The second stop today on our way from Berlin to Leipzig is the historical city of Halle (Salle). Halle is the sixth largest city in former Eastern Germany and is part of a conurbation with Leipzig. It was a rich city throughout medieval times due to its salt mines nearby and as such we hope there are some special buildings to see that have escaped bombing during World War 2. But first we want to visit the famous Art Museum so we park right next to the Moritzburg Castle and decide to explore it first.
Moritzburg was built in the 15th century and served as a residence for the Archbishops of Magdeburg and it is quite nicely renovated. There is also some type of fair in the courtyard, not something smart today with dark clouds following us.
We then enter the courtyard and are pleasantly surprised by the beautiful buildings inside the castle. Soon we determine which one is the Art Museum and enter it and that visit is described separately.
After the visit during which the rain drenched everything outside including the fair that is now closed we exit and decide to explore the city a bit while keeing a wary eye on the clouds.
Luckily we are very close to the downtown area it is just a short walk on some beautiful streets to the center of it all. The houses are unexpectedly beautiful, you can see that this was (is?) a rich city.
To our surprise the downtown area is not pedestrian only so we must avoid cars which are rare but still are present unfortunately. And we have to do that while looking at the beautiful buildings which distracts a bit from enjoying the walk.
The most impressive section of our walk is along Ulrichstrasse which is a beautiful street with impressive medieval houses lining it on both sides.
And then we arrive at the university, our initial goal. It is our goal as there is a geocache close to it but we are unable to find it so we decide to explore a bit farther to another cache and that one is an easy find, phew.
Returning we pass by a wayside shrine, these were set on roads in medieval times for thanks and to pray at them. And then it is time to leave towards Leipzig passing the beautiful Water Tower North on the way. The Tower was built during an era of expansion in the 19th century to provide water to the growing city and it looks like a medieval tower which is the reason it attracted us on the way in.
