Germany Facts

Germany holds many treasures: the elegant charm of the big cities, the harvest festival of pagan origin, abundant cultural and huge expanses of forest. But the country's recent history with its present is of great weight. No visitor can remain indifferent to its complex past and how it affects the nation today.

Germany best time traveling

It is recommended to go well equipped despite the time of year when traveling, since in Germany the weather is very variable. The best period to visit the country agrees with the highest influx of tourists between May and October (except for skiers). The rest of the year falls tourism and Germany may be surprised with a very pleasant climate. There is no specific rainy season.

Germany Festival & Holidays

In Germany since the fall holidays of pagan harvest festivals to opera galas label. Throughout the country there are winter festivals, and major cities such as Cologne, Munich and Mainz Carnival explode just before Ash Wednesday. Germany's rich musical heritage is exhibited in a plethora of festivals. Some people focus on a particular composer, such as the Bach Festival in Thuringia, which is held in March or the Richard Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, throughout the month of July, other shows are based on specific thematic issues. The Frankfurt Jazz Festival (April), Stuttgart (April) and Berlin (November) are very popular. Fall is a great excitement for the season of harvest, especially in the Rhineland, where the Rhine in Flames offers barge loaded with fireworks. It also highlights the Oktoberfest, the great annual festival of beer in Munich, although it was more of a tourist event that a representative sample of German culture. In almost all villages of Bavaria celebrated festival devoted to beer, all the more original Oktoberfest. The German families celebrate Christmas with intensity, with greater abundance in Lübeck, Munich, Berlin, Nuremberg, Münster, Heidelberg and Essen.

Germany best places to travel

Berlin

The strength and scope of the Prussian success was evident in Berlin, one of the most fascinating cities in the world and has lived most conflicts throughout history. From the strategic importance it acquired in the thirteenth century, when it built a bridge over the River Spree, Berlin had not returned to grab as much attention during the twentieth century. It is the hub of Germany, and its importance is reflected in its large public buildings, museums and theaters, as well as its elegant restaurants and night clubs. Berlin's cultural life has a vitality and prestige unmatched, both in its modern infrastructure and significant for its festivals, celebrations and outdoor concerts. Currently the city is the epicenter of the momentous project of reunification.
Berlin is a city that can be explored on foot. We recommend a walk from Alexanderplatz to the Brandenburg Gate through Unter den Linden. In nearby Kulturforum are museums and concert halls in the area southeast of Tiergarten, visit this area may take several days.

Munich

Beyond the beer and sausages, Munich is a cosmopolitan city characteristic of the European continent. Its residents can enjoy the most varied attractions of the city, from the dramatic elegance of its major boulevards to traditional dances like the oompah. Compact and manageable, this metropolis has a heady mix of glamor and neglect; features multiple theaters, with many good museums and gardens, not to mention his numerous breweries.
It is recommended to visit the Deutsches Museum, which displays the highest science and technology world, with interactive activities and exciting demonstrations of human inventions, from mining to the observation of stars. The Englischer Garten is one of the largest urban parks in Europe, you can stroll along the trails, enjoy its streams, across bridges and enjoy the swans. It is also possible to sunbathe naked on the grass.
Starting from Munich can be many other excursions. Highlights the Bavarian Alps, very attractive if the day is clear, the Romantic Road, which links the villages of typical western Bavaria, as well as the Dachau concentration camp, northwest of the city. Munich is an important transport hub and communicates regularly with the rest of Germany and Prague, the Northeast, and Rome, to the south.

Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt / Main, so named to distinguish it from Frankfurt an der Oder, has become the financial and geographic West Germany. A large part of the country's wealth comes from its people, and about 10 percent of city taxes is spent on culture. It is one of the German cities with more museums. Städel Museum houses a magnificent collection of works ranging from the Renaissance to the twentieth century, among the great teachers who are part of their funds out Dürer, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Monet, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse, Bacon, Baselitz and Serra. The Museum of Modern Art offers an interesting selection of works that are part of Pop Art, with works of Lichtenstein, Warhol and Wesselmann, among others, pieces of contemporary art-from-novice and veteran creators and creations of artists who have followed with a project for many years, like Gerhard Richter, Bernd and Hilla Becher and On Kawara. The music scene in Frankfurt is very lively, jazz and noted for its high quality. Your local drink called Ebbelweï, is a kind of very strong cider, which is well known throughout the world. In this city to pass out some 1,500 trains a day, which enables communication with any part of the country.
An hour north of town stands the charming town of Marburg, a lively university population which has enabled the various cafes that follow current trends. There is also a great love of pubs located in the wonderful paved streets.

Heidelberg

Tourist city par excellence, Heidelberg Castle is a magnificent gothic-renaissance style. This beautiful city receives four million visitors a year despite its shortage of accommodation and the high prices of restaurants. It is inevitable to feel the romantic attraction of the castle, and you can escape the hordes of tourists walking along one of the trails that traverse the surrounding hills and enjoying its landscape. It is also the spectacular Great Tinaja with a capacity of up to 220,000 liters. If you walk through the streets of the back of the population, it is possible to encounter a place where students often take the spur, and spend hours in a cafe with poets and other curious characters. Heidelberg benefits of the frequent rail connections to Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich and other destinations.

