Sunday 17 May. Salzwedel

You will see from the photos that Sunday in Salzwedel is BIG. You take your life in your hands crossing the street. Nevertheless, after failing to do my washing at the laundromat that was closed, I set out to explore the town sights.

The Steintor, from around 1530, is one of the old town gates and is very close to where I’m staying. There is a very old door built into the inside wall of the gate and I’m sure that’s where they stow the prisoners or stash the gold.

A second gate is called the Neuperver Tor and nearby you can see the old red brick town wall. There are little streams all around and I wonder if they formed a moat as they seem to be right by the walls. Near this gate there is also an old water tower.

I wasn’t very hungry after a huge sort of open sandwich for lunch but decided to go out for dinner as I have a big travel day tomorrow. I ended up at a kebab place because, you guessed it, everything else seemed to be closed. 

Wandering back afterwards I poked my nose through the old coach entrance to the back of my Pension and found quite a large yard. The rear of my building has a white tower attached and there were other buildings in there, as well as a memorial stone to Otto von Bismarck.

Early tomorrow morning I was planning to race down to the factory where they make the Baumkuchen and then race back to collect my luggage and get to the train, but I’ve changed my mind. If it isn’t closed (!), it will have only just opened and they will probably still be setting up so there won’t be much to see. Instead, I’m putting a link to a YouTube clip about Baumkuchen for anyone who is interested. My curiosity was satisfied when I tried the cake yesterday.

https://youtu.be/-TLnvxbZh00?si=6WPgImaDM6327Bbq

It’s been a funny sort of day and a reminder that Sunday really is a day of rest in Germany.