Frankfurt's wonders

The view from the 200m high Main Tower in Frankfurt is absolutely astounding. It stretches for miles up to the hills beyond the city’s limits. From here you can see it’s modern architecture which is due to the destruction of almost all medieval buildings during the WWII. As well as some impressive cathedrals dotted around that have been beautifully restored. The city is also very green with many parks in its centre and large forests around the area. But the loveliest of all views from above is that of the Main river, along the shores of which the city has been built.

Frankfurt boasts the most amount of skyscrapers out of anywhere in Germany, 14 out of 15 buildings that are more than 150m in height. Main Tower itself is the only skyscraper in Frankfurt that can be accessed by public, to get to its’ viewing platform. It is home to Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen bank and Standard & Poor's financial services company. It costs just over 6 Euros for a ticket and you have to go through security to get to the lift. Your bags will be scanned and if you have any large luggage, you won’t be allowed to go up.

Nearby is Messeturm which, at 256.5m in height, is Europe’s tallest building. Unfortunately, general public can only admire it from the outside.

For me the most interesting building in Frankfurt is the MyZeil shopping centre, designed by Roman architect Massimiliano Fuksas, not so much for its shopping opportunities as for its architectural wonder. It’s roof and walls are made of glass panes bent into weird and wonderful shapes. In its’ centre, the roof is bent towards the floor like a giant vase. Walking through I felt like Alice in Wonderland, so bizarre and awe-inspiring is the structure. It’s easy to spend a few hours here, even if it’s just to ride the longest escalator in Europe (46m) up and down.

The largest concentration of buildings that survived (or have been restored) the WWII are located in Altstadt (Old Town) quarter. It used to be the largest medieval city centre in Europe but not a lot of it has remained. The most impressive buildings here are Alte Nikolaikirche (Old Saint Nicholas Church) and Römer that, with its’ distinctive three-peaked facade, has been the city hall for over 600 years.

Nearby is the noteworthy Frankfurt Cathedral, also called the St. Bartholomew's. It was destroyed twice: first time was in 1867 by fire and second was during WWII by bombing.  The current building was restored in 1950s and its’ spire reaches 95m.

The best souvenire to bring back is a blue stoneware pitcher called Bembel which traditionally is used to drink Apfelwein (‘Cider’) from. You will also be served cider by bembel in most restaurants. And although I wasn’t impressed with the taste of their Apfelwein, a small version of bembel found place in my baggage.

We only stopped in Frankfurt for a day as a stopover for our ultimate destination – South Africa, but I am so glad we did find a few hours to meander around this lovely city. It was most enjoyable.