Your city trip takes you to Bad Oldesloe in the Ostholstein hill country, where outdoor recreation is combined with the history-rich backdrop of a former spa town.
Here, in the former trading and shipping point on the historical Nord-Ostsee-Straße, water is ever-present. The renaturalised banks of the Trave and Beste Rivers lend the town a natural charm. Old avenues and elegant villas transport you back in time during your short trip, to when Bad Oldesloe was well known as a saltwater, mud and sulphuric spa thanks to its salt mining.
The Bad Oldesloe Old Town is easy to explore on foot during your city trip. The Heiligengeist Quarter lies where the Trave and Beste flow together. This, the oldest of the town quarters, was named after the Heiligen-Geist-Stift (Monastery of the Holy Spirit) that had its residence there in the Middle Ages. The Blaue Haus — also known as Lübsches Haus — was used as a warehouse and trading hall during the days of the Hanseatic League. Only a few steps from here and you will find the Kornmühle am Stadtarm, the last mill wheel in the town, powered by the water running underneath it. During your mini-break, explore the historic Kurpark (spa gardens) with their salt lake, the health benefits of which were once highly prized. A salt trail leads you through the story of the salt water up to the renaturalised salt spring and a salt water pump, which can still extract salt water today.
In the 16th century, according to tradition, the Mennokate was home to the printing press of the Dutch-Frisian theologian Menno Simons, who gave his name to the religious community of the "Mennonites". The Fresenburg Press began in this plain white plastered house and it is said that the linden tree in front of it was planted by Menno Simons himself.
The former Kontorhaus (counting house) of food business owner Friedrick Bölck was built in 1926, and the main counting office was decorated by the artist Wenzel Hablik. His expressionistic ceiling fresco was, however, painted over, and only rediscovered and restored eighty years later. Today, the counting house serves as a local school and can be visited as part of a special guided tour. Information on these can be gained in Bad Oldesloe.
Your travels lead you to the Brenner Moor nature reserve, the largest inland salt moor in Schleswig-Holstein. The salt content of the earth helps the growth of plants such as the saltmarsh rush and sea arrowgrass, which are otherwise only found in coastal areas.
Your city trip to Bad Oldesloe is rounded off with a visit to Gut Blumendorf. Spacious lawns and tall trees surround the majestic brick building, also described locally as the "Schloss" ("castle"). Jacob Levin von Plessen had it built in 1755. It was later rebuilt in new baroque style and renovated at the beginning of this century.
