Minden tours

Hi,

I've been in Minden a few times, as day trips and overnight stays for a few nights. regarding a guide I would suggest going to the Tourist Office. Each time there I went on my own to visit the town especially the Zentrum. It is an interesting town to explore, a nice peaceful, relaxing place to get away from big cities like Hannover or Hamburg. The historical monument is in the town center.

You can see the numerous half timbered houses...lovely, in the Zentrum and the big square. Now, if you're after real esoteric historical sites connected with Minden, several are there: ...monuments in the Zentrum, the Prussian Museum, (went there once), the battle field site where the British beat the French in 1759 when the British Army was campaigning in Germany, the soldiers' memorial in the Zentrum, the WW1 memorial (in the woods), and especially, the huge Porta Westfalica on ahill, which you can from miles around.

It is best to take a taxi directly there from the train station or the bus depot in the Zentrum. Public transport ie by bus gets you to the station "Porta Westfalica" from which it is still a good hike up the hill in the forest, provided you have the shoes. I did that part of the way until the trail turned muddy, was not going to chance it by slipping, falling in the mud, and dislocating my shoulder, etc in some freak accident alone in the woods. No one else around, just depends when you go.

Last summer I took a taxi up there, arranged (Vorbestellung) with him the pick up time on return. A lot of construction was going on for expansion and refurbishing purposes. If your trip to Minden is in 2019, that may be finished by then.

Went last week to Porta Westfalica and walked through the forest to the Kaiser Wilhelm monument. It is a lovely and quiet hike. Loved the amazing views from on top of the hill.

All the construction work is finished. There is also a small musuem and a restaurant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_William_Monument_(Porta_Westfalica)

Fantastic that the construction work is done with. I almost went back in this past May to see if the construction around there was finished.

Going up there at all is to see the Kaiser Wilhelm Denkmal, one of five huge Prussian monuments in Germany, and to see the view. My very first up there was in 2007 when the kiosk was there selling refreshments and post cards. When I went there in last summer, the only other visitors were some Russian tourists.

You must have seen the WW1 monument while hiking up there. The war monuments ( and war cemeteries too) can be seen in Germany if one knows where to go, usually in the smaller cities and towns is what I've noticed, such as in Soest/Westf., Potsdam, Wesel am Rhein, Minden, Eutin/Holstein, Kleves, etc, etc.

You must have seen the WW1 monument while hiking up there.

No I missed that. I'll probably be going a second time this summer as it is just a few hours from where I live. So I might see it then.

The war monuments ( and war cemeteries too) can be seen in Germany if one knows where to go, usually in the smaller cities and towns is what I've noticed,

Yes a lot of towns have war monuments. If you are interested in those, take a look at http://www.denkmalprojekt.org/covers_de/deutschland.htm

Thanks for the link on "Gefallenen Denkmäler." Very useful. I should have gone to the Rathaus in Kiel when I was there this time.

On the WW1 monument in Minden, the location is shown on one of the big city maps in the Zentrum indicating salient sites in the city and immediate area. It was shortly after seeing that monument when the hiking trail started to be muddy to the point that I could easily slip and fall, (with my luck), one of those freak accidents, that I called it quits in hiking up to see the Kaiser Wilhelm Denkmal last summer.

The WW1 Denkmal is a commemoration monument, not all of the letters in the words are clearly discernible.