4 DAYS IN FRANKFURT, GERMANY
Updated: Mar 18, 2021
FRANKFURT, A CITY KNOWN AS "MEINHATTEN"
Frankfurt is a city in central Germany on the river Main and is home to the European Central Bank. Its is a financial hub which gives it the title "Meinhatten" as a reference to Manhatten.
POPULATION OF FRANKFURT: 753,056 ( 2019 )
THE CURRENCY OF GERMANY: EURO €
1.14 euro to 1 GBP
06/02/2021 check up to date on
FACTS OF FRANKFURT
• 14 out of 15 tallest skyscrapers in Germany stand in Frankfurt
• German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in the city
• Over 1 in 4 Frankfurters are foreign
• The city has the rank of seventh- highest quality of life in the world
• By law, only the sausages that are made in Frankfurt can be called Frankfurters
Frankfurt wasn't any place we had really looked in to as a destination but, we now look at places to go that are cheap flights and/or accommodation then work out what to do from there.
Found a flight with Ryanair for 2 people for a bargain of £65 from our local airport, Newquay, which is an absolute delight. As I mentioned in previous blogs, we usually have to travel 4 or 5 hours to get to an airport.
The only thing about this 1hr 30-minute flight was not to main Frankfurt airport but to Frankfurt-Hahn which is an hour and a half outside of the city, but for only15 euros you can catch a bus to the centre.
SIDE STORY OF OUR LITTLE GUEST, MONKEY
Donna worked in a children's nursery and promised to take the mascot Monkey on holiday with us.
After a few strange looks, we got Monkey onto the plane. He was a little nervous about flying. Still, as soon as we landed, he took on a whole new persona.
I won't indulge in what occurred as what happens in Frankfurt stays in Frankfurt.
We did lose control of the little Monkey, and we last saw him falling into a nightclub. If anyone is travelling in that area and see him, please contact us. We miss you 😂
ACCOMMODATION
Booked an Ibis hotel right on the riverfront, it wasn't cheap at £230 for 4 nights, but the city wasn't a cheap place to stay.
The hotel is just around the corner from the bus station so straightforward to get to by walking, about 5 minutes.
It was a standard Ibis, clean, convenient and in a great location so we had no complaints and it was on the river.
THE ZEIL
• A Shopping street which used to be the central cattle trade in the city.
• The name Zeil comes from the 14th-century word of Zeile, which means "row."
We had only 4 days and no real plans and thought we would go with the flow. It was a bright sunny, cold crisp autumn day in October, coats and scarves on; we left to find out what this city had to offer.
Our 1st mission was to head to the central shopping mall, which is called Myzeil. The walk was about 2km and 30 minutes away, but it was beautiful walking along the river on this lovely day.
Upon arriving at the main shopping street, we headed into the MyZeil mall.
The architecture is quite stunning with modern glass and steel and is centrally located in the shopping district and is perfect for shopping.
After buying a few things, we headed out into the street. We saw an American guy who called himself Gandhi. He offered to draw people with his eyes shut for only 1 euro.
Intrigued, we watched him draw a couple and hilariously saw the results. It wasn't quite what they were expecting and were not happy, but we were highly impressed and decided to pay the 2 euros for our Da Vinci.
I would say more Picasso than Da Vinci.
This was the result.
• This market hall was destroyed in 1944 and rebuilding started in 1956
• On working days it has 63 retailers in 156 market stalls
Four minutes walk away from the shopping street is an old Market hall.
It offers fresh food and flowers and seeds; it's an old steel looking place, a little non-remarkable.
Still, sometimes that adds to the authenticity of being a local.
We walked up the stairs and saw people queuing in a long line waiting to be served at a hole in the wall, so like polite British we queued with them wondering what we were going to get.
When it was our turn, we didn't know quite how to order, so weirdly used our hands to signal how big we wanted our freshly boiled sausage.
It was put onto our plate with a bread roll, and we added mustard, it was like being in a school line.
Then we shuffled next to someone and stood up to eat like the rest of the locals.
It was bustling so guessed this is where the workers come for their lunch.
I think we chose a white sausage called a Weisswurst. It really was delicious.
We needed a drink to wash the lunch down with, so we found the Cafe Kleinmarkethalle in the market.
I had heard about a drink called Apfelwein. It is a cider made with sour pressed apples and fermented to make it about 6% abv. It doesn't have the fizz of "usual" ciders, and no sugar is added.
It is an acquired taste If you like mulled wine, this is pretty much a cider version, it wasn't my thing, but Donna enjoyed it.
NIGHTLIFE
In the evenings we found a few things to do, we would start with a rooftop drink at a department store back in the MyZeil.
We got changed and headed back to the centre.
It was dark now and the evening was perfect, clear but freezing.
The path along the river was lightly lit and was so calm, and in the distance, we could see the bright lights of the city centre, it was stunning.
Riverside at night and the skyline
We arrived at the Galeria Kaufhof at around 7 pm.
We luckily found a seat overlooking the city, as it was jam-packed.
We decided not to have food there, although it looked good, grabbed a beer and took in the views.
Chilled out, literally, we looked into where to go to next and chose a cocktail bar just around the corner called Luna Bar.
As we arrived at the bar, it was in a quiet street. There were thick velvet curtains at the entrance.
We wondered if we had the right place. We thought we could have stumbled upon a strip club, so we opened the heavy curtains and looked through, saw a dark bar with some music decks at the top end playing some good tunes.
With no one else inside, we ventured in. Glad we did as it was a cool little bar and a very friendly barman who recommended our cocktails.
I had something with absinthe and gin, which knocked me for 6 ( in a good way) both cocktails cost 20 euros which are about average for a decent cocktail. We walked out there a little bit drunk😋.
We headed back but stopped in our holiday "local" O'Reilly's Irish pub, near our hotel for a nightcap.
It is a typical Irish sports bar and seemed to be busy every night.
Old Town
The old town is a part of Frankfurt that can take you back to before the city was destroyed during the bombings of world war 2. The buildings are reconstructed timber buildings, and parts are cobbled streets.
You can find Romer (city hall), Romerberg, museums, and little coffee shops to rest your feet in the square.
There are also plenty of bars, which we found shut during the day but did go back in the evening where you can find karaoke and sports bars, but it has a lot more character than that sounds.
And a visit to the Goethe House, the home of the famous writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is a must.
Romer Square
This part of Frankfurt is a place to get away from the modern bustling rat race of the financial centre and its high rises.
It is very touristy, so be aware of the crowds that will be here. It is best to go in the morning as you can see we did in the photos above.
SUMMARY
Frankfurt was a great place to visit, but 4 days was plenty of time in this city as we did almost most things we could find and with the price of the hotel it could get quite expensive.
We did meet a couple on the way back who was making the same trip as us who said they were bored after a couple of days as they couldn't find things to do.
I think its more of a stopover city rather than a goto place.
Also, it had many homeless families on the streets. They didn't bother anyone, but it could be quite intimidating to some people, for us we felt sad for them all.
The best part for us was golden leaves on the trees in autumn and the evening's lights from the city in the distance.
We would go again.....if it was cheap enough.
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