What would you do in Frankfurt if you only had 25 hours in the city? This weekend the clocks officially change from Daylight Saving Time to Winter Time and we get a gift of an hour. So October 28th will be 25 hours. It's a bit like being in transit - already off the plane, but still having to stroll around in the passport control queue. Or, to put it another way, we're not quite in Saturday anymore, but we're not waking up to Sunday yet either.
Inspired by the New York Times series <link http: www.nytimes.com travel _blank>"36 hours in"so today I ask you, what would you do if you were allowed to spend 25 hours in Frankfurt? Like a tourist?
Morning: FOUNDING TIME ARCHITECTURE
Frankfurt is, after all, a city in transition, marked by its dense skyline and finance. But it is also a city of strong contrasts that coexist mostly peacefully: That "close together" can be experienced very impressively when we start our 25-hour tour of Frankfurt from the main train station: here, the bank towers hug the historic station district with its beautiful-looking 19th-century architecture, built on the French model. About ten years ago, the New York Times wrote in its piece on our Main city that Frankfurt had given up trying to replace London as a financial centre and was coming across as more relaxed. Haha...
OSTEND BOYS
Frankfurt doesn't have to try anything anymore, since history has more or less presented everyone involved with a fait accompli - with as yet unforeseeable consequences for life here. However, the change that has already been triggered by the settlement of the European Central Bank, whose building stands out very imposingly from the Ostend, can best be experienced in this formerly Jewish quarter. Hip restaurants like the <link http: www.restaurant-frankfurter-kueche.de _blank>Frankfurter Küche on Hanauer Landstraße are attracting new customers, while old pubs are disappearing. In the middle around the slightly dingy Danziger Platz, an initiative has taken heart and settled the <link http: frankfurter-garten.de _blank>Frankfurter Garten. Where no grass used to grow, lush vegetation has been showing up for some time now. Creative Frankfurters shape their city and celebrate a pumpkin festival on October 31.
FRANKFURT FLAIR AND MITTAGSPÄUSCHEN
The Historisches Museum in the city centre has taken up this lead in the Ostend. Located right in the heart of what was once the medieval city center, it has been reopened and refocused after years of renovation: Exemplary the <link https: historisches-museum-frankfurt.de de mitmachen _blank>"Participation for residents in the city lab".
On the thirty-minute walk from the Ostend to the city center, by the way, the up-and-coming Fischerplätzchen is recommended for a midday snack - in the surrounding Cafés with Brooklyn flair Frankfurt enjoy their Hessian town at every opportunity ;-). Fishermen once cast their nets here on the northern bank of the Main, but it wasn't until 2013 that the town got its current name.
LATE NOON: MUSEUMSKILOMETER AND MAINSPAZIERGANG UNDER PALMS
The Museum Mile is located directly on the popular Mainufer, which offers the best view of the skyline from the Sachsenhäsuer Ufer. It's a walk and a view worth taking. After an extensive tour, a stop under palm trees is a good idea: the <link http: mainnizza.de uber-uns willkommen _blank>restaurant "MainNizza" aims to offer its guests a "living room atmosphere". The Nizza, short for Nizza-Ufer, is a park in Frankfurt am Main. The 4.42-hectare park stretches for about a kilometre along the northern bank of the Main between the Untermainbrücke and the Friedensbrücke. It continues the green spaces of Frankfurt's western ramparts on the banks of the Main.
The Nice takes its name from its mild climate, which comes from its wind-protected southern exposure, favourable sunlight and the heat storage of the river. As a result, numerous plants of the Mediterranean flora thrive here, reminiscent of the gardens of the French Riviera.
In Frankfurt, then, art lovers are spoilt for choice: from the Städel Museum and the Schirn Art Gallery to the Museum of Architecture or the Post Museum with its funny telephone sheep, to name but a few. There is no way around art. Just as little as the local Äppelwei, the regional apple wine. Best enjoyed on a <link https: www.frankfurt-tipp.de freizeit s der-ebbelwei-express-ein-stueck-frankfurt-wird-40.html _blank>city tour in the Ebbelwei-Express.
SKYLINE AT NIGHT
The skyline at night is an unforgettable experience: the most beautiful impressions are offered by an evening walk along the Main or the way up to the <link https: www.frankfurt-tipp.de freizeit s der-main-tower-ein-ganz-besonderer-blick-auf-die-stadt.html _blank>Main Tower of Helaba. The best way to end the evening is with a wine or cocktail where it began - in the Bahnhofsviertel. The <link http: stanleydiamond.com _top>Stanley Diamond with its 20s flair offers enjoyment at appropriate prices in the Ottostraße. For wine lovers, the small "<link http: www.mey-weinbar.de _blank>Mey Weinbar" in Elbestraße with its French menu is highly recommended. The brick walls provide the coolness factor.
Good night
The borrowed 25 hours are coming to an end. If you don't want to stay with friends and prefer special hotels, the <link https: www.25hours-hotels.com hotels frankfurt by-levis _blank> "25 Hours" Hotel, which offers fashion and pop culture in the Bahnhofsviertel, or the <link http: www.das-lindenberg.de home _blank>permanent Lindenberg are perfect. In the Ostend, the mix of hotel and residential community is in a 150-year-old city villa.
TOMORROW HALF TEN IN FRANKFURT
The next morning, it is recommended to just enjoy breakfast at the hotel, and take it easy on the probably aching feet. To say goodbye to the time-out in Frankfurt with a brunch, the relaxed <link http: www.metropolcafe.de _blank>Café Metropol right behind the cathedral is a good place to go. Be sure to make a reservation and try the vegetarian gourmet breakfast for two.
A brunch in the city centre comes with the unbeatable advantage of being able to combine it with a tour of the rebuilt old town, which was destroyed during the war. Where once only remnants jutted out on a wasteland, buildings now crowd the area again. However, during the reconstruction a medieval design 1:1 was renounced. The shape of the houses reminds of the Middle Ages, some of them are decorated in the same colours as then, but most of them are interpreted in a modern way. So it is best to see for yourself! And then - Goodbye in Frankfurt