We spent two weeks staying in the Harz Mountains, an area popular with German tourists but where few foreigners seem to go. There are still echoes of a darker past – Nazi death camps, devastation from Allied bombing and division by the Iron Curtain – but a massive reconstruction programme has restored many of the old towns, and new facilities are being developed to go alongside the natural beauty of the area.
On our way! The English summer heatwave followed us across the Channel
The Rappbodestausee, Germany’s highest dam: the Hängebrücke, a more modern addition built alongside it, is the longest bridge of its type in the world
Looking along the Hängebrücke: the cabin underneath is for the use of bungee jumpers
Passengers admire the steam engine on the Brockenbahn
The steam train took us by a winding route to the Brocken, the highest point in north Germany
At the summit of the Brocken: during the Communist era the radomes were used to listen in on the West
Miriam and Phil at the summit of the Brocken, the highest point in north Germany
The Rathaus (town hall) in the impossibly quaint medieval town of Quedlinburg
A street in Quedlinburg
Cold War relics: Martin, who took this photo, was still a baby when the Iron Curtain was torn down
Once a highly secure zone, this section of the former DDR border defences is now an open air museum
The Communist régime built fences to keep its people in: now European countries are building fences to keep people out
On a walk near the village of Benneckenstein: in the distance is the Brocken, the highest point in the Harz Mountains
Sunset in Friedrichsbrunn, the village where we stayed
The church at Friedrichsbrunn where Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed by the Nazis, was once pastor
A fountain at Schloss Wernigerode
Miriam finds some shade from the heat at Schloss Wernigerode
Elegant dining at Schloss Wernigerode
In historic Wernigerode we came across an unexpectedly modern music festival
For part of its length the River Bode flows through a deep tree-lined gorge
Curiosity about a symbol on a map led us to the site of a former concentration camp and this memorial to its victims: on another day we visited the Mittelbau-Dora camp where the Nazis used forced labour to build aircraft and rockets in underground tunnels
A cable car connects the town of Thale with tourist attractions on the plateau above it, the Hexentanzplatz
Wild sheep (Mouflon) at Tierpark Hexentanzplatz
Wise old bird: Great horned owl at Tierpark Hexentanzplatz