjoy the vastness and look down into the valleys. This is, I think, when you can imagine best, how it must have been like some hundreds of years ago and why this place with its deep woods and dark rocks is full of legends of witches and devils...

Tour de Harz {Teufelsmauer}

After visiting a friend who lives about 200 km south of Berlin, we decided to not take the direct route back, but to make a loop way and look about the region: the Harz. In this beautiful, mountainous area you will find old castles and villages of small, timber-framed houses leaning onto them, dark and deep woods all around as well as steep and craggy cliffs and odd rock formations. All this is part (and reason) for the old legends and lore, the ancient tales of witches, fairies, giants, kings and emperors, superstition and mysteries for which the region is also famous. 

It was Sunday and after two days of rain, the meadows glistened in mellow green against the blue sky and the sun made the whole scenery pop with colour. Our first stop was the Teufelsmauer [Devil's Wall]. It is a rock formation that stretches about 20 km and whose mysterious shape inspired the fantasies of the story tellers back then.

//If you are curious, Wiki has some of the stories and more information about this place: click//

To be continued...

PS: As you may have noticed, I'm working on the blog layout a little at the moment. I will also try to build a menu in the header. So if you visit this page during the next days and it looks weird or crushed: it's not you - it's me... :)