Stade; Saturday, 20 December, 2025

It turned out that I probably have spent more time wandering the previous evening as I’d have had a better chance of seeing stuff, even in the dark, as when I woke up the light mists that my weather apps had been predicting had been upgraded to a pretty dense fog with visibility down to well under 100m

After breakfast I headed out into the city to explore, and in some ways the combination of the Christmas lights, the thick fog and almost nobody about made the city pretty magical.

My first stop of the morning was the St.-Wilhadi-Kirche, a short distance from the hotel. I took some time to look around the outside and inside of the church, including it’s impressively leaning tower, before moving onto the nearby St. Cosmae church and it’s very impressive and very Scandinavian looking tower and spire. The church itself was closed for the morning so instead I headed over to the nearby St. Johanniskloister which I also had a look around the outside of.

From there I headed back through the Fish Market and down the side of the Schwinge river to the modern city harbour which sits in what was once the fortified moat of the city the Burggraben. From here you can walk an almost complete circuit of the historic city centre on fortifications first built in the period when the city was under the control of Sweden, starting in the early 17th century.

Though it was difficult to see much as the fog was even thicker over the waters of the Burggraben than it was it the city centre. About halfway through my walk I reached the Freilichtmuseum or Open Air Museum. This is a small museum housing about a half dozen buildings, a gateway and a post mill that have been relocated here from other parts of the surrounding countryside. During the summer months you can go inside the buildings, but in the middle of winter it’s external viewing only. However, what is open all year round is the café/restaurant located next to the main buildings which I was able to make use of for a bite to eat and to warm up a bit.

After a filling lunch I continued my walk around the fortifications of the city, completing the circuit before heading back into the centre of town and over to the church of St Cosmae to have a look around the inside as it had now opened for the afternoon.

I spent a bit more time wandering around the city centre, stopping off at the Christmas Markets, before heading back to the hotel to freshen, and warm, up. A little later I headed out to grab some dinner and then to have a bit more of a wander around the city centre, taking some photos of the churches in the dark with the fog still wrapping around them.