Tours to Germany are a great opportunity to admire the grandeur of Gothic cathedrals and medieval castles, marvel at the neighborhood of old pubs and glass office centers, visit the most famous music and theater festivals, walk along the freshly washed streets of typical German towns.
Holidays in Germany can satisfy the wishes of the most demanding travelers from Moscow and other regions. The best ski resorts of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Berchtesgaden, Oberstdorf, Reit im Winkl will give a huge amount of adrenaline during the descents on excellent slopes, the resorts of Baden-Baden will help restore health and improve immunity for a long time, the beaches of the Baltic coast and the cleanest lakes of Bavaria will become the most an attractive place for a comfortable beach holiday.
Dresden and Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf – each city that is included in the individual tours will be able to reveal its mystery, but will not reveal it completely on the first visit. What makes you come back to this amazing country over and over again.
Currency: Euro
Language: official – German
Capital: Berlin
From the ancient Celts and the Holy Roman Empire to the Second Reich and the fall of the Berlin Wall. From Goethe, Schiller and Heine to Thomas Mann, Heinrich Hesse and Bertolt Brecht. From Bach and Beethoven to Orff and Wagner. From the masterpieces of painting and the magic square of Albrecht Dürer to Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna” in the Dresden Gallery. Magnificent architecture, rich history, captivating landscapes, world-famous museums and theaters, luxury resorts, world festivals and sporting events. A country of “poets and thinkers”, genuine art and a unique culture, Germany is boundless in its diversity and special way of life, which today can be safely called “Created in Germany” instead of the traditional “Made in Germany”.
Geographical position The
Federal Republic of Germany is located in Central Europe. It occupies an area of 357,021 km² and borders on nine states – Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, France, the Czech Republic and Poland. In the north it is washed by the Baltic and North Seas.
Climate The
climate in Germany is temperate, maritime and transitional from maritime to continental, with a more continental climate in the center of the country. The average annual temperature is about 10°C.
History
The name of the country “Germany” goes back to the writings of Latin authors of the 1st century BC. n. e. and is derived from Germanus (“Germans”). It was first used by Julius Caesar in his “Notes on the Gallic War” regarding the tribes living beyond the Rhine. The origins of German history date back to the prehistoric era, when, about 500 thousand years ago, the first settlements appeared on the territory of Germany. From the 1st millennium to the 6th-9th centuries, the unification of the tribes, the emergence and collapse of the Frankish state, and, finally, the creation of the Holy Roman Empire, which included the German lands, and the date of the proclamation of which – February 2, 962, is traditionally considered the day of the foundation of the German state. Then there was the division and unification of the German principalities, the formation in 1871 of the new German Empire (“Second Reich”), the defeat in the First and Second World Wars,
The main attractions
The sights of Germany are so numerous and varied that we can only mention some of them:
Historical buildings:
Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) – the famous symbol of Berlin and Germany, built over 200 years ago.
Bremen Town Hall – the pride