Walking Along the Rose Route in Hildesheim, Germany.

We were able to stop in Hildesheim for just a few hours on our way to Hamburg, Germany in August 2016, although the lovely city certainly deserved more of our time.  I had developed a deep wanderlust for German cities that were full of half-timbered houses and so Hildesheim had quickly risen to the top of my must-see list.  Walking along the rose route in Hildesheim was a bit inadvertent, however.  I had planned a walking tour for our visit and it just happened to coincide with a large portion of the rose route.  I must admit, I felt rather accomplished that I had identified a quality route through the city on my own and I was so happy to see all of the roses sprinkled throughout our walk.

 

 

Located in Lower Saxony, Hildesheim is one of the oldest cities in northern Germany.  It’s known mainly for its historic churches, which are featured on the rose route (or rosenroute in German).  Although visitors flock to see the churches and half-timbered homes, few of them are original.  Much of the city was reconstructed in the 20^th century due to destruction and damage from WWII air raids.

Walking the rose route in Hildesheim was ultimately one of my favorite experiences from our time living in Germany.  The charm of the city was far greater than I anticipated and it’s such a fond memory to look back on.  That’s part of the reason why I’ve recently revisited the photos and decided to write this (much delayed) post.  (The other part is that I’m quite pregnant and I can’t travel at the moment, so reliving travel memories is helping me to cope.)

 

 

Walking Along the Rose Route in Hildesheim.

We parked next to the Sankt Andreas Kirche (St. Andreas Church), where I spotted the first rose on the ground.  Little did I know, the church is stop number 20 on the rose route.

 

 

This 12 century church has the highest church steeple (115 m) in Lower Saxony – I wish we had climbed to the top and admired the view.

 

 

We walked from the church via a bit of a roundabout route over to St. Mary’s Cathedral.  This is a UNESCO World Heritage site, despite being almost completely destroyed in 1945.  It still has ancient bronze doors and a supposedly 1000 year old rose bush on one of the walls, however.  It’s situated within a lovely, quiet plaza.

 

 

We made our way down a nice walled path (or road? I can never be sure in Germany) on our way to our next stop, the Kalenberger Graben, which turned out to be very green.

 

 

The artificial lake was originally built as part of a defense system around the city in the 13^th century.

 

 

I was thrilled by the half-timbered details on those buildings across the water.  It turned out to be just a first taste – Hildesheim had so much more to offer in terms of fascinating and gorgeous Fachwerkhäuser.

We took the long way around to St. Godehard and then stumbled upon my favorite part of the city – the half-timbered homes found along Hinterer Brühl, Gelber Stern, Lappenberg, and Neue St.  It was a wonderland for any half-timbered home fanatic.  It is in this area where you will find most of the homes (around 30% of the homes in the city) that were not destroyed or damaged during the war.

 

 

This spectacular building is the Wernerhaus, which I believe is stop 11 or 12 along the rose route in Hildesheim.  Built in 1606, you can see the original wood carvings on its façade.

 

 

I loved how the half-timbered houses just went on and on – one right next to each other all the way down several streets.  We were living in Schweinfurt at the time, which has very few half-timbered houses, and so seeing more than one or two of them at a time was a delightful treat.

 

Related: Half-Timbered Houses in Erfurt.

 

There was such a variety of homes, too.  Some were old, full of character and bright colors, some leaned at concerning angles, and others showed off clean, straight lines.

 

 

Flowers were plentiful and prominent, of course.  Germans love their flowers!

 

 

And the Kehrwiederturm, which is stop number eight on the rose route in Hildesheim, was yet another favorite spot for me.  It’s in a fantastically narrow and picturesque alley.

 

 

It was built around 1300 and it’s the only original tower remaining out of all the fortifications.

 

 

After wandering back and forth a few times, being sure to get my fill of the lovely streets near the tower, we headed over to the Marktplatz, which was heavily damaged in the war.  There are several iconic reconstructed buildings on the plaza, including the Knochenhaueramtshaus (Butchers’ Guild Hall), the Bäckeramtshaus (Bakers’ Guild Hall), the Tempelhaus and Rathaus (Town Hall).

The Knochenhaueramtshaus seems to loom over the plaza and contains a restaurant as well as the city museum.

 

 

The Rathaus, which was rebuilt with its original Gothic style.

 

 

I just kept turning in circles to take in the incredible buildings that lined the plaza, such as the Wedekindhaus.

 

 

Below is the Tempelhaus, where you can find the tourist information office.  It was only damaged in the war, not destroyed.

 

 

Eventually we headed to our final stop, which would complete our circuit of Hildesheim.  We had saved the best for last – the Upended Sugarloaf turned out to be my favorite building in the whole city.

 

 

Originally built in the 16^th century, the Upended Sugarloaf was completely destroyed during the war and it was also one of the most recently rebuilt – with the current building finished in 2010.

The next photo almost looks distorted, but really you’re just seeing how crazy the angles of this building are.

 

 

It looks almost normal from the other side, however.

 

 

Happily, there weren’t many people or tourists visiting Hildesheim during the nearly three hours that we spent there.  We did stick out like sore thumbs, however, because we had our pet budgie with us for the trip.  It was far too hot to leave him in our rental car so we brought him along in his travel carrier and he chirped happily during the tour.  We got more than a few confused looks as we carried our bird while walking the rose route in Hildesheim.

I was very happy that our walking tour happened to coincide with much of the rose route in Hildesheim, especially since I didn’t know it existed until after we arrived.  I’d encourage you to walk most of the route, if you’re able to!  There were a few stops on the rose route in Hildesheim that weren’t featured in this post as we didn’t have time to see them all.  They include St. Michael’s Church (another UNESCO World Heritage Site), Magdalenengarten, Roemer-und-Pelizaeus-Museum, the Dom (which we did see but I didn’t photograph), and St. Gotthard’s Church.

You can find a map (in German) of the Rosenroute here.

Have you visited Hildesheim?

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