Page 431 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Germany

NOR THERN GERM AN Y  429

LOWER SAXONY,

HAMBURG AND

BREMEN

Three federal states – Lower Saxony and the independent city
states of Hamburg and Bremen – cover an enormous terrain,
embracing the whole of northwestern Germany. For the visitor they provide a
series of memorable snapshots: the mighty cosmopolitan port of Hamburg,
enchanting towns and villages with half-timbered houses and the blooming
heather of the Lüneburger Heide.
Lower Saxony was formed in the 19th Romanesque splendour of Hildesheim is a
century through the merging of the magnet for visitors, as are the Renaissance
kingdom of Hanover with the duchy of centres along the Weser River including
Brunswick, Oldenburg and Schaumburg- Ha meln, the charming towns of Celle,
Lippe and other parts of northern Lüneburg and Ein beck, and Wolfenbüttel,
Germany. The second-largest German state Stadt hagen and Bückeburg which contain
after Bavaria, it only ranks fourth in terms some remarkable Mannerist works of art.
of the number of its inhabitants, being Nature lovers will enjoy excursions to
less densely populated than other states. the Lüneburger Heide or paddling in the
Lower Saxony is characterized by endless expanses of mud-flats in the North
lowlands that become hillier in the south, Sea. Tourists are also attracted by the sandy
culminating in the Harz Mountains. The beaches of the East Frisian islands, as well as
only large cities are Hanover, a modern the solitary rock of the island of Helgoland.
centre renowned for its trade fairs and for The “free and Hanseatic” towns of
hosting Expo 2000, and Brunswick (Braun- Hamburg and Bremen rejoice in a different
schweig), a venerable town that cherishes atmosphere, urban and urbane, tolerant
its link with the Saxon king Heinrich der and multicultural, based on centuries of
Löwe, its first important ruler. The trade with the world.

The glorious moorlands of the Lüneburger Heide, with tall juniper bushes and flowering heathers
Statue of Roland in front of the town hall in Bremen

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