A City that Doesn’t Exist?

01/11/2025

Returning to Germany was a good opportunity to buy wine. The prices across the border were suddenly massively cheaper and excitedly I purchased a couple of bottles for under €3 in Lidl. What a treat.

Visiting Friedrichstadt

We had driven to Friedrichstadt, still on the Jutland peninsular that we think of as Denmark, but actually in the Schleswig-Holstein area of Germany. You can tell from the geography that it’s an area that has changed hands a few times over the centuries. We’d been looking for parking close to the sea but hadn’t found anything that appealed so we ended up in this historic town.

It’s fenland, flat and marshy with dikes and ditches to contain the waters of the shallow Wadden Sea and locks on the rivers to control the ebb and flow of the massive tidal estuaries. Wind farms abound, ranks of them marching beside us as we drove the flat roads.

The stellplatz is located behind a high bank that separates the town from the Eider river. It was a nice enough location but very expensive with every additional amenity a further cost. On entry some spots were only available to people who might, theoretically, prebook. And the payment system was over complex as they tried to wring each last euro from you.

We had a nice walk around the town in the morning before we left. It was obviously popular although many of the shops and cafes were shut until mid morning. A couple of coachloads of tourists were following their guides around the historic buildings while we explored.

Chores

The Friedrichstadt stellpatz had a washing machine but as it was only domestic sized we decided not to use it. We wanted to do a large load before returning to the UK, It’s nice to get home without loads of washing to tend to, especially when the weather isn’t dry and warm. I found us a Wash.Me location which ended up being in a massive lorry park. We felt a bit out of place when we turned up but we weren’t the only non truckers to make use of the facilities. Once the huge wash was done, dried and packed away it felt like a big relief, another job ticked off before our return home.

Parking up in Bielefeld

We drove onwards to the city of Bielefeld for some cheaper stellplatz parking up on the hill in the parkland of Johannisberg. This area was restored in 2008 after falling into decline after WWII. There is a big car park with the stellplatz at one end and lots of walking trails and recreational activities can be enjoyed in the area.

The stellplatz was full when we arrived so we joined a few other vans sprinkled around the car park. The following morning we sneaked into the stellplatz when someone departed as we wanted to spend a second night here. We hadn’t realised it was the German autumn school holiday period. We were lucky to get in.

Just outside the stellplatz there are motorhome services which we planned to use before we left. On the 31st October, sometime between us leaving and returning from our exploration of the town,  a huge boulder was placed in the service area. Obviously services aren’t provided here in winter. Fortunately there were toilets just down form the car park so we were able to eek out our cassette.

Sightseeing in Bielefeld

Bielefeld is quite a big city, the 18th largest in Germany, but according to the spoof ‘Bielefeld Conspiracy’ it does not exist. We can attest that it absolutely does exist, and it’s a pretty good destination for a day of sightseeing.

We walked to the hotel on the promontory of the Johannisberg bluff where we found steps leading us down to the botanical gardens. These were a bit sparse in the winter but still worth a quick look.

Across the main road we could see the Dr Oetker symbol above the head quarters of the famous baking company. You can take factory tours here which culminate with free baked goods.

Dr Oetker head offices are located here

We were heading across the road and up the other side of the valley to Sparrenburg castle which was build here by the von Ravensburgs when the city was first established. On the way we dropped into a bakery to make up for missing out on the Dr Oetker tour. I expect these cakes were better quality anyway, they were definitely delicious. We took them up to the castle where we ate them as we overlooked views of Johannisberg.

Back downhill we wandered into the old city which was replete with high end shops, many of which seemed to be cookware based, or maybe they were just the shops that caught my eye. We window shopped before stopping at a restaurant for some well earned lunch. Paul’s burger was so huge that even he had to take a doggy bag.

In the afternoon we had a mooch around the modern shopping centre before we returned to the van for the evening.  In the twilight we popped out for a short walk to look around the open air museum near the stellplatz. We didn’t make it to the nearby zoo.

Open air museum

Leaving Germany

The other thing we hadn’t realised was that 1st November – All Saints Day – is a public holiday in this part of Germany. After an early start I had wanted to find a supermarket to stock up on cheap wine but everywhere was closed. Lesson learned. We didn’t have time to hang around for another day as we had a ferry to catch in two days time.