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A culinary tour (Bier Tour)... A taste of Germany: Bavaria, Saxony and Saxony Anhalt ..........
Being in this crazy travel business, does have its perks! I am very fortunate to have recently been invited (by the German National Tourism Board) to experience a culinary tour in Germany followed by several days of intense one/one meetings with excellent suppliers, vendors and travel partners from all over Germany during their annual German Travel Market event. Having lived in Germany before, I have visited much of the country, but on this trip I was able to experience a few select jewels which I would like to share with you.
Outside of Frankfurt where we began our tour, these other destinations highlighted below are great get-a-ways from the larger cities offering perhaps a more authentic, down to earth feel for real German life and experience. That is not to say that the bigger cities don't have anything to offer, they certainly do, but if you are looking for more of a smaller, quaint feel and experience then these destinations listed below might just be right for you as a pre/post river cruise or stops along a bigger independent tour.
Our culinary and historical tour began in Frankfurt, one of the hubs of business and finance for Germany and a city hosting an excellent and major international airport, not to mention some great hotels properties, tours and cultural life. Apple Wine
and Brewery Bier-Hannes
were on the menu in Frankfurt. We were guided by an excellent guide through the Center Römer square or Paulsplatz. The Römer itself is the town hall of Frankfurt. At the Römer, you can also visit the Alte Nikolaikirche
(built in 1290, taking its current form in the 15th century). Several restaurants, cafés and smaller shops can be found at the square itself and in the vicinity. Walking towards the Main river, you approach the Eiserne Steg, a 19th century bridge leading to Sachsenhausen, as well as the Rententurm (Customs Tower), a 15th century fortified tower in late Gothic style, connected to the Saalhof, an old 12th century castle building that was later modernized but never completely destroyed. We ended our day tour with our first bier tour and tasting at Bier-Hannes
and dinner at Zur Mainkur
with a an overnight at the Novotel Frankfurt City Hotel.
To view more images from Frankfurt, please click here: Frankfurt Album
The next morning we headed by bus to Bayreuth in Bavaria. Bayreuth is a city that has historically grown as a Margravial Residence and is in the meantime world famous because of the Richard Wagner Festival. It is the largest city in Upper Franconia. Today, it is a modern Economic, Congress and University City that is on its way to becoming a High-Tech Centre of the region. Bayreuth’s places of interest, it´s Museums and its diversity of cultural offers and promises exciting days throughout the year. (See more on their tourism website here: Bayreuth Office of Tourism). Here we enjoyed a lovely lunch at the Castle, restaurant of Eremitage
followed by a lovely guided tour of the gardens, Eremitage Museum & Castle, The UNESCO World Heritage site of Margravial Opera House, Hofgarten, and Villa Wahnfried or Wagner Museum.
Following this outdoor adventure, we continued onto our next bier experience at the Maisel Beer Experience, who was also granted a Guinness Book of Records status in 1988. The video speaks for itself: Video. This tour lasts about 2 hours included with a wonderful tasting at the end. They have more than 120 biers on tap and is a very popular place in town to meet friends and family. Book early for dinner. The tour was excellent and hosts one of the largest bier glass and stein collections in the world, over 5000 in total.
For a complete photo album of Bayreuth, please visit here: Bayreuth Album
Onward to Bamberg that same evening. Bamberg is famous for bier, sausages, pretzels and bocksbeutel. Nine breweries within the town boundaries produce more than 50 different beers all of which can be enjoyed year round. We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Wilde Rose Bamberg
with our group and hosts from the Bamberg Tourism Offices.
Staying at the Best Western Hotel Bamberg
allowed for ease within the city for our morning tour the next day which consisted of an extensive tour of this World Heritage City complete with its various sites including the Cathedral, Old Town Hall, Old Court, the New Residence, churches and monasteries, bridges, narrow lanes, half-timbered buildings and baroque facades. This was a jewel of a town and I wished for another 3-4 hours on my own to explore and practice my photography. What a charming city! The Bamberg Tourism Offices
offer a great and detailed review of what to see and do in the city as well as places to dine and shop. During lunch we were treated to a lecture and tasting from Bier Sommelier Markus Raupach from the Germany Beer Academy
at the Hotel Weierich. He gave a fascinating presentation on local biers from the area and offered up several local specialties for us to try. The sauerkraut soup was out of this world, along with the lemon zesty bier made ONLY by women!
