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BREMEN

Located along the Weser River and one of the Hanseatic city in the northwestern Germany, Bremen is a port city about 60 kilometres south from its mouth on the North Sea. There are two towns in the state of Bremen, one being Bremen and the other is Bremerhaven. Bremen is the second most populated city in the North Germany with a population size around 545 thousand in year 2005.

Many of the sights in Bremen are found in the Old Town, or more famously known as Altstadt, which was surrounded by the Weser River on the southwest, and the Wallgraben (former moats of the medieval city walls) on the northeast. The oldest part of the Altstadt is marked by the Marktplatz, or commonly known as the market square. The market square is overshadowed by the magnificent fa?ade of the Town Hall. The building was erected between 1405 and 1410 in Gothic style, but the fa?ade was built in Renaissance style two centuries later. Now, it has been changed of its main purpose into a restaurant which brings out the ambience of German in their early days with huge wooden wine barrels and large mugs, and they serve more than 600 exclusively German wines to their customers It is certainly a treat of the lifetime to be there as it is also home of the twelve oldest wines in the world, stored in their original barrels in the Apostel chamber.

Beside the Town Hall are two statues that you shouldn’t – and can’t possibly miss. One of the two statues is bearing a sword and a shield decorated with imperial eagle is Roland, the city’s protector from evil. The sword he bears is Durendart, the ‘sword of justice’ in the legends of the Germans. Standing next to it is the famous bronze sculpture Die Stadtmusikanten, also known as Bremen Town Musician, which is a statue of the donkey, dog, cat, and rooster standing on each other of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale. Despite the title of the fairy tale the animals never actually arrive in Bremen.

To the east of the Marktplatz stand the magnificent Breman Cathedral, a Lutheran church which was dedicated to St. Peter. The cathedral has twin 99 meter towers referred to as the north tower and the south tower and it is possible to climb the south tower for a view of the city. An unusual lead basement is located beneath the nave which even before the Reformation is rumored to be an excellent place to preserve the bodies of the dead in amazing form. The crypt which housed eight mummies in glass coffins has become the cathedral’s famous tourist spot for more than 300 years
Besides medival buildings there are also modern structures in Bremen, such as the the Kunsthalle Bremen, which is an art museum in the Hanseatic City. The Kunsthalle was built in 1849 and enlarged in 1902 to serve the purpose of housing an important collection of paintings from the 19th and 20th century including works of artists from the nearby art colony of Worpswede.
There are more than meets the eye in Bremen, and the beauty of the Hanseatic City is indescribable with words. It is certainly a feast to the eyes to be in Bremen, and probably a feast to your guts as well - if you are a booze-lover - with German’s original, finest wine.