Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony (German: Niedersachsen) is a federal state in northwestern Germany. It is the second largest state by area (47,618 km²) (after Bavaria) and fourth largest by population (nearly eight million) among the country's sixteen states. It was created after World War II by the British; most of its territory had been the Kingdom, later Province, of Hanover. There are notable differences between the various parts of the state: it took decades for anything akin to a pan-Low Saxon identity to emerge, and even that is often second to attachments to various older and smaller territorial entities

• Hanover. — state capital
• Brunswick. — the Lion City and centre of scientific research
• Celle. – well-preserved old town on the edge of the Luneburg Heath
• Cuxhaven. — a popular seaside resort
• Göttingen. — ancient university town
• Hildesheim. — wonderfully reconstructed old town around the market square
• Lüneburg. — charming historic town and gateway to the Lüneburg Heath
• Oldenburg. — cultural hub of the Oldenburg region with a beautiful castle park
• Wolfsburg. — a modern city, built from 1938 on to house workers from the newly built VW factory. While it has a reputation for being bland, the town's museums and immigrant (mostly Italian) heritage make for some interesting things to see do and eat.

• The Elbe Radweg one of Europe's most popular cycle routes passes through and ends here.

Hanover. — state capital

Brunswick. — the Lion City and centre of scientific research

Celle. – well-preserved old town on the edge of the Luneburg Heath

Cuxhaven. — a popular seaside resort

Göttingen. — ancient university town

Hildesheim. — wonderfully reconstructed old town around the market square

Lüneburg. — charming historic town and gateway to the [[Lüneburg Heath]]

Oldenburg. — cultural hub of the Oldenburg region with a beautiful castle park

Wolfsburg. — a modern city, built from 1938 on to house workers from the newly built VW factory. While it has a reputation for being bland, the town's museums and immigrant (mostly Italian) heritage make for some interesting things to see do and eat.

• East Frisian Islands. - among Germany's most popular summer holiday spots, many of these islands are car free and offer spectacular untouched wadden sea landscapes
• Elm Lappwald.

East Frisian Islands. - among Germany's most popular summer holiday spots, many of these islands are car free and offer spectacular untouched wadden sea landscapes

Elm Lappwald.

While Lower Saxony is home to eight million people, population is concentrated around a few major cities; Bremen and Hamburg (which are city-states not legally part of Lower Saxony), Hannover, and Brunswick. The state contains most of Germany's coastline to the North Sea, as well as livestock grazing lands, and vast natural sceneries, such as Lüneburg Heath and Elm Lappwald. Like most German states, it only came to be following World War II and for quite some time, people felt more kinship to former lands like the Electorate of Hanover, Frisia or various other petty states. Even today, contrasts within Lower Saxony are evident.

Each state in Germany can set its own public holidays. For Lower Saxony they are:

The predominant spoken form of German taught and spoken Lower Saxony is High German or Hochdeutsch. Although there are different accents in several regions and some grammatical variations are regionally widespread, the language closely follows written German and is thus easy to understand.

It is often said and commonly believed in Germany, that the dialect spoken in Hannover is the "best" dialect in terms of "correctness" as it is closest to the written form.

In the north, Low German or Plattdeutsch (Plattdüütsch or Platt in Low German) is widespread and even spoken alongside Hochdeutsch (Hoochdüütsch). In some areas there are even different forms of Plattdeutsch, albeit very locally.

In the north and northeast, variants of the Frisian dialects are still officially recognised and spoken by a few thousands of people. Frisian is actually more closely related to English than to German and has little to do with the various (low) German dialects also spoken in Frisia that are sometimes mistaken for it.

Whilst English is a compulsory foreign language for schoolchildren, many adults have only a basic knowledge of the language or are not confident enough to speak it. In tourist areas, many of the signs are in two or more languages. The German national railway, Deutsche Bahn, uses two languages on all their signs and, in long-distance trains, even the announcements are also made in English as well as German.

With the very notable exception of Hanover and some towns near Bremen, Lower Saxony has a lower than average proportion of immigrants compared to Germany. It is therefore not common to hear foreign languages. Hanover is fairly diverse, with large Middle Eastern and Eastern European populations; therefore it is possible to hear Arabic, Polish, or Bulgarian there.

• The Wadden Sea is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of Germany's few pieces of relatively untouched nature, although it has been used and changed by human activity for most of the last 2000 years. Most tourists to this area are drawn by the unique landscape, the breezy climate (with summer highs rarely exceeding 30°C) and the wide white sandy beaches.
• The old towns of Brunswick and Lüneburg
• The zoo in Hannover
• Belsen concentration camp memorial
• Lüneburg Heath
• Medieval old town of Hildesheim with early-Romanesque St Michael's Church (one of the most important churches of early Christianity in Germany) and Romanesque Cathedral
• Rammelsberg visitor mine (that was continually operative for 1000 years), old town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Regale
• Fagus Factory in Alfeld (Leine), designed by Walter Gropius in 1911, one of the earliest works of modern architecture

• Bruchhausen-Vilsen–Asendorf Museum Railway, Bahnhof, Hoya (near Bremen. See website for days of operation. Bruchhausen-Vilsen–Asendorf Museum Railway offers visitors scenic rides on trains pulled by vintage steam & diesel locomotives operating over a 7.8km metric-gauge line.

