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| Holzmarkt, Hannover |
We arrived at Hannover Hbf on Friday 7 August after travelling from Düsseldorf on two trains.
The main body of this post will give a few details of the brewery and bars we visited in the same order. For details of travel to Hannover, accommodation, meals, places of interest and a side trip to Bad Fallingbostel see the appendices that follow.
Reimanns Eck
In a pleasant neighbourhood, north of the station,
Reimanns Eck (Reimanns Corner) at Lister Meile 26, overlooks Weißekreuzplatz, a green space with a summer
beer garden. The restaurant also has many pavement tables to cater for drinkers and diners.
Inside, there's a bar near the corner entrance and further back a wider dining space with a large painting of a local street from an earlier era.
On a hot afternoon, we enjoyed cold glasses of draught Gilde Ratskeller Premium Pils, from
Gilde Brauerei in the south of Hannover, established in 1546.
The bound menu also included details of three Bavarian draught beers brewed by Paulaner - Zwickl, Münchener Hell and Hefe-Weissbier.
Pasta e Basta
On the ground floor of the Markthalle, Karmarschstraße 49,
Pasta e Basta is a South Tyrol style small bar and restaurant.
We enjoyed chunky glasses of pale Oberbräu Hell brewed by
Holzkirchner Oberbräu in the Bavarian Oberland.
Klickmühle 2.0
Just across Karmarschstrasse from the Markthalle,
Klickmühle 2.0 is on a corner at Leinstraße 25.
This was our first chance to try
Herrenhäuser Premium Pils (40cl €4.10) brewed by Privatbrauerei Herrenhäuser in the north east part of the city. However, any atmosphere was lacking and the decor and music were not inspiring so we did not linger here.
Craft Bier Bar Hannover
After walking north on Leinstrasse, Holzmarkt and Burgstrasse we reached
Craft Bier Bar Hannover on a corner at Ballhofplatz 7.
The sister bar of Craft Bier Hamburg, it had customers outside but was not busy inside for a Friday night. The barman was friendly and helpful.
High tables and a variety of stools were the main seating options with Tintin cartoon panels and real candles for decor. The beer menu for 24 taps is displayed above the bar using details from
Untappd as this is a verified venue.
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| Schönramer Hell |
We also visited late on Saturday night and over the two nights we enjoyed 25 cl glasses of German beers, including: Chiemseer Hell by Auerbräu Rosenheimer Spezialitätenbrauerei (€3.50); Eleven W/ Beyond Beer by Fuerst Wiacek Berlin (NEIPA €5.50); Schönramer Hell by Private Landbrauerei Schönram (€4). Many of the draught beers were from other countries.
The music choices were better on Saturday including tracks by Portishead and the New Radicals.
Brauhaus Ernst August
There are many pavement tables in front of the wide, contemporary frontage of
Brauhaus Ernst August at Schmiedestraße 13, the Brewpub we visited first on Saturday. Inside it is dimly lit with several different areas.
We chose a table near the main entrance with views of the curved bar and brewing vessels and an artificial tree but there are only high tables with stools in this area.
The Hanöversch Pilsener Naturtrüb was hazy, pleasantly sweet and soft.
The smallest measure of draught beer is 0.4l (€4.9 / €5.0). From our vantage point we gained the impression that there were more staff than necessary. However, it was only 5pm and we must have arrived before the main trade.
Hannovers Wohnzimmer
A kilometre away and southeast of the Markthalle,
Hannovers Wohnzimmer (living room) features dark wood, patterned wallpaper and carpet.
There's a bar on one side of the room and more seating outside.
An A-board outside lists draught beers with Gilde the obvious local choice. The friendly barman encouraged us to visit the penultimate day of the
Maschsee Festival with live music and food stalls by the nearby lake. Perhaps next year?!
