ECOOP / Germany – The Place to be©Germany wears its riches well: elegant big-city charm, picture-postcard small towns, pagan-inspired harvest festivals, a wealth of art and culture and the perennial pleasures of huge tracts of forest, delightful castles and fine wine and beer are all there for the enjoying. Germany's reunification in 1990 was the beginning of yet another chapter in Germany's complex history. No visitor will remain untouched by this country's past and the way it affects the nation today. Each of the 16 states of Germany is a world of adventure in and of itself, whether city-states like the Hanseatic towns of Bremen and Hamburg, the Federal capital Berlin, or other states. Everywhere, you can discover great cities, cozy villages and relaxing natural landscapes. Darmstadt – the City of Science and Art lies in the centre of the Rhine-Main region on the border of the Odenwald Forest. “This is where Germany strives to be Italy," was Kaiser Josef II's succinct description of Darmstadt and its environs. The former small royal residence has now become a large and modern city that keeps its rich cultural heritage very much alive. The Mathildenhöhe artists' colony established in the city's heyday still survives, for example. It earned Darmstadt its reputation as a city of art and centre of the Jugendstil or Art Nouveau movement. 30 km to the north of Darmstadt, Frankfurt on the Main (so-called to distinguish it from Frankfurt on the Oder) – the financial and geographical centre of western Germany is situated. Its inhabitants produce a disproportionately large part of Germany's wealth, and over 10% of the city's taxes are devoted to culture; here you'll find the richest collection of museums in the country. The Städel Museum surely has more great art than is fair, with a world-class collection of works by artists from the Renaissance to the 20th century. The Museum of Modern Art also houses a magnificent collection. Frankfurt's music scene is lively and the jazz is of especially high quality. There are about 1500 trains a day passing through Frankfurt so you can basically get here from anywhere and get anywhere from here. An hour north of Frankfurt is the charming town of Marburg, a bustling university town with a happening cafe scene and a raucous pub culture that spills onto the cobbled streets at night. The Rhine's most evocative scenery lies between Mainz and Koblenz. Here you'll find dramatic landscapes with fertile vineyards clinging to steep hills, numerous imposing castles and dreamy wine villages. Every little village has at least one wine festival per year, with the most famous being the Rhine in Flames series of festivals, when water, lighting and fireworks are combined to spectacular effect. The best way to see the valley is by boat. A little further north of Koblenz is Cologne with its magnificent Dom and its soaring twin spires. But there's much more to this city than just the Dom. South of Mainz is Heidelberg with its superb castle. Unsurprisingly for a country whose land has so often been at history's crux, the moods and preoccupations of Germany's people are reflected in a rich artistic heritage: from the claustrophobic beauty of its cathedrals to classical films from the silent era of cinema, from the most influential philosophers (try Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche and Marx for starters) to some of the world's great physicists (Einstein and Planck), from the cream of classical composers (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Handel and Wagner) to contemporary industrial-grunge music and Krautrock, from the genius of Goethe to the revolutionary theatre of Brecht, Germany has it all. The scope of German art is such that it could be the focus of an entire visit. Arguably the finest artist Germany has produced, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was a poet, dramatist, painter, scientist and philosopher. His greatest work, the drama Faust, is a masterful epic of all that went before him, as the archetypal human strives for meaning. The ghost of Goethe inhabits the soul of Germany. Germany at a glanceFull country name: Federal Republic of Germany Facts for the TravelerVisas: EU citizens can enter on an official identity card. Americans,
Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and Japanese just need a valid passport
(no visa). Unless you're a citizen of a developing country, you can probably
stay up to three months.
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