Here are just a few highlights from the tour - for more photos, please visit: Bamberg Album.
A quick stop in Weimar to visit Ehringsdorfer Brewery Museum
for a tour and bier tasting! By now, you must have seen we did not go thirsty at all on this tour and were not in need of more liquid beverages! This particular brewery follows the oldest German purity law for bier - do you know it? If not, please know German bier can contain 3 key ingredients: barley, hops and water. The law is known as Reinheitsgebot. Of course after our tour more tasting was in order...
A bus drive of about 3 hours and we arrived into Leipzig, a city center for both fine and applied arts. Leipzig is well known as a musical and culinary city hosting some 1,400 restaurants, pubs and bars. For dinner we were joined by our hosts from the Leipzig Office of Tourism
at one of the most famous Kellers in Leipzig, the Auerbachs Keller
founded in 1525 as a wine tavern. The food was delicious and company excellent during our evening. Our day ended with a lovely stay at the InterCity Hotel Leipzig, a modern yet comfortable hotel in the city center within easy reach of many of the main tourist areas. The following morning we had an excellent guided tour of the city from our tourism friends from Leipzig, highlighting the city center, including Old Town Hall, the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Nicholas Church, Gewandhaus concert hall, Leipzig Opera House and the university campus. We were treated to a very special and private concert after a guided tour of the Felix Mendelssohn House. Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. In his short 38 years, he made a major impact on the musical and world culture at that time. After the concert we followed our group for a delicious Saxon-Bavarian pan-dish shared German lunch at the Gose-Brewery and Bayrisher Banhof. The Bavarian Railway Station dates back to 1842 and is one of the oldest railway termini. Gose began it's bier brewery here in 2000 following a 1000 year old, top-fermented bier specialty. For a full album of Leipzig, please visit here: Leipzig Album.
Finally, after our stomachs were overflowing with good German food and bier and hearts full of all that we had seen and heard, we headed to Magdeburg for the final show and travel trade market place. Our stay during the event was at the comfortable, conference style hotel in city center and just across from the main rail station, the Maritim Hotel Magdeburg. A great location for seeing the sights and attending events in Magdeburg, also known as "The City of Otto". I find this especially amusing as our son has the name "Otto" as one of his two middle names, after his German Opa/Grandpa.
The opening event was held in the most charming towns ever, named Quedlinburg. Located about 1 hour from Leipzig, Quedlinburg's
Old Town encompasses an area of some 80 hectares, all of which has been listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site. An outstanding example of a European city of medieval origin which has been preserved throughout the centuries. Quedlinburg is distinguished by its exceptional architectural heritage of Romanesque and half-timbered buildings, many of remarkably high quality. Buildings of all styles and epochs make Quedlinburg, the perfect place to study the development of half-timbered building techniques and styles throughout the ages. For an excellent video on Quedlinburg, please click here: Video.
The opening event for the 42nd Germany Travel Market was hosted here at the more than a thousand year old Romanesque collegiate church St. Servatius which towers as an imposing landmark over the city. The flat-ceiling basilica, dedicated in the year 1129, was preceded by earlier structures. The small but powerful city more than exceeded expectations for our group of 45 countries, 500 hosted buyers and some 300 suppliers all represented at Germany Travel Market. Quedlinburg did a remarkable job complete with live bands and performances dotting the city along our walks to and from the towers. We were spoiled with wonderful German specialties from the region during our opening dinner that night. A small town not to be missed on your next adventure in the area.
The actual trade show concluded with two days of about 20 appointments each in Magdeburg. The city of Magdeburg took out all of the stops to host us on our final evening at the Magdeburg Festung Mark
showcasing local cuisine, artisans, fire shows and overall a wonderful venue to network and learn more about the local life on the Elbe River in Magdeburg.
For a full album from Magdeburg, please click here: Magdeburg Album.
A hearty thanks to the following offices of tourism for your hard work, dedication and efforts, it won't be long forgotten......
Be sure to contact Critics Choice Vacations for any help with planning a customized tour to Germany, a river cruise through Germany or questions in general. All of our Travel Consultants know Germany well and have visited (or lived in) many parts of the country. We look forward to assisting you with a magical trip to Germany.
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