At the confluence of three rivers on the northern edge of the Black Forest sits the eight largest city in Baden-Württemberg. Pforzheim is one of the small but illustrious set of German cities that can trace its history back to Roman times, when it went by the name Portus. But in modern times Pforzheim has …
In North Rhine-Westphalia’s hilly and wooded Bergisches Land, Remscheid is a city comprising an assortment of small towns. You need only look at the sickle on Remscheid’s coat of arms to know how this city made its living in days gone by. With forges across the landscape Remscheid was a tool-making city, and established far-reaching …
In the Rhine Gorge, Rüdesheim am Rhein is a wine-making town under lofty Riesling vineyards. The landscapes are full of drama, where the high gorge walls plunge to the broad, island-studded river. And guarding the banks are Medieval castles inscribed in UNESCO’s Upper Middle Rhine Valley World Heritage Site. This part of the Rhine, not …
Wedged between the Pegnitz and Rednitz rivers, the city of Fürth is just a few kilometres away from Nuremberg in Middle Franconia. And while Fürth’s bigger neighbour may get all the headlines there’s a lot to love about this historic city. For one thing, Fürth was only partly damaged in the Second World War, leaving …
Once a mining city, Lünen in the east of the Ruhr area now has a new vocation in manufacturing and green energy. The remnants of the mines are clear to see, in the enormous headframes of the Zeche Minister Achenbach and Gneisenau collieries. But the grim side-effects of the industrial age have been forgotten: A …
Berlin is a cosmopolitan, hipster-cool capital, with historic sites and modern attractions in equal measure. Here lies the Berlin Wall, with its epic street art; here stand some of the most exclusive and elusive clubs in Europe; here is World War II history in the Reichstag and Checkpoint Charlie; here is modern art and spectacular …
The oldest city in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schwerin got its city rights from the great duke, Henry the Lion in 1160. The first thing to mention about Schwerin is the enthralling palace and seat of the prosperous Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Looking like a Loire Valley Château the palace is on an island of its …
A 20-minute drive south of Braunschweig (Brunswick) in Lower Saxony, Salzgitter is an industrial city with a reputation for its steel production. A new city, Salzgitter was only founded in the 20th century when its steelworks and VW manufacturing plant drew thousands of workers. Before then, this was a patchwork of former noble estates, and …
In the early days of industrialisation Iserlohn was the largest city in Westphalia. Iserlohn’s growth spurt happened early because of a burgeoning metalworking industry. This had been around since the city was founded in the Middle Ages, when armourers used wire-drawing techniques to make suits of chainmail. But it gained real momentum in the 1700s, …
A few short kilometres upriver from Frankfurt, on the left bank of the Main sits the city of Offenbach. In times past, two of the big industries in Offenbach were leather-making and typography, and today there are high profile museums about both trades. The city took a lot of damage in the Second World War, …