Global Travel Writers: Articles

A Day in Frankfurt

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:41:00 -0500

A stopover in Frankfurt can be a rewarding experience as Karen Halabi discovers.

Arriving in Frankfurt en route to other European destinations take the time to explore Germany�s second largest city, often overlooked in favour of Berlin. Rather than just taking the transit option through Europe�s second largest airport, join the increasing number of travellers dropping into Frankfurt for a city-break or a longer stay. Stay overnight and discover treasures such as the Goethe Museum and the Old Town district.

Goethe�s House, the birthplace of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (in 1749) was destroyed in World War II and then rebuilt true to the original in 1947. It�s a fascinating insight into how a merchant�s family lived in those days, when Frankfurt was a Free Imperial City and part of the Roman Empire. The GoetheMuseum is right next door.

Try applewein and German frankfurts or sausage at one of the cafes or restaurants in the medieval Old Town Square (Romerberg), see the Romer (which has been the City Hall since 1405) and explore the nearby old Opera House, now a concert hall. Shoppers should head for Goethestrasse or Kaiserstrasse.

Frankfurt is ideal for exploring on foot and everything is within easy walking distance��continues

For a complete story and images contact the author.

By boat and beer-glass through Bavaria

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:07:00 -0400

Munich�s Oktoberfest is justly celebrated throughout the known universe. But lesser-known is the huge range of distinctive local beers to be found throughout Bavaria, Germany�s largest state. A river trip through Bavaria takes in an enticing slice of this diverse beerscape, from Passau in the south to the Franconian region of northern Bavaria, where the heady wines are on a par with the local lagers. See image preview: http://www.photographersdirect.com/simmons/search.asp?lb=7754

Europe is not designed for Speed

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:37:00 -0500

"Europe is not designed for speed�, said the Romanian philosopher Andrei Pleşu.

Pleşu may well have had the Danube-Main-Rhine rivers in mind. When a cruise ship gets stranded in the Bavarian city of W�rzburg after swollen river levels prevent it from passing under the city�s low stone bridges, the result becomes an exercise in "What if...?"

The crew handle the situation with a good deal of aplomb, as passengers are bussed to some of the places on the ship's scheduled itinerary. But eventually the long wait becomes a muse on the very nature of rivers and their role in �The New Europe�.

Pressing the meat or meeting the press?

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 06:19:00 -0400

The year 2000 marked the 600th anniversary of the birth of Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press (as generations of schoolkids will testify, history has yet to judge whether he should be praised or cursed for this innovation). The anniversary was commemorated by extensions to the Gutenberg Museum in the ancient German city of Mainz, where Gutenberg lived and worked.

Checkpoint Charlie

Sun, 18 Mar 2007 20:47:00 -0400

These days all that�s left of the Wall is a short 100-metre section which stands curiously alone in a suburban street just off Potsdamer Platz, metres from Checkpoint Charlie. Open-topped tourist buses file by and tourists crane from their upper decks to take videos and snaps of this last remaining remnant. Authorities have tired of policing the strip and left that job to a heavy cordon of barbed wire. But the pilfering has stopped anyway, as if the Germans had decided this last remaining vestige should stand as a monument to what once was and could be again - a city and country divided.

The Wall is almost unrecognisable, smothered as it is-every inch- with a heavy layer of graffiti and looking more like a post-modern art erection than a symbol of military rule. Other pieces of the Wall-those that don�t sit in private homes- can still be found in the nostalgia museums off Friedrichstrasse.

The wall used to run along the street between the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. In some places it ran within a metre or two of people�s houses. How they must have felt - arbitrarily drafted into one camp when they could look out from their first and second storey windows across to another world and another life- so near and yet so far.

Copyright �Karen Halabi 2007

1800 wds

Digital images available on request of the checkpoint, Wall, graffiti and memorabilia/nostalgia museums.

Berlin and Beyond

Sun, 18 Mar 2007 20:39:00 -0400

It�s almost 20 years since the Wall came down, an event which precipitated the disintegration of much of what we knew as the Communist World and the end of the Cold War, but since then a lot more has come down�and gone up.

The historic and newly renovated Reichstag has once again become the seat of the German Parliament as Berlin, dictated by sentimentality, has become the political heart of the country once again�.

Copyright �Karen Halabi 2007

1700 wds

German Humour is no laughing matter

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 06:20:00 -0400

Leipzig, in the former East Germany, is where the great composer JS Bach held court for the last 27 years of his prolific life. East meets West along the �Romanesque Route� through Naumburg and Erfurt to Eisenach, Fulda and Mainz, via Frankfurt. The trip ends in the monastery of Ebersbach, in the famous Rheingau wine region. http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/Galleries/German%20Road-trip/

Eurail Explorer

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 22:35:00 -0500

Most people use the excellent Eurail train pass just as a means of getting from A to B. With the whole of Europe offering some superb high-speed rail services, this is certainly the way to go. But the Eurail Pass can also be used to explore little-known trails into the vast countryside. Getting off the beaten track with the Pass involves a little research, but more importantly, a willingness to venture into the great unknown.

24 Hours in the Green Hell

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 08:07:00 -0500

The brochure said �the most beautiful and exciting race track in the world� hosting �the largest motor race in the world�. This enticing publicity drew me to the N�rburgring where I was keen to see our own lads throw down a challenge to some of Europe�s best.

They were all but completely overshadowed by the enormity of this insanely oversized world car frenzy. Some 1700 drivers and 750 cars from 23 countries took part in the programme of events that included touring car, historic and formula supports. The organisers received a total of 363 entries for the main event, the 28th International ADAC 24h-Rennen, a number that would ultimately be pruned to just 210 starters!

100 teams were scratched before practice, presumably told not to bother coming, while a further fifty were eliminated after qualifying � a stressful and distressing event in itself. With many drivers and teams literally coming from the other side of the world, being yanked at the last minute was not a cheerful experience. So much so that I heard one official even wore an uppercut as a reward for his intransigence.

116,000 spectators crammed the many vantage points around the track with a great many making a weekend of it in motorhomes, campers and tents. At such romantically named locations as Quiddelbach, Schwalbenschwanz and Pflanzgarten they erected a crazy array of structures ranging from mini-grandstands, towers, scaffolding, concert stages and humpies � each draped in flags, bunting and regalia of all sorts. And it looked like every one of these fans were lining the kerbing (yes, kerbing!) of the entire 25 kilometres during the warm-up lap, patting and slapping panels as their heroes tried in vain to put some heat into their tyres before the rolling �Indianapolis� start.

Info: Opened in 1927, the misty, damp N�rburgring Nordschleife is the longest permanent racetrack in the world. It hosted Formula One until Niki Lauda�s fiery crash in 1976 highlighted some of the over-length circuit�s safety compromises.

Dresden - Germany's Baroque Pearl shines anew

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 05:12:00 -0500

The city has a natural authority, a bearing about it, like Prague, Vienna or St. Petersburg. This is where princes governed their principalities, where artists created works of genius, where buildings to stir the senses were raised by the banks of the Elbe. Dresden has been rebuilt, is still being rebuilt, and is far more splendid than we have any right to expect. Yet it is still redolent of regret, and no deluge of Euros will ever completely erase the tantalising aura of an old imperial capital down on its luck. The riches of the 'Old Town' would embarrass any other city. Opera Houses, cathedrals, palaces, mural processions, arts academies, cupolas and galleries, all ornate and all overwhelming, compete for attention.