Bremen

• Email

Details

Parent Category: Travel Over There

Category: 2014 - Gap Year

Created: Saturday, 06 September 2014 14:14

The reason we travelled to Bremen was to meet a friend of mine. We had been friends for over a decade but had not seen each other in a number of years as our lives had gone separate ways.

Bremen is a beautiful German city, more so than I had given it credit for prior to coming here. The city has a great variety of activities for all and many of them are within walking distance of the city centre. Surrounding the city are parklands which offer a delightful area to relax, as well as the riverfront which has many grassed areas.

The city is over 1200 years old, and is centred on the Market Square (a UNESCO site). The square is home to numerous historical buildings such as the Town Hall (1405-1410 CE), St Peters Cathedral (900 CE), The Schütting Guildhouse (now the Chamber of Commerce) and many more which make for an impressive panorama. In front of the town hall there is the largest statue of Roland in Germany, symbolizing Bremen’s independence, and around the corner are the Town Musicians of Bremen (1953), from the Grimm Brothers fairy tale of four animals who made their way to city to become musicians. There are a few Cafés on the square but be warned they are expensive. St Peters Cathedral is quite impressive in its construction, but it is beautifully minimalist inside. From the basement chapel through the main hall, it is excellently maintained and decorated with geometric patterns throughout. There are small areas where they have uncovered pre-Lutheran art which have been kept and maintained. The Market Square also hosts a produce market.

Off the southern side of the Market Square is Bötcherstrasse, bought by Ludwig Roselius in the 1920’s and renovated in an art nouveau style. The street has a number of boutique stores, two art galleries and a pub with an interesting story, the Ständige Vertretung (StäV). The interior of the StäV is filled with pictures highlighting the 40 year history and political figures of West and East Germany until Reunification, giving the visitor a visual lecture if they are so inclined. The StäV also offers Kölsch in a variety of sizes from very small glasses (150mls to keep it fresh and stop it getting warm) up to ten litre kegs for your table or to take away. If you order the small glasses a waiter will keep replacing them until you place a coaster over the glass. Directly outside the StäV is one of the major tourist points in town, a glockenspiel that chimes for ten minutes on the hour throughout the afternoon. As the glockenspiel chimes a section of the wall rotates revealing pictures of the history of aviation. The galleries are the Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum (Expressionist art) and Roseliushaus (Museum of interiors).

On the southern side of the city is the Schlaachte Embankment, a stretch of bars, cafes, restaurants and beer gardens. There are many a place to relax and enjoy the company of friends with a beer and food. The beer gardens will charge you an extra 1€ per glass on the first round and give you a token to redeem at the end.

On the south eastern corner of the city is the Schnoor, an area built in the 15^th and 16^th centuries which was a poor district. Having survived WW2 intact, it has been rejuvenated since 1958 and has since become a major tourist attraction filled with art and craft stores, goldsmiths, and cafes. The buildings are very close together and there is no uniformity for the width of the streets, with one so thin you have walk sideways through it.

Over the river to the east of the city is one of the most vibrant and cosmopolitan areas of the city, the Viertel. Full of restaurants, bars, cafes and clubs, the Viertel has a wide appeal and offers a little something for everyone. Each time I visited the Viertel was thrumming with people.

To the north of the city, beyond the Hauptbahnhopf is Bürgerpark, a wonderful wooded area with dozens of trails to meander. There is a luxury hotel at the southern entrance and a petting zoo on the western side. It is a beautiful area to enjoy and escape the city for a while.

There is a tour of the city centre you can take which provides an excellent introduction to Bremen. After the tour we took our guide to The StäV for a drink where he shared many stories with us of Bremen and particularly the institutes that work with the European Space Agency where he used to work.

An interesting thing of note regarding Bremen is that it is the birthplace of Joachim Neander, after whom Neanderthals were renamed.

Bremen was a great place to visit and a surprisingly enjoyable backdrop (most of the Germans we had spoken to previously had said it was a boring city) for spending time with my friend.

Other Articles from Germany

Frankfurt

Diverbo 

Aschaffenburg

Three German Castles 

Beer in Aschaffenburg and where to drink it