With almost 40 million foreign overnight guests every year, Germany is one of the seven most visited countries in the world. There are 6,135 museums, 366 theatres, 34 leisure and adventure parks, 45,000 tennis courts, 648 golf courses, 190,000 km of hiking trails, 40,000 kilometres of long-distance cycle paths as well as holiday and theme routes available for use in tourism.
Business and congress tourism is of outstanding importance; Germany is the most important international trade fair location with several world-leading trade fairs: Caravan Salon Düsseldorf, CMT Stuttgart, etc. The Internationale Tourism-Börse Berlin is the world's leading tourism trade fair. Germany also has the highest density of festivals like Wacken, Rock am Ring,
Outstanding sights: Sanssouci Castle - Brandenburg Gate - Cologne Cathedral - Saxon Switzerland National Park - Wadden Sea - Hamburg Harbor - Brocken - Old Town of Hameln - Externsteine - Wartburg - Neuschwanstein Castle - Zugspitze near Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Rothenburg ob der Tauber - Königsee in Berchtesgadener Land - Old town of Bamberg - Imperial castle in Nuremberg - Mainau Island in Lake Constance - Lichtenstein Castle - Meersburg - Ulm Minster - etc.
Early in the morning the weather forecast had warned of fog banks and freezing drizzle, which in the north often can quickly lead to incalculable ice on the roads.
It is next to the beer known as one of the landmarks of the city Jever in Frisia and shows a variety of artifacts about the city and the surrounding history of the past centuries: the Castle Museum in Jever's Castle.
Due to local law situation and in return for huge amount of new construction areas, other areas have to be given back to nature as green land.
Green City Jever - not without reason Jever is named as the green city because the town is heavily influenced by the five elongated moats with its ancient trees that once surrounded the historic center as a moat protective layer.
Regardless from which side of the old town of Jever you are approaching, always the bell tower as the second tallest building in town is in the center of the image.
Despite rough wind and low temperatures it was a nice balance to leave house for a walk. During the coffee break our conversation had led to the topic about the so much different Christmas markets in Germany.
Despite the never-ending winter in the Balkans, Austria and Germany, some important dates and planning made it necessary to start the journey from Antalya back to Kitzingen.
As part of his “Creative Writing Workshops” activities, Nevfel Cumart had spent a few days in the Ruhr area and so we arranged to meet at Würzburg Central Station for a short discussion about continuing our joint activities with regard to further book presentations.
Our last visit to the historic old town on the occasion of the Bamberg city festival was a few months ago and so we wanted to take advantage of the advanced Advent season to also take a look at the traditional Bamberg Christmas market, which had its origins in the mid-19th century.
As darkness fell, Brita invited us to follow her to the Christmas market in Kitzingen. In addition to the usual delicacies with mulled wine, bratwurst and freshly baked goods, the special motto of the event, which only takes place on the third Advent: Kitzingen shines!
As if they weren't already wet enough, the group of canoeists from the Danube, who we could watch docking directly at Regensburg's most famous sausage stand.
As part of our project "Comprehension and Cultural Journey along Roman Roads" we came to Regensburg (Castra Regina) again to support the further preparation of the "1st German-Turkish Literature and Encounter Festival Regensburg".
We also wanted to use the visit to the exhibition of the best press photos in Kitzingen to visit the Carnival Museum, which only opened in November 2013 in the new building in the Main Franconian city, after all it is the official museum of the German Carnival Association.
During a visit to Kitzingen during the past year we had also driven up the nearby Schwanberg to take some photos of the vines and the surrounding countryside.
We got to know Chris better during the German-Turkish Friendship Festival in Izmir, after he had performed in place of the bassist Frank Eberspächter of the group Backdoor Connection.
The invitation from the Aschaffenburg Court Library and Amnesty International to read poems by the poet Nevfel Cumart, who lives in Bamberg, brought us to Schloss Johannisburg in Aschaffenburg.
During our exploratory trip through Franconian Switzerland, we also came to the village of Pottenstein, which is best known for its stalactite cave with the somewhat eerie name "Devil's Cave".
Two appointments prompted us to travel to Marktheidenfeld, the town where the German Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation was founded in 1975.
colourful environment for "Engelstaedter's Rock meets Classic"
We had followed the invitation of a local bank, who had once again invited to an evening concert, this evening it was "Engelstaedter's Rock meets Classic", in the botanical garden of Augsburg in glorious sunshine.
For some time now, our friend Georg has been an enthusiastic scuba diver, who practices this hobby with great enthusiasm and a lot of willingness to learn and practice.