Capital of the Alps

Photo: Panoramic view of colorful houses by the river Inn.

This was the city I chose for my Erasmus program whilst I was studying at the university. And I can't be happier with that decision! Innsbruck has everything: a nice old town, parks, cinemas, parks, pubs, restaurants, historical buildings, museums... And all reachable by foot. A valley city, surrounded by three Alpine mountain chains, crossed by a river and full of history. During winter the slopes are only a stone's throw away from the city, meanwhile dozen of walking and hiking trails can be found everywhere in summertime.

The most famous street is maybe Maria-Theresien-Strasse in the heart of the old town. It is a peatonal avenue full of cozy spots but also two big shopping malls - the Rathaus Gallerien, located in the same building as the city hall, and Kaufhaus Tyrol. I was quite impressed by having two malls facing each other. 

I lived in Innsbruck for half a year so I had a bunch of free time to explore new spots - specially on my way home after school. I always took different ways to go to my place and that's how I discovered the following. One of my favorite places is located nearby both malls, the Irish pub "Limerick Bill's". Not to mention Segabar, an small but cheap place to have lots of fun! Another nice place nearby is Theresienbräu, a restaurant-brewery with amazing typical food. But our place-to-eat on great occasions always was Stiftskeller with its large terrace and its Tyrolean meals. For cheese lovers, my favorite one is Käsespätzle - a sort of pasta mixed with grated cheese and ham. Lecker!

More than chocolate and banks

Photo: View of St. Peterskirche tower and two of its four clocks from Münsterbrücke. 

The old town goes along both banks of Limmat river, which divides the city in two parts and flows into Lake Zürich. The "Altstadt" is full of charm, little alleys, narrow and with no vehicles driving around. 

There are several churches in Zürich whose spires can be seen from high points, but the most important are four: Grossmünster, Fraumünster, St. Peterskirche and Prediger. All of them look quite alike except Grossmünster on the river's right side, which has two towers instead of only one spire. By the way, the legend says it was founded by Charlemagne at the beginning of the 12th century. Crossing the Limmat we find Fraumünster, a parish church built on a former abbey for woman - so its name. A little bit further along the Limmat, we find Sankt Peterskirche with the widest tower clock in Europe - with more than 8m of diameter! And last but not least, the Gothic-styled Predigerkirche rises up also on the right riverbank and it holds the main library in Zürich in its cloister.

Photo: Grossmünster's 12th century cloister from the inside. 

Fields of horror

Concentration camp built by the Nazis in 1936 in Oranienburg, town located less than 50km away from Berlin. It is quite simple to get there: you just need to take the #1 S-Bahn line (S1) all the way to Oranienburg Bhf (which it is the last stop, easy). Once there, the memorial is only a 20-min walk away but it is also possible to take the bus #804 direction Malz and get off at "Gedenkstätte" bus stop.

Photo: view over the prisoners' main field and what was one of those 68 barracks. 

I must say this is one of the most impressive places I have been so far to. It looks so huge and empty nowadays that it seems almost impossible to imagine how full it used to be. For us to have an idea, the memorial has replaced the total amount of 68 prisoners' barracks by filling the spots with grey stones (photo above). There are 4 rows of them in the main camp plus 18 other located in the "small camp" - a part of the concentration camp that was built due to the increase of prisoners. 

If I remember well, there are still two barracks standing in the mentioned "small camp" and, even it is impossible to imagine the conditions in which the prisoners were treated, you can still see bunches of 3-floor bunk beds inside those tiny rooms, leaving any space to move. 

The first ones to get there were mostly political prisoners against the Nazi regime, but soon would also start arriving people considered racially or biologically inferior to "Aryan race" such as Polish and Soviets.

The entrance to the area is free but, if you like history, you should not miss their guided visits (14€) in English, German or Spanish.

Golden Gate

This is definitely the most common landmark in Germany, mainly because of the history behind it. It is located in Parisier Platz, replacing one of the former entrances to Berlin (specifically, the road to the town of Brandenburg an der Havel, which gave the name to the building). Nowadays, it is considered a memorial for Europe’s sad history but also its later unity and peace.

It is very nice to see at night, since it is less crowded and the lights make it golden. The boulevard starting right in front of it is Unter den Linden, famous for being one of the largest. This long avenue goes from Parisier Platz until Museuminsel, a piece of land between the Spree river where five internationally important museums gather: Bode-, Altes-, Neues-, Pergamonmuseum and the Altes Nationalgallerie. Along the boulevard, you can find other buildings as important as those, such as the Berliner Dom, Deutsches Historisches Museum or the Stadtschloss.

On the west side of the gate, Tiergarten park spreads over 210ha being the third biggest urban park in the country. Right before getting into the park, the "Reichstag" rises up, an interesting building which I have fully dedicated another post.

Home to the Bundestag

As I have already introduced in a past post about the Brandenburger Tor and its surroundings, the west side of the commemorative building leads you to one of the biggest urban parks in Germany, named Tiergarten.

Right before getting into the park, the Reichstag building rises up, another spot full of history. It used to be home of the German Empire, but it soon got ruined after fires and wars - specially during the II World War. When Germany was divided (1933-1990), the parliament of the German Democratic Republic (communist Germany) met in the "Palast der Republik" in East Berlin, while the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany met in the "Bundeshaus" in Bonn - federal city which was the former capital of the democratic Germany from 1949 until its reunification in 1990. Once Germany got reunified again, the German Parliament met back in the Reichstag, being called Bundestag from then onwards.

It is possible to visit the inside for free – which I highly recommend, specially getting to the rooftop of the glass dome while enjoying the views over Berlin. The dome has been provided with a circular ramp around the glass structure on the pic above that will take you to the top meanwhile offering information, pictures and old documentation about its past. The purple seats point out the main chamber where the legislative issues are debated.