Papenburg

Understand

thumb|Thekla von Papenburg, one of the sailship replicas you may see moored in the canals or harbour

Papenburg, in the middle of the peat landscape of the Dutch-German borderland is a city of canals and the southernmost seaport of Germany. Starting as a "peat colony" in medieval times (comparable to the Dutch Veenkoloniën across the border), its history is closely related to the Ems river, peat extraction, seafaring and industrialization.

The city is really composed of several towns: in the north, in the east and in the southwest. Moreover the districts of , , and form part of the city. This has historical reasons; e.g. Aschendorf was a separate city until 1973, and at that one of the oldest known settlements in Lower Saxony.

Each of the districts has its own character, offering nature, nightlife, historical or living industrial culture, tradition or high-tech.

See

thumb|Stiefelknechthaus in the Gut Altenkamp park thumb|The large hall of the Meyer shipyard

Buy

There are shops in the districts of Untenende, Obenende and Aschendorf that are suitable both for buying things and window shopping. In all of these you can also find supermarkets. Along you can find shops in a "maritime environment".

Sleep

thumb|St. Antonius church and the Arkadenhaus building

In addition to the hotels, the tourist office can help with booking different homestays.

Connect

Many businesses offer free Wi-Fi.

If you travel west of the town (e.g. hiking or biking) it's possible that your mobile devices will connect to Dutch networks.

The German postal service (Deutsche Post) has offices in Untenende, Obenende and in Aschendorf.

Go next

Aurich 62 km Cloppenburg 65 km Emden 50 km Leer 32 km Saterland 30 km The "thick linden", in Heede, some 16 km south of Papenburg is one of the most impressive trees in Europe. With an age of 600-800 years, its circumference is about 17.5 m.