Gifhorn is a town of mills, and it has an unexpected claim to fame: the International Mill Museum, which has one of the largest collections of windmills and watermills in the world, with full-sized examples from Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Russia, and as far away as China. They stand in a park on the edge of town, some turning in the breeze, and a small Russian Orthodox chapel and a Japanese pavilion add to the mix. It is an odd, delightful place, and children and adults alike seem to enjoy it.
The town sits on the Aller river and the Ise, at the edge of the Lüneburg Heath and the Wendland, and it has a pleasant, small-town centre with a Renaissance castle at its heart. The castle was built in the sixteenth century as a residence for Duke Franz of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and it is still the town's most impressive building. The area around is flat and sandy, with pine forests and farmland, and the lakes and gravel pits provide a number of spots for a swim in warm weather.
The roads around Gifhorn are flat and easy, with long straights, gentle bends, and tree-lined avenues. They are not thrilling, but they are pleasant and quiet, and on a warm summer afternoon the sandy lanes through the pine woods have a charm of their own. Traffic is moderate, and Wolfsburg, with its huge car factory, is about twenty-five kilometres to the east. Watch for sand on the road after wind, and for tractors and deer at dawn and dusk.
Fuel, supermarkets, and cafes are all available in town, and Ribbesbüttel, a smaller village about six kilometres away, has limited services. The water stop here is a simple one: the lakes around town, flooded gravel pits among them, have beaches and shady shores, and the Aller offers quiet places to sit. In summer, it can be warm, and a break by the water is a welcome relief. Mornings are best for quiet, and evenings for light. In winter, the area is damp and grey, with frost and fog, and the roads can be icy early on.