Fall for Frankfurt’s Main attractions
ANDREW FORGRAVE makes the short hop to a German city with plenty to offer
FROM the 56th floor of the Main Tower, some 650ft above Frankfurt, scores of tourists pose for selfies, the breeze gently ruffling hair and hats.
Look one way and you are enveloped by mirrored skyscrapers that reflect streetscenes below.
Scuttle across the viewing platform and the city’s Römerplatz is laid out in 3D: this is the historic centre of Frankfurt, its medievalstyle buildings undergoing continuous restoration after one of the heaviest Allied bombing attacks of the Second World War.
Close by is the former old town quarter next to St Bartholomew’s Cathedral, the birthplace of kings, and the Paulskirche, the cradle of German democracy.
Adjacent lies the River Main, its Eiserner Steg bridge so thick with padlocks it looks as if it could sag into the waters below.
On the far bank are tree-lined boulevards, the city’s “museum mile”, and beyond them the Sachenhausen district, famed for neon-lit bars, quirky markets and an apple tipple that still divides the locals 250 years after it was first brewed.
From your aeriel viewpoint, Frankfurt seems impossibly compact for a city billed as the Continent’s biggest financial centre, and far more varied than its utilitarian image might suggest.
It’s why residents proclaim the city as the world’s smallest metropolis. For this reason it’s ideal as a weekend bolthole and city break destination, being just a two-hour flight from Bristol with bmi regional.
Staying at the plush Maritim Hotel Frankfurt – ideal for relaxing after a hard day’s sightseeing – the city is still big enough to find lots to do.
Inevitably, new arrivals head straight to the Römerplatz, the city’s tourist trap, in which the beautiful Römer building holds centre stage.
Named after Italian merchants who traded gold and silver in its wood-panelled rooms, the Römer has been the city’s administrative home since the 15th century.
Newlyweds still pose in front of its gold-embossed doors, giving camera-wielding tourists – many of them Chinese – the perfect photo op.
The square itself is bustling and eclectic. Surrounded by bars, restaurants and shops selling Teutonic trinkets, from Nutcracker wooden soldiers to pewter-topped beer steins, it hosts street artists, performers, regular rallies and, naturally, an annual Christmas market.
Peering loftily over the timbered rooftops is Saint Bartholomew’s Cathedral, or “Kaiserdom”, the former election and coronation church of the Holy Roman Empire.
Open to visitors most of the week, it too fell victim to the RAF in 1944.
Now mostly restored, its trademark pinkish-red colour was uncovered in the 1990s.
A short hop away is the former old town quarter, also destroyed by war-time carpet bombing.
An unsightly town hall, built in 1972, is currently being replaced by 35 shops, homes and restaurants, all following the old district’s original floor plan and stylistically reminiscent of its medieval heritage.
When completed, possibly this year, the old town quarter will hark back to the time when Frankfurt had the largest contiguous Gothic old town in Germany. Not a patische, but a modern version of its former self.
Just as the city is reclaiming its past, it’s looking to the future too. As Germany’s finance hub, bisected by the River Main, Frankfurt has grown into its once flippant “Mainhattan” nickname. Skyscrapers crowd the business district, and high class restaurants cater for greysuited bankers and deal makers.
It is here, amongst the trendy LED-lit bars and vegan eateries, that Brexit is most voluble. While few people are singing it from the city’s towering rooftops, if London can no longer serve as the EU’s financial hub, Frankfurt is ready to step in.
Extra office space is being made available for the expected influx, driving up property prices in a city already suffering an acute housing shortage.
If this happens, Frankfurt’s rainbow of cultures will no doubt expand further still. In this city of more than 730,000 inhabitants, a third are non-Germans, many speak English and the atmosphere is far more vibrant than is sometimes portrayed. As if to emphasise the point, each weekend the Ebbelwei Express, a psychedelically adorned 1970s tram, circles the city centre on an hour-long loop of the city’s major sights.
Another way to see the city is on the cruise boats which glide serenely up and down the River Main, giving some of the best views of Germany’s most notable city skyline. In summer, a flotilla is available, from small party boats to huge vessels with upper decks like aircraft carriers, all hosting tourists glugging beer and Frankfurt’s trademark apple cider Ebbelwei while watching cyclists, skaters and promenaders chill out on tree-lined riverbanks.
Across the river from the aldstadt lies the Frankfurt’s Museumsufer, a row of 10 museums housed in grand villas and contemporary buildings that offer everything from film to architecture and classical art. At some, with their Botticellis and Reubens, queues are not uncommon.
Venture beyond the museums and you’ll reach the Sachenhausen and Brückenviertel districts. These offer a distinctly different vibe and
are the best place to sample Ebbelwei, being served out of traditional eathenware jugs, often on communal tables and benches.
Even if the cider is not to your taste – for Frankfurters, it’s a Marmite issue – the atmosphere is superb.
While there, it would be rude not to try the Frankfurter Schnitzel, served with potatoes and Grüne Sosse (green sauce), a local salsa of fresh herbs and yoghurt: ideal for soaking up the Ebbelwei.
Across the city, Frankfurt has plenty of old-world coffee houses as well as patisseries offering intricate cakes and patstries. If wurst (sausage) in a bun is more your thing, street vendors abound, but the locals tend to gravitate towards the markets where they can polish them off with a glass or two of Ebbelwei.
The best of these is Kleinmarkthalle, not far from the Cathedral and the Museum of Modern Art. A bit like an indoor farmers’ market, it’s not huge but it’s where Frankfurters come for quality produce.
For non-food items, a vast array of shops radiate out from the Zeil shopping promenade where street artists perform between fountains and sycamore trees.
For quirky gifts and fashion boutiques, Sachsenhausen is perhaps a better bet.
That’s Frankfurt: shopping, history, art and a peculiar form of cider, all just two hours away.