Lower Saxony has many opportunities for outdoor life, especially bathing in the North Sea.

• Go Wattwandern (i.e. hiking through the mudflats during low tide, that are covered by water during high tide) only do this with a licensed guide as the flood arrives almost unnoticed and the channels that bring the water back in can rise to several meters and cut off your way back to safety
• Take a tour on a boat a watch aquatic mammals, or the fishing of Krabben (a type of crayfish typical for the area)

Go Wattwandern (i.e. hiking through the mudflats during low tide, that are covered by water during high tide) only do this with a licensed guide as the flood arrives almost unnoticed and the channels that bring the water back in can rise to several meters and cut off your way back to safety

Bruchhausen-Vilsen–Asendorf Museum Railway, Bahnhof, Hoya (near Bremen. See website for days of operation. Bruchhausen-Vilsen–Asendorf Museum Railway offers visitors scenic rides on trains pulled by vintage steam & diesel locomotives operating over a 7.8km metric-gauge line.

Lower Saxony has a number of traditions when it comes to cuisine that are often widespread, but with local regional variations. Many of the recipes are based on local food and tend to be basic, hearty and flavoursome, rather than haute cuisine. An exception, perhaps, is Welf Pudding, a layered pudding made from milk, eggs, wine and vanilla, that was created by one of the chefs to the royal household in Hanover.

Unsurprisingly fish dishes using, for example plaice, flounder and mackerel, feature strongly in the coastal region. Herring is served in various guises, popular ones being Matjeshering (soused), Brathering (fried) or Rollmops (pickled). Inland, trout (Forelle) and eels (Aale) are popular.

As elsewhere in Germany, pork is the most consumed type of red meat, with beef a poor second and lamb rarely seen. There are the inevitable regional types of pre-cooked sausage (Kochwurst) which is very popular in the Lüneburg Heath, the Bremen area and Schaumburg Land; local varieties include Bregenwurst, Kohlwurst, Pinkelwurst. Other meat dishes from that area are Knipp a kind of smoked sausage, venison, wild boar and hare. Another heath speciality are Heidschnucken dishes created using mutton from the local moorland sheep. Two specialities from the Hanover region are Schlachteplatte, a dish of assorted meat, and the Calenberger Pfannenschlag (also known as Rinderwurst, a beef sausage). The internationally known Braunschweiger sausage presumably originates from Brunswick. Around Gifhorn and Wolfsburg a form of black pudding called Pottwurst, served with Sauerkraut (pickled cabbage), is popular in the autumn.

The most common accompaniment is the humble potato, boiled potatoes (Salzkartoffeln, that is potatoes boild in salted water without their skin) being by far the most common. Another popular vegetable, very typical of the area, is Grünkohl (kale), sometimes known as Braunkohl especially in Bremen and Brunswick Land.

Asparagus (Spargel) is eaten as a great delicacy in Lower Saxony. It is grown mainly around the towns of Burgdorf, Nienburg, Brunswick and in the Oldenburg Münsterland as well as the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath and on the Stade Geest. Asparagus season begins around April and lasts until June 24th. As the best Spargel is grown locally and eaten only during the season, asparagus devotion can seem quasi-religious at times.

Soup is a common form of starter. Particularly popular is Hochzeitssuppe ("wedding soup"), a meat broth. On the North Sea coast there a plant called arrowgrass, known locally as Stranddreizack or Röhrkohl, grows in salt meadows immediately by the coast and is prepared, like Grünkohl, as a thick stew. Other country dishes in the coastal region are Steckrübeneintopf and Birnen, Bohnen und Speck, both types of stew.

The Germans are great cake eaters, popular regional varieties being butter cakes (Butterkuchen) and, around the Lüneburg Heath, Buchweizentorte (buckwheat cake) which is like a gateau and very tasty.

Lower Saxony is home to many breweries, for example in Jever, Einbeck, Celle, Lüneburg, Brunswick, Allersheim (part of Holzminden), Hanover, Wittingen, Peine and Göttingen.

Two of the oldest beers, brewed since the Middle Ages, are Braunschweiger Mumme and Goslarer Gose.

In general the Lower Saxons prefer coffee to tea, except in the regions of East Frisia and Friesland where tea is popular and often drunk with Kluntjes (rock candy) and cream.

A specialty found mainly in East Frisia (i.e. the North of Niedersachsen) are "Pharisäer" (Coffee with rum and a whipped cream topping) that also exist in the caffeine free version (replacing cacao for coffee) of "tote Tanten" (literally dead aunts).

While this area is very safe in terms of crime and even the big city issues of Hanover and Braunschweig are not all that bad, there are some natural hazards:

Swimming in the North Sea is usually only allowed during certain hours of the day. As the tides can be very strong, it is best to follow the advice and don't bathe when it isn't allowed.

Mudflat hiking with a guide is a safe fun activity. Without one it can be deadly, due to people being lost and trapped by the rising tide. Fog is more common than you might think.

• Bremen is an enclave within Lower Saxony
• Hamburg, seaport metropolis
• Saxony-Anhalt with Magdeburg and several World Heritage sites
• North Hesse with Kassel, romantic small towns and fairytale landscapes
• The Netherlands are right across the border
• Schleswig-Holstein (in practice you will often travel via Hamburg to get there)