Münster, Germany, is a city of culture, friendly people, bikes (not motorcycles), and gothic style architecture.
It has a rich history, too. In 793, Charlemagne, or Karl the Great, evangelized the city.
This was followed by some fires, as in 1534, the Anabaptists took over the town to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ (perhaps Charlemagne’s original intentions went a tad too far 😉). The townspeople took the city back by torturing the people in metal baskets that still hang from one of the churches. From then on, things seemed to be much more peaceful. The treaty of peace was signed here in 1648, which ended the Thirty Years War and a university was established in 1780.
Münster was bombed in World War II, but was rebuilt to its original style by the locals in 1950. It really is an attractive town- it won an honorable distinction as one of the most livable towns in the world with a population between 200,000 and 750,000.
When Lucas and I visited, we also brought my friend Debbie along. Debbie is a native of Aachen, Germany, and she showed us around Münster a bit. We got to see a charming old town (*rebuilt old town*) with beautiful shops, and gorgeous store-fronts. They were built in gothic style. It is amazing to see the front of the building and trust that it is only supported by metal braces on the back side. I’ll show you what I mean.
Münster City Hall
Here is the Gothic-styled city hall, and the pink arrows show the supports behind the façade.
After walking through a farmer’s market and seeing wonderful foods typical to the area (I bought dicke Bohnen or broad beans). I had never seen beans this big! The video of me cooking them is on Patreon, so check it out!
After the market, we also went along the Aa river and lake, the river with one of the shortest names in the world. At the lake, you can sit and watch the water in a restaurant, or sit along the lakeside, sipping a coffee and watching the activity. People rent sailboats, paddle boats (there is even a swan paddle boat!), row boats, kayaks, and more. If it’s windy, it is sure to be a funny day. We had fun watching a group take off in a paddle boat, followed by a couple in a row boat, who took about three times as long just to get where the paddle boat went. I felt so bad! The rower kept getting blown backwards by the wind. At the same time, a man tried putting up the sail on his boat in the strong winds. There was quite a lot of loud snapping from the sail and his wife and kids had to make sure they stayed out of the way, so as to not get hit by the boom. After some struggling, they survived, and they sailed off quite quickly due to the wind! I never really knew that sailboats had to make a zig-zag pattern when they wanted to sail into the wind. Now I understand why. They use the little bit of propulsion they get from going zig-zagged to change directions and advance further down the river. Very cool technology.
One other place I would recommend visiting in Münster is the university. The Westfälische Wilhelms-University of Münster is located just outside the city center, and uses the Münster castle as one of its main buildings. Imagine that. Going to the university in a castle!
Behind the castle/university building is a botanical garden, which is maintained by the biology department of the university. This one of the most unique botanical gardens I have been to. The things that make this garden worth visiting are the varieties of mint, that smell just like they’ve been named. You can smell chocolate mint, pineapple mint, and strawberry mint, among others. There were even flowers that smelled like chocolate!
There is an entire greenhouse dedicated to the American Southwest, with ginormous cacti and succulent plants. There are even venus flytraps and other carnivorous plants (the first time I had ever seen a venus flytrap in real life)!
The botanical garden is a great place to go if you want to explore plant varieties from all over the world.
I also finally got to know what these wacky trees are. I first saw them two years ago when we first moved here and thought they were the weirdest things in the world and were native to Germany. It turns out, they are from Chile.
There is a moat that is built in a shape of the star behind the castle, which surrounds the botanical gardens. You won’t see the shape by walking it, but you can see it on a map and from above.
The bottom line is that Münster is a hidden gem in and of itself. It has a wonderful influence from the Netherlands (you can tell by all the bikes), has a rich history, and a vibrant student culture and lots of friendly locals. I encourage you to visit Münster the next time you are in Germany. Send me a message and let me know what you think of it!
🤪 Fun Facts:
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There is a prestigious type of horse called the Westfalen horse, which is special to this region. It is known as an Olympic jumping horse and for dressage.
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Westphalia vans also have a history here- they were named after the Westfalia-Werke. This company is headquartered in the Westfalen region of Germany. (Westphalia is the English spelling. The German spelling is Westfalen)
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In 1946 the state of Nordrhein-Westphalia was founded in 1946 and recognized in 1949. It is made up of the joint states of Nordrhein and Westphalia. Each region wanted to still remain distinct, therefore the name is hyphenated.
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It is said that the Westphalian people “im Keller lachen” or laugh in their basements. This means that the people are more reserved in public, but relax at home and are more at ease there.
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In the Ruhrpott region, or the central urban mining region of Nordrhein-Westfalen, the people are not as open. I think this has to do with the competitiveness of jobs and the urbanization. Not all urban areas have unfriendly people, but it does seem to be more common here.
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The Nordrhein region has people that are more open to others and fun-loving.
Even though the regions are officially one state, they still have distinctions that make them unique.
As I was sitting here writing this blog, my foot felt like there was a bunch of grains in between my toes. I pulled off my sock, and found sand! This must have been one of the socks I wore at Baldeneysee last week (yes, the socks have even been washed 😊). If you haven’t seen the post click here. If you haven’t seen the video of Baldeneysee, click here.
Not to forget, there is the video we have made of Münster. I have been working for about a month to make the outro for the video, so be sure to watch to the very end if you’d like to see this! I’m so excited for you to see it!!!! Tell me what you think in the comments below.
P.s. I’m forgetting the quotes, because I am so excited about these videos! I’ll have one for next week!