hidden europe 31

Urban matchmaking

by hidden europe

Summary

Two towns, neither of them well known beyond their local regions. Herten in Germany and Dudley in England. Both are so very similar, that they seem to be places made for each other. Indulge us, while we engage in a little matchmaking.

Some places are forever doomed to obscurity. Dudley is quite simply a place of which many English people know too little — despite the zoo that we mention in our main feature. Germany has many equivalents in the Ruhr region which, like the Black Country around Dudley in England, is a former coal mining area. In the Ruhr area, we find the town of Herten rather interesting, though we would wager that few of our Berlin neighbours have ever heard of Herten. It is a town that rarely features in the news. Herten has no football team of great standing, and this community of sixty thousand souls does not even have a railway station — the largest place anywhere in Germany served by not a single passenger train. This is quite an achievement in a country criss-crossed by rail routes.

Related blog post

Out of the ruins: in search of the old Magdeburg

Paul Scraton explores the German city of Magdeburg armed with a map from 1910. Largely rebuilt after the Second World War, Magdeburg's streetscape has greatly changed. The old map is not ideal for navigating the city, but it offers rich insights into the history of Magdeburg.

Related articleFull text online

At the water's edge: Germany's Wadden Sea

Within just a few centuries, the geography of the Frisian region has been reshaped by storms and tides. Paul Scraton is a regular writer for hidden europe; here he explores Germany’s Wadden Sea coastline. It’s a tale that shows the power of the sea.

Related articleFull text online

Into the hills: a Bohemian diversion

Of course one can speed across Europe on sleek, fast trains. But slow trains, the kind that dawdle along branch lines, are so much more interesting. We ride a rural rail route in northern Bohemia, where fading railway stations reveal a Habsburg history. Join us on the slow train to Dolni Poustevna.