Frankfurt in a day - walking tour continued with frankfurters, churches and more! Part 2

Posted by We started off our walking tour of Frankfurt by fueling up at the best (award 2013) bakery in Germany -  Bäckerei HansS (see previous post with bakery goodies here and start of tour by the Eiserner Steg -Iron Bridge) and now we're onto part 2 of our walking tour of Frankfurt... Frankfurters, churches and more!

After hiking alongside the Main River and taking pictures of the skyline and Eiserner Steg, we hiked over the bridge into the heart of Frankfurt's Aldstadt (Old town) - the Römerberg.  It was formerly called the Samstagsberg, and since the 9th century, it has been the site of markets, tournaments, executions, and even imperial coronations. The square started to wake up around 10am, with folks filling up cafe tables, and buskers with accordions filling the square with traditional cheerful tunes. In the centre of the square is the first fountain in Frankfurt - the fountain of justice

The buildings built in 1986 on the east side have names - the “Great Angel” building is where Frankfurt’s first bank was established in the 17th century, is beside the “Golden Griffon”, “Wild Man”, “Small Badger Hill”, “Great and Small Lauberberg”. followed last by the “Black Star”...

next to the Old Nikolai Church, a Gothic church that was mentioned as early as 1264, but it is probably much older. Its 47 bells rang out the hour along with all the other churches in and around us with quite a cheerful clamour lol!

On the west side of the square, is the Römer - its been the Rathaus or city hall of Frankfurt for over 600 years. It was closed to the public the day we went as someone had rented it out for a wedding. Kaisersaal, or Emperor Hall, is super opulent and is located above the Römerhalle on the second floor - during the times of the Holy Roman Empire, they had coronation banquets. 

We took a quick break from admiring, gawking and snapping pictures of the intricately decorated buildings around the square to nosh on some sausages... we worked up an appetite walking around (justification for sausage.. check!) :D  So we stopped off at Alten Limpurg - figured they should be ok since they have been around since 1495!

After all, while in Frankfurt, we had to try at least one Frankfurter Würstchen (little Frankfurter sausage) a thin, smoked then boiled juicy pork sausage with an incredible casing that snaps when you bite into it!

Well, we had two as they were sooo good!

We then hiked over to Saint Bartholomew's Cathedral, also known as "the Dom" - its one of the few churches in Germany with the designation of "Imperial Cathedral", so its the quick walk over to have a look! Since 1356, Holy Roman Empire kings were elected in this church, Roman-German emperors were crowned here from 1562 -1792, and as the main church of Frankfurt, they still hold services everyday.

For  few euro, you can hike up 300+ steps to a viewing platform 66m up for a great view of the city! As you go up...

360 view!

And view of below from above lol!

And all within a short hike of each other is the pinkish toned round Paulskirche or Saint Paul's Church - it was the seat of the first democratically elected Parliament in 1848, destroyed in WWII, rebuilt afterwards and now used for events and exhibitions

We had worked up an appetite hiking everywhere, so stay tuned for:

- 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!