Verden an der Aller is a small town between Bremen and Hannover, set where the Aller river bends through the north German plain. Its name carries more history than its quiet streets suggest: Charlemagne's massacre of Saxons in 782 is tied to Verden, and the town later grew around a bishopric whose cathedral still dominates the old centre.
The town's second identity is horses. Verden is one of the centres of Hanoverian horse breeding, and the German Horse Museum treats that culture with more depth than you might expect. Families with younger children add Magic Park Verden, a small amusement park just outside town.
Verden is not a city to cross Germany for, but it makes a good slow day if you are nearby in Lower Saxony. The scale is easy: cathedral, museum, river walk, and perhaps a boat trip on the Aller if the schedule lines up.