Lubeck
In Schleswig-Holstein, a state situated in the north of Germany, is Lübeck, an extraordinary medieval city. Although easily accessible from Hamburg, departs from the main tourist routes and can be a good and quiet alternative to the massive attractions offered by the South. In 1987 he was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco. Although it was totally bombed during World War II, was rebuilt correctly and retains all its charm, especially the heart, mainly by patrician houses of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, public monuments, churches and warehouses salt. It is full of places to stay for a nominal fee and also has a good variety of restaurants. Lübeck is situated in the charming Marionettentheater, puppet theater, which are worth visiting. Inside the Marienkirche (church of Santa Maria), you can see a hard reminder of the war: the church bells crashed against the stone floor as a result of a bombing, and people have remained right where the fragments fell, with a small sign that reads: "In protest against war and violence"

Tubingen
This particular university and beautiful population is 35 km south of Stuttgart, and is an excellent opportunity to walk through streets lined with wooden houses and old stone walls. From the top of the castle Renaissance Hohentübingen (now part of the university), you can enjoy a magnificent view of the steep red roofs characteristic of the old town. At present, students proudly applying rigorous liberal intellectual tradition of the university itself. The market, full of fruit and vegetables, astonished by her beauty, and any of the products being sold could be part of any of the dishes that visitors consumed in restaurants in the locality.
Frisian Islands
Located on the northwestern coast of Germany, the Frisian Islands to reward those who have made the effort to reach them. Much of this area belongs to a national park. It is recommended to avoid Sylt, packed with wealthy tourists in search of spas, and continue to Amrum Föhr or both quieter and less touristy attractions that enhance and with magnificent views of the sun's rays on the icy North Sea, walks for its abundant trails and horseback riding or biking around. Heligoland Offshore appears, whose visit, from the Frisian, can be organized as a fun outing for a day or two. The island was used as a submarine base during World War II, and today it is still possible to see the noncombustible bunkers and underground tunnels, a panoramic road circling the island.
Harz Mountains
Known mostly by Germans and Scandinavians, the Harz mountains looming in Lower Saxony, and can reach them through a quick journey by train from the tourist centers of the South. While we do not have some peaks and valleys so steep as the Alps, offering a wide variety of sports activities throughout the year, but unlike the Alpine mountain range, without excessive tourism. Harz Nature Park has adapted to keep hikers all its beauty. The area is popular among cycling enthusiasts, despite having to share some of the winding mountain roads with SUVs, so it is advisable to study the maps before leaving. For the downhill skiers, the Harz mountains may seem relatively boring, but the area has a fondness for skiing, also shared by many of its visitors.

Germany activates

A third of the population belong to a sports club, so it is not surprising that foreigners also have access to the outdoors. Cycling is one of the favorite activities, and in many cities of western Germany have enabled excellent bike lanes. Roads in the east tend to have more bumps, but they are also accessible. These routes are more interesting and less frequent than the highways, and let go of one population to another for weeks. Hikers have marked trails in the Black Forest, the Harz mountains and the Bavarian Alps, among others. The alpine zone is the most popular, although the trails are crowded, especially on holidays. In winter, this spot is used for downhill skiing and substance. Black Forest, despite its verticality, is also popular among skiers. Rivers and lakes in Germany are excellent for surfing, there are cruises around Berlin, for the vast lakes of southern Germany and the Baltic Sea. Sailing and windsurfing are very popular sports, especially on Lake Constance in the south.

