Frankfurt in a day - first stop... Bäckerei HansS, one of the best bakeries in Germany and walking tour of Frankfurt! Part 1!

Posted by After an insanely too early morning waking up at 5am to get ready to step off the sleeper train we took from Denmark into Frankfurt around 6am, a hair raising experience navigating through downtown Frankfurt during rush hour (the GPS ever so usefully guided us around in circles or told us to turn much too late for us to cut lanes.. but that's another story).. so after checking into the hotel, we rewarded ourselves by hitting up Bäckerei HansS for breakfast! Since November 01, 1935 , for over 77 years, Bäckerei HansS , a third generation family run bakery has baked bread and pastries, and won best bakery Germany in 2013 (by the magazine "Der Feinschmecker" or The Gourmet).
Located close to the river in the Sachsenhausen-Nord district where there are plenty of bars and restaurants (selling their pride and joy "Apfelwein"  or applewine) and hotels.  Its quiet in the morning, and we see plenty of folks heading in and out of the bakery with a quiet and faded signage, with their hands loaded up with breads, pastries and cakes. Had to wait a while to get a clear shot.

When you first enter, you're greeted with a wall of freshly baked bread...

And two large counters full of pastries...

sweets...

tortes/pies and savory sandwiches...

We had a hard time narrowing things down, and since my boyfriend loves apple strudels, the Sachsenhäuser Äpfelchen - Sachsenhäuser "little apples" practically screamed out EAT ME! Now now NOW! Ok! :D

It was an amazing little apple pie, and I barely got one bite of it as my boyfriend practically inhaled the super flaky multi-layered pastry packed with cinnamon sugary apples in record time.

The Delfler Stangen looked intriguing so we picked one up too!

Its a twisted pastry rod (stangen) that was stuffed with a sweet nutty mixture, and its ends dipped in dark chocolate.  Surprisingly, it wasn't overly sweet despite it looking like a dentist's dream.

We couldn't leave without picking up some Lebkuchen or German gingerbread to try!  It wasn't overly sweet (almost bland by the super sweetened North American versions) and had nice notes of clove and ginger in this crunchy crisp ginger cookie.

And though we were pretty stuffed, and really wanted to try some of the pies/tortes (too big for two people!) we picked up a small loaf of freshly baked bread... bigger than the size of my head lol!

The crust was crisp, the interior had a nice mildly dense texture and it tasted subtly of malt... ended up noshing on it throughout the day as we put what we didn't finish, we neatly tossed into our knapsack.

.. now its off to find some sausage and beer and some sight seeing... when in Frankfurt, we're gonna find us some Frankfurters!  I was glad we paid for parking at the hotel... parking is scarce in Frankfurt, and sometimes folks just invent their own parking spots lol!

We hiked along the Main River (everything that has a view of the river and on the river is called "am Main") and hiked over the pedestrian only Eiserner Steg (Iron Bridge - brilliantly imaginative name!) that was built in 1868, destroyed in WWII and rebuilt in 1946. It also connects Sachsenhausen to  the Römerberg - the historic square and heart of Frankfurt's Altstadt (Old Town) where conveniently, most of the interesting churches and sites are found! 

 Not sure if someone went to almost every Germany citys' bridges and started attaching locks on and started the tradition, but the Eiserner Steg definetely had a lot of lovers locks attached onto it!  The story is if you and your significant other "lock" your love onto the bridge, it will be everlasting... there were modern day and even antique locks!

Stay tuned for...
- Part 2: walking tour continued of Frankfurt, frankfurters, churches and more!
- Part 3: Kleinmarkthalle, Frankfurt's largest indoor farmer's market - delicious sausages, fruits, vegetables and last bit of our Frankfurt walking tour!
- Part 4: Apfelwein (apple wine) house time at Zum Gemalten Haus!