Category: Germany
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Whatโs inside these walls will really make you think
Berlinโs tremultous history has left distinct marks like no other city Iโve visited. The kingdom of Prussia, the 1871 German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, East Germany and the reunified Federal Republic have each added a definite flavour to Berlin. Add the rebuilding projects after World War II bombing and the Berlin Wall years…
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Finding contentment in Bavaria
Berchtesgaden is good for the soul. This picture-postcard region, set amid the Bavarian Alps, in south-eastern Germany, is quiet, historic and scenic. In the late afternoon, about the only sounds from the quaint villages are faint traces of Bavarian music, the pearling of church bells and the trickle of running streams. The people are particularly…
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Crossing the Baltic to Scandinavia
The German Riveria was behind us in the distance as we drove along the Baltic Coast to the port city of Rostock. We were headed for the cityโs docks to take a famous ferry route across the sea to Scandinavia. Behind us was a road trip through the heart of Germany, weaving through the mysterious…
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A shooting in the Black Forest
The Germans have an unusual saying that goes like this: “Es geht aus wie das Hornberger Schiessen”. In English, this means: โIt goes out like the Hornberg shooting”. How intriguing! I simply had to find out what the saying was all about. And who better to ask than the locals at Hornberg, a quaint Black…
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An incredible tale of โfunny moneyโ
While travelling in Germany, we came across a fascinating story of mass murder, espionage and โfunny moneyโ Although the tale of the biggest counterfeiting operation in history had been revealed many times in the past, it was new to us. And, as far as gripping stories go, this one sure has it all. While in…
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Bad Wildbad: more than just nude saunas
If the name isnโt catchy enough, the German town of Bad Wildbad is one of the most intriguing places Iโve had the pleasure of visiting. In the northern end of the famous Black Forest, the town is stunning – tucked neatly into a gorge of dense pine trees that run down from a small mountain.…
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Review: Another German castle – the Hotel Schloss Hornberg
Germanyโs castles are spectacular. The Black Forest of southern Germany is stunning. And the two come together in awesome fashion at the Hotel Schloss Hornberg, high on a hill that reaches skyward from the heart of the famous Black Forest. Dating to 1897, the Hotel Schloss Hornberg stands among Medieval castle ruins above the Gutach…
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Stepping back in time in eastern Germany
Sections of eastern Germany are like a time capsule from the 1950โs. Villages, towns, shops and farms have a distinct Soviet-era look. We spent time exploring the Kremmen area, a small rural centre, about 40 minutes east of Berlin. This is squarely in the former GDR, known to most of the world as Communist East…
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The striking Collossus of Prora
I know that some people โswitch offโ at the mere mention of Adolf Hitler. But the former Nazi leader and his regime continue to leave shadows across much of modern Germany; whether we like it or not. And those shadows donโt get any bigger than the โCollossus of Proraโ, the giant Hitler hotel on the…
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Review: the German Riviera on the Baltic.
Over the years, Iโd heard a lot about the beauty of Germanyโs Baltic beaches. But tales of crystal-blue seas, white sands and lush greenery failed to adequately prepare me for the reality of the Pomeranian Coast. Itโs hard to imagine a landscape so different to the German stereotypes of the alpine south, the majesty of…
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A roadtrip through Germanyโs Black Forest
The Black Forest isnโt big, but it certainly is remarkable. We explored the forest – in south-western Germany – as part of a road trip from Switzerland to the Island of Rugan, weaving through scores of small towns and countless hills of dark evergreen trees. It is the only way to truly experience all the…
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The memorial that leaves you disoriented and apprehensive
Itโs unsettling and confronting โ but something that everyone should see. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is now an extremely popular attraction in Berlin, Germany. And, as we discovered first hand, it is also remarkably thought-provoking. Photo by Szczebrzeszynski. Author=[http://www.flickr.com/people/10069045@ Located just south of the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, as it is…
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The Eagle’s Nest, Bavaria, Germany
The first thing you notice about Germany’s Kehlsteinhaus, or โEagleโs Nestโ is the approach road that climbs 800 metres up the side of a mountain, without one hairpin bend. An engineering marvel, the road contains five tunnels in its 6.5 kilometres. It was built in 1937, as part of the Eagleโs Nest โ a 50th…
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Berlin’s wall is fast becoming a memory
Itโs one the most potent symbols of the 20th century โ but more than three decades have passed since the Berlin Wall ceased to exist. Each anniversary, television shows those unforgettable images from Berlin in 1989; thousands swarming over the wall; massive traffic jams as blocked roads were re-opened; and the bewildered look of the…