Germany history

The ups and downs in the history of Germany is noted since the early days, when about forty thousand years ago the Neanderthal man lived in these lands. Invading Slavs and Asians fought to dominate the territory until the Germanic barbarians settled in the Rhine region of Different pockets of fierce resistance opposed to the Roman legions (between 50 BC and V century AD), the French conqueror Charlemagne ( until the early ninth century) and Otón the Great, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (from late tenth century). In the thirteenth century, when the ruling house of Austria from Vienna, the area was little more than a patchwork of German-speaking states ruled by princes.
With the Habsburgs in the power of the outbreak of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), the result of ongoing religious and nationalist conflicts. Since the Reformation raised by Martin Luther from the decade of 1520, Europe was living in a religious dispute. The Treaty of Westphalia (1648), which ended the war, confirmed the failure of the Counter Reformation in Germany (settling the rights of Catholics and Protestants) and the policy of the Habsburgs led to the construction of a great empire. Following the war and the epidemics that ravaged the country, Germany lost a third of its population.
Local princes assumed complete sovereignty in a mosaic composed of about three states, which facilitated the incursion of the Napoleonic troops in the early nineteenth century. The French emperor was never conquer Prussia, which became the core of the German resistance. In the decisive Battle of Leipzig in 1813, ended Napoleon's German aspirations. In 1866, Otto von Bismarck, chancellor of Prussia, annexed most of Germany, and was consolidated as the greatest governor of Europe after a resounding victory over France in 1871. William I, King of Prussia, Kaiser was appointed and trained the new German empire.
Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck in 1890 and led Germany to World War I, the Germans immediately blamed the effects of war on its economy, leading to civil unrest. The end of the fight led to a widespread demoralization and over a million and half dead. The opposition took power in the so-called Revolution of November (1918) and Friedrich Ebert Reich was appointed president of the Weimar Republic (1919-1925). The global economic crisis led to increases in unemployment and poverty, conditions that facilitated the settlement of the National Socialist Workers Party led by Adolf Hitler Germans. In 1933, the Nazi party assumed the absolute authority over Germany, the Nazi dictatorship lasted until 1945. His policy of expansion in 1939 led to World War II and the horror of the Holocaust. After the first victories on the fronts, in 1943 followed heavy losses that were slowly marking the beginning of his unconditional surrender in 1945.
The Allies divided and controlled postwar Germany: United Kingdom, France and United States were further reinforced in the west and formed the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic, the communist regime, the same division was repeated in Berlin. West Germany received significant injections of U.S. capital, attracting many workers away from the miserable economic conditions in the East. To reduce the increasing leakage towards the West, East Germany built the Berlin Wall in 1961 and closed borders. The eye of the Ice Cold War focused on the capital. Over the next 25 years, West Germany became one of the most prosperous nations of the world, while in the Communist increasing socio-economic difficulties. One of the most poignant symbols of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe was the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.
With the reunification of Germany, the era of Helmut Kohl became one of the most significant eras of history. However, after 16 years in office came to an end with the coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the Greens in 1998. Two years later he began an investigation that lasted 14 months, the former foreign minister for embezzlement. In 2000, Angela Merkel replaced Wolfgang Schäuble as the new president of the Christian Democratic Union.
The social dislocation that was predicted to Germany after the union has been minimal, despite the problems the country. Although it has slowed down the euphoria of reunification and that still persists on both sides some resentment and discontent, little by little the country will achieve true German unity in a really diligent. The extreme right, despite its occasional outbreaks of violence, remains in the background from a political point of view. Germany has absorbed most of the refugees from former Yugoslavia along with other immigrants, are the subject of further racist attacks.
In November 2005, after a disputed election between Social Democrats and Christian Democrats, Angela Merkel takes over the German chancellery

Germany culture

Given the importance that this country has had in world history, customs and concerns of the Germans was reflected in a rich artistic heritage: from the claustrophobic beauty of its cathedrals to the legacy of some of the most influential philosophers of the world, from the importance of the classical composers to contemporary grunge music, from the genius of Goethe to the revolutionary theater of Brecht, from the romantic to the visceral expressionism Friedrich, from the dadaist anarchism to the tenets of the Bauhaus, with Gropius and Mies van der Rohe. The scope of German art is such that could be the centerpiece of a visit.
One of the most outstanding German artists that have existed, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), cultivated poetry, drama, painting, philosophy and science. His greatest work, the drama Faust, is a truly exceptional and agonizing saga about the quest for perfection and committed than ever to be achieved. The greatness of Goethe comparable to Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Wagner. German is also the country with a unique visual art. Gothic sculpture of Peter Vischer and his five children, portraits of Dürer Renaissance and baroque architecture of Balthasar Neumann are great examples. The excellence of the German art persists in newer languages, such as cinematography. Before World War II, the German film created in the studios of UFA masterpieces as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiener, 1920), Nosferatu (Friedrich Murnau, 1922) and Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1926). At present, highlighting the works of Fassbinder, Wim Wenders and Volker Schlöndorff.
The German diet is based on meat and potatoes, despite the progressive increase of vegetarian restaurants in recent years. A good German breakfast consists of bread, jam, cheese, cold cuts, boiled eggs and coffee or tea. The main meal of the day is lunch, but the abundance of breakfast, take a Bratwurst at noon in one of the many Imbiss (take-out position). While dinner is supposed to light, usually a plate of sausages accompanied by balls of boiled dough. Beer is the national drink and one of the cultural phenomena that are worth exploring, is excellent and relatively inexpensive. In each region and each beer is made with a different taste and texture. It is preferable to make an unexpected visit to any beer before going to massive festivals such as Oktoberfest in Munich. In winter, you can experience the pleasant bewilderment caused by Glühwein, and a fortified wine flavored with spices.
Despite his penchant for continuous improvement and modernization, the country clings to German cultural traditions. Hunters still wearing green, outdoor chimney sweeps with their costumes Tiznado coal and hat, and women are wearing the Bavarian Dirndl (skirt and blouse), men find the opportunity to wear typical Bavarian Lederhosen (trousers Short leather), a Loden (short jacket) and a felt hat. In everyday life, the Germans acted with propriety, but more in the North than in the South. East of the country, the older population is not too accustomed to tourism, so it is advisable to exaggerate the good manners. Except in cases of extreme confidence, aged Germans still use Herr and Frau in daily dealings. The transition from the formal Sie (you) to the informal du (you) is normally established by mutual agreement and are usually sealed with a toast and a handshake. But for people younger than forty makes an exaggerated grace education in the treatment because it is considered a defect in the typical German apprentice.

Germany map