Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Dozen Things in Germany That You Ought to See

Everyone has a list of things that you ought to go and see in a visit or during a period that you live in Germany.  This is my list:

1.  Hessen Park.  About 30 minutes north of Frankfurt.  It's a collection of buildings that existed from the 1500s to 1800s, and all in great condition.

2.  Saalburg. Only 3 minutes from Hessen Park.  It's a reconstructed Roman 'fort'.  Great historical site.

3.  Eagle's Nest, Berchtesgaden.  First, I'd only go in the spring or summer, and I'd bring my walking shoes to walk down from the site.  Do this only in fair weather.

4.  Hohenaschau Castle, west of Berchtesgaden.  Schedule an all-day stop-over.

5.  Munich Residenz.

6.  Grimmwelt and Teufelsbrucke, Kassel.  Grimmwelt is a museum devoted to the Brothers Grimm and is highly educational.  The Teufelsbrucke (about 20 minutes away) is a great work of landscaping.

7.  Tempelhof Field.  The grounds are totally open, and a major piece of the 'Cold War'.

8. The Germania statue along the Rhine River.  Don't eat at the town below (mostly all a tourist trap). 

9.  Neuschwanstein Castle.  Figure a minimum of three hours for the trip and walk.  Hint: don't go in July or August, when the tourist season is jam-packed.

10.  Museum Island in Berlin. 

11.  Bamberg (the city).  You really need to make this a full ten-hour walk.

12.  Zugspitze mountain-top.  You can go up by tram, or by cable car.  I'd avoid this in winter.  Figure six hours for the whole trip up, admiring the view, sipping a beer, and getting back to the car. 

3 comments:

Charlie Horse 47 said...

I'd suggest that walking around Newschwanstein, the bridge over the gorge Marienbrucke, and down to the other castle Honhenschwangau suffices. Waiting for hours to go inside to see a castle that is generally unfinished and only visited a few times by the king is not that rewarding. The views from the outside are, but the inside is a sleeper.

Schnitzel_Republic said...

There is enough at the 'site' for a five or six hour stop. The problem I see (having done the whole thing in the 1980s and in the past decade), tourism is now making the site nearly impossible. If you pull up to park at noon, dozens of buses are crammed into the parking lot and probably four times the number/crowd that would have been there in 1984. This is the same problem for visiting Berlin....way more tourists in the summer months...making a trip nearly impossible (except in the winter period).

This is a major problem now in seeing popular parts of Germany.

HD Wrench said...

A trip to Cochem on the Mosel should also be on the list. Good food, lots of shops, a fantastic array of Wineguts. A nice castle with great views. And not far away is the Burg Eltz.