Göttingen, a small city in Germany, is best known for its university. It is a quiet place with a quarter of its population being students. In my opinion, Göttingen is not a place for tourism but is a great place to live. Ben comes here for a work trip so we have stayed here for two and a half weeks.

 

A beautiful Guesthouse (Gästehaus)

A German student found and booked this place for us. We would not be able to find this place on our own because its website was written in German. We could choose to stay in a guesthouse (Gästehaus) or apartment (Ferienwohnung), and we chose the former. Luckily, the owner could speak English and we could communicate without any problems.

I absolutely loved this guesthouse. It had a cosy room with exquisite decorations and paintings. The guesthouse was small but it had everything, e.g. as fast internet, wardrobe, etc. It also had a full kitchen though we never used it.

By the way, this trip was not really a holiday for me. I had to study hard for the exams next month and carry 2 books (weighted 4.6kg) to Germany! Luckily, this guesthouse was a perfect place to study as it was quiet and bright, so I was very efficient.

The only thing that I did not like about this guesthouse – after taking shower for a while (about 10 minutes), the hot water would run out and we need to wait for it to be re-generated. I guess that was good for the environment so we would not take a long shower. Germans were well-known for their productivity and environmentally friendly mindset, which I liked.

 

The tumbler that cost €19.12

Though we enjoyed our stay in the guesthouse, a small accident happened. I broke a tumbler in the bathroom, so we notified the owner and said we will compensate it. Then, she asked us to pay €19.12 for a replacement. We were shocked as it sounded a bit pricey for such a small tumbler!

We told about 10 people (all living in Göttingen) about this, and they said it should not be that expensive. Some even told us do not pay anything as the owner had already earned €1000++ from our stay (€69 per night) which should already take account into this kind of stuff. Furthermore, the owner cannot do anything about it since we did not give her our credit card details.

But, we wanted to avoid any trouble or argument… so we paid it anyway. The owner sent us an online invoice (in German) for the tumbler, so we believe it was genuine – maybe the delivery fee was expensive? Anyway, Ben left the money in the exact amount/cent at the guesthouse in which he said was a ‘silent protest’ 😅.

Because of this incident, we most likely will not stay here again though Ben will visit Göttingen again next year – which was a shame because I really liked this guesthouse!

 

The University of Göttingen

Perhaps, the most iconic thing in Göttingen is the university. The University of Göttingen was huge. It was especially beautiful and romantic in the spring due to cherry blossoms.

Göttingen is also a place of diversity. Because of its university, we could see many ethnicities in this place. We were lucky to meet a few Asians here (Taiwanese, Singaporean and Malaysian) and I went to the gym with them. They asked me to go to the sauna with them but I was too shy (because all people have to be naked in the sauna in Germany) and I felt a little bit regret. Later, they invited us to their home for dinner which was an unexpected experience for me and Ben.

 

What we did in Göttingen

We were a bit unlucky because the weather was terrible in the first week when we arrived. So, we could not go anywhere except staying in the guesthouse. Anyway, there were not many attractions here and we did not do any exciting things.

The morning market was open on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. To be honest, this market was much smaller than I expected. It was a nice place to buy fresh fruits and sandwiches.

Gänseliesel is the symbol of Göttingen! It is right in the centre of Market Square.

Gauss was an important German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to these fields. He spent most of his life teaching at the University of Göttingen. We paid a short visit to his grave.

Germans are the most environmentally friendly people that I have ever seen. The mindset is instilled in them – even their recycle bins are cute!

Sometimes, Göttingen can look a bit scary in the night because of the old and historical buildings.

We also visited Hamburg which took about 2-3 hours by train from Göttingen. I wanted to visit Goslar but did not have enough time, so I would leave it for next time.

 

Surprisingly, Göttingen has amazing food

One thing that Göttingen had surprised me was the food. Despite being a small city, there were many choices of good restaurants and cafes around here though most of them are chains.

Zum Szültenbürger is my favourite restaurant in Göttingen. This place had the best schnitzel – very juicy and delicious. I especially loved its meatloaf and hoped I can have it once again in my life.

The buffet breakfast at Café & Bar Celona was yummy. They also served delicious lunch.

We first tried the pizza at L’osteria Pizza in Hamburg. It was so good that we decided to go again in Göttingen since it was a chain restaurant.

Vapiano: Ben loved this Italian restaurant and came here at least 6-7 times in 18 days. They had very good pasta. Later, we found that there was one Vapiano in Melbourne (where we live) so there was no need to keep visiting in Germany. 😅

Other than these restaurants, there were also many great dining options, including but not limited to:

Apex Restaurant – authentic German food.
Feinbäckerei Ruch – MANNAMIA – a bakery shop nearby our guesthouse.
Thailändisches Restaurant Chiang Mai – very delicious massaman curry.
Café Botanik – great breakfast and lovely environment.
Kaffee Haus – they do great coffee including my favourite flat white.

 

I felt so sad to leave Göttingen…

Because I really enjoyed the serenity. Ben and I had a memorable time here. I also loved the guesthouse and food.

Göttingen is a place “where the bird does not lay eggs” – this is a Chinese idiom that describes a place that is so small and quiet and even the birds do not want to live here. But if you have followed my blog, maybe you know that I enjoy the silence and nature, so I do not mind spending time in such a place even if I only have a limited amount of time.