Schankwirtschaft Barfuß
Disappointed to find that the Markthalle closes at 4pm on Saturdays, we continued back on our steps to find a group of drinkers standing outside the narrow frontage of Schankwirtschaft Barfuß. We dared to go inside and the lady behind the tiny bar / window serving hatch pointed out that it was a cash only place.
Glass ashtrays on tables indicate that smoking is allowed but as we were the only customers inside an aversion to smoke was not an issue.
The wallspace is covered with black and white photos of film stars, musicians and famous people providing an enjoyable memory challenge.
Do you recognise all the faces above?!
Whenever Hannover was mentioned as a destination, we met with surprise that any tourist would wish to visit the city. However, we were not disappointed by the capital of Lower Saxony and would be happy to return, especially for a first visit to the Sprengel museum.
Appendices
Transport to Hannover etc
Düsseldorf > Minden, Minden > Hannover (via Haste!).
Hannover Hbf is northeast from the centre of the city.
The railway station includes many food outlets and other shops including one for football fans.
In Germany we used the monthly DB Deutschland-Ticket (€63) which allows unlimited travel on regional trains (not ICE), local U-Bahn, tram and bus services.
Accommodation
We stayed in the
Prize by Radisson hotel which has an unusual design concept including a lot of yellow and purple!
The most direct walking route from the eastern exit from the station passes near
Telemoritz (141 metres high, previously known as the VW tower) and is about 800 metres.
Coffee bars / breakfast / meals
Hotel breakfasts are usually expensive and we enjoyed visits to Le Crobag Veggie, just inside the main west entrance to the station. Unlike most places inside the station, there was somewhere to sit. Apart from the croissants, the filled rolls can also be recommended.
After a friendly welcome, we enjoyed Tyrolean style pizza and salad with a second glass of Oberbräu Hell, on a return visit to
Pasta e Basta in the Markthalle, later on Friday evening.
Kenibo Ramen Bar, a Japanese noodle restaurant at Kramerstraße 10 can also be recommended. Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier Naturtrüb is available on draught here.
Landmarks and places of interest
Kröpcke-Uhr, a replica of the original clock in the city centre is known as a meeting place and is also used for small exhibition displays.
Beginenturm (Beguine tower), by the river Leine, is the only completely preserved tower of the medieval city fortifications.
Neues Rathaus, the New Town Hall was constructed between 1901 and 1913 in the Neo-Renaissance style. Behind the building lies
Maschpark surrounding a small lake with water lilies and beyond that the Sprengel Museum and the main Maschsee lake surrounded by green spaces. The
Sprengel Museum displays modern art including the
Kurt Schwitters archive.
A daytrip to Bad Fallingbostel
On Saturday morning we took a direct train to Bad Fallingbostel. Meg's father, Robert Baker, an RAF bomber command navigator was captured after his plane was shot down over the Netherlands during WWII. spent some weeks Towards the end of the war, in 1944, he was moved west from Poland to Stalagluft 357 for RAF prisoners in Bad Fallingbostel and was held there for almost a year. We walked from the station to visit the site of the camp and a
cemetery at Oerbke.
15,000 steps later, there was time for a bottle of Krombacher beer in the shaded garden of
Dielencafe before the train back to Hannover.
Köln (Cologne)
On Sunday we travelled by train to Köln. See separate blog post. (Work in Progress).
We stayed in the Prize by Radisson hotel which has an unusual design concept including a lot of yellow and purple! 
The most direct walking route from the eastern exit from the station passes near Telemoritz (141 metres high, previously known as the VW tower) and is about 800 metres.
After a friendly welcome, we enjoyed Tyrolean style pizza and salad with a second glass of Oberbräu Hell, on a return visit to Pasta e Basta in the Markthalle, later on Friday evening.
15,000 steps later, there was time for a bottle of Krombacher beer in the shaded garden of Dielencafe before the train back to Hannover.
Beginenturm (Beguine tower), by the river Leine, is the only completely preserved tower of the medieval city fortifications.
