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Many good reasons why you definitely should visit Bremen

A great thing about germany is that you can visit cities and people in different areas of the country and nothing is the same. The people in Rhineland celebrate carnival on the streets and in Berlin you can go partying every day. Hamburg has got the beautiful Alster and a lot of cultural highlights and architectual monuments.

Bremen looks a bit small next to all those big city names, however it’s one of my highlights in Germany. The city on the Weser is ideal for a short break or day trip as it offers a variety of tourist attractions like hardly any other city in Germany.

Where to ask yourself elsewhere: Okay, why is there a museum on this subject at this place, is there any connection between the city and the topic of the museum? Bremen is always coherent and remains true to itself. One notices that already on the loyalty to their soccer club Werder Bremen. Where the HSV, the Hamburg sports club has to fight year after year with disappointed fans, the Werder fans remain loyal souls in good and bad times in the 1st Bundesliga and heat up the game with an inbred at every home game in the Weserstadion, how to find nowhere else.

And so it is with Bremen. If you have the stereotypical image of the sub-cooled North Germans in mind, you will be disappointed here. Because no, Bremen is always hearty and sometimes someone very talkative. Everyone will find something for themselves here.

Weser

Of course it’s the most beautiful place on the river, so we start our tour there. In addition to the Beck’s brewery as a destination that dives from time to time in the city center in a pleasant-malty smell, there are many beautiful corners on the water at the Schlachte. Especially in the Advent season, the medieval Christmas market is an insider’s tip there, but also in the rest of the year it is one of the most beautiful places to go for a walk on the waterside. For the small hunger there are also good opportunities here on the water. A really nice place for a lunch is the Pannekoekschip Admiral Nelson – as the name suggests, there are numerous hearty and sweet pancake dishes. If you are looking for a place to spend the night or just a pleasant spot on the water for a coffee, then you’re well rested on Alexander von Humboldt. This ship hotel also has a nice café and invites you to linger on the River Weser. Maybe you’ve already seen the Alexander von Humboldt on TV ‘cause it’s the ship from the Beck’s beer commercial.
Also on the Weser invites the theater ship for evening entertainment program with light comedies.

Schnoor Quarter

If you are already in the area, you can also continue in one of the tourist hot spots of Bremen. The Schnoorviertel with its narrow streets is its own little world in the middle of Bremen, full of small boutiques, with a cool candy factory with live candy making show and secret side streets that lead to surprising places. Really recommended to buy local delicacies like the Bremer Klaben for his friends and relatives at home, is the Schokostübchen. If you still have time for a trip into the history of Bremen and you are able to understand German you should visit the Bremer Geschichtenhaus (Story House of Bremen). This activity is especially pleasant for families, because unlike in museums, a Bremen originals go directly into the times of the Hundred Years War up to the 20th century. Just around the corner, the Viertel of Bremen begins with numerous beautiful cafes and restaurants. A cultural highlight of the city is the well-equipped permanent exhibition of the Bremer Kunsthalle.

Böttcherstraße

Small but nice is the Böttcherstraße one of the most beautiful corners of Bremen with exceptional architecture and everything that the tourist heart desires. Alone the exterior appearance of the alley shows a completely different world than in the rest of the city with the high red brick walls that are so characteristic of Northern Germany. So far, I have only met a person who has not succumbed to the charm of the red brick buildings of Northern Germany and this young man came from a half-timbered village in the Erzgebirge as a teacher to Northern Germany with the assumption that Niedersachsen would naturally have the same appearance as a Saxon mountain village with ski lift.
Anyone who is open to red brick buildings, will have his true joy in Bremen already at the golden decorated entrance area. The narrow street is full of small, charming shops with tea, coffee, all sorts of souvenirs and here you will find a small candy factory. Absolutely worth seeing and, above all, nice sound does the carillon in this street.

City Centre / Downtown

Where are a lot of Bremer originals in this city. While I shot the photos for this blog post on a sunny Friday morning, a man came along and proclaimed right at the Roland “The sun, the sun, the sun ..:” and no one really knew if the man makes an artistic statement with it, would like to quote the end of Ibsen’s “Ghosts” or simply be loud about the rare sun in Bremen. At the same time, many people came to answer the old lords “The Moon” or “The Shadow”, but none of the brave groups lasted more than a minute. There is no lack of behavioral-contemporary contemporaries here and so Bremen does not seem unapproachable, but exudes a homely and familiar atmosphere.

Represented prominently in the city center and directly at the entrance to the Böttcherstraße is the Roland, which was built in 1404 and is considered one of Bremen’s landmarks. Already since 2004 this monument belongs to the UNESCO world heritage.

Other tourist hot spots are just a few minutes walk away as well as the Bremen Gothic-style cathedral, which you can visit for free.
There, right next to the cathedral, there is a sight that is probably not noticed by most people. The Bremer Spuckstein is the only place in Germany where you can spit on the floor in public. The reason for this is that the Domshof was the place where the poison guller Gesche Gottfried was executed and to which one can still proclaim his contempt.

Museums 

In addition to the aforementioned Kunsthalle at the entrance to the Bremer Viertel, the Universum is especially worth a visit. The futuristic building near the University of Bremen is an ideal pastime in bad weather, especially for family outings.
In addition, the Overseas Museum near the Bremen Central Station is a nice destination, where you can currently find an exhibition about traditional and modern Japan.
Also near the Schlachte you will find a worth seeing museum, the Weserbergmuseum for modern art.

Parks and Countryside

Anyone who is in bloom at the moment of flowering will not miss the Rhododendron Park. This sprawling one is a bit out of the city center, but well worth the visit. If you are there in bad weather, you can also visit the botanika tropical house with butterflies and amazing plants.
Not only Bremen itself is a nice destination. My insider tip in good weather is a bike ride along the Weser along to Vegesack. There is a tranquil harbor near the central station and a beautiful park directly on the Weser. From there you can take the ferry over to Lemwerder and continue on Elsfleht along the Hunte to Bad Zwischenahn.
An impressive and at the same time frightening monument is the submarine bunker Valentin near Bremen-Farge, which has only recently become accessible to the public. This huge building on the Weser was built from 1943 to 1945 by forced laborers. All attempts to blow up this bunker with up to 8 meters thick reinforced concrete walls failed. Today, there is a training center and an information center in the exhibition within this area.

Text und Bild: Bettina