Celle, Germany - May 5th, 2010

Moving next to Lower Saxony, we visited Celle, a market town of about 70,000 on the River Aller. Celle comprises 17 municipalities, some of which were independent vilages in earlier times.
The city was relatively unscathed by WWII with only one serious air raid that occurred in April1945, destroying less than 70 houses or about 2% of the structures.

Today, tourism is a large slice of Celle’s economy, with jazz, wine and other festivals in the summer months along with the year round attraction of the hundreds of old town buildings dating back to the 16th century. A romantic looking castle, Schloss Celle, built in 1530 along with the Stadtkirche from 1308 serve as anchor attractions for tourists. 
Of passing historical interest is the Army airfield 3 miles southwest of the town. This operated as RAF Celle after the Second World War and was the launch point for the 1948/49 supply flights of the Berlin Airlift. 
For more pictures of this attractive and lively city, click here.