Grenzgängerroute Teuto-Ems

Today, you can enjoy every single kilometer of the Grenzgängerroute Teuto-Ems without limits: you discover castles and palaces, feast on asparagus and ham, and experience twelve historic towns and villages in the Osnabrück region, Ostwestfalen-Lippe, and Münsterland. Along the way, you cross historic borders several times and follow old smuggling paths and trade routes.

People in this area could not have traveled so freely in the past. For example, from Versmold to Bad Laer, you can now zip along the Grenzgängerroute in no time, as the communities on the southern slope of the Teutoburg Forest are neighbors. However, it was only from 1880 that a road linked the Kingdoms of Hanover and Prussia at this point. Smugglers, of course, already knew other routes on which they secretly brought the precious Bad Rothenfelder salt "duty-free" to Westphalia, where it refined the aromatic hams – still a delicious accompaniment to Glandorf and Füchtorf asparagus today.

The old border lines are marked by fortifications such as the prominent hill castle above Bad Iburg. The fortress, over 1,000 years old, was later expanded into the baroque residence of the Osnabrück prince-bishops and is now a place of culture and historical experience. Bad Laer, now a relaxing spa town with an idyllic spa park, was also one of the diocese's border fortresses. When danger threatened, citizens took refuge in the Griesen Torn, the early Romanesque church tower of St. Marien.
In the "neighboring lands" you discover further defensive buildings, such as the water castle Loburg in Ostbevern and the extraordinary double castle complex Harkotten in Füchtorf. The older of the two manor houses has a baroque façade and ghost legends revolving around the portrait of the "White Lady." The younger one is built in the classical style and so far without ghosts.

Ghosts and villains, scary tales and smuggler adventures, historical and cheerful: all legends and stories of the Grenzgängerroute revolve around the old tri-border area, where today, amidst forests and fields of asparagus and strawberries, only two states meet: Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Once, the County of Ravensberg as well as the prince-bishoprics of Osnabrück and Münster met here, later the kingdoms of Prussia and Hanover. But as said: today you enjoy the region on the Grenzgängerroute without limits.

More information about the Grenzgängerroute Teuto-Ems can be found on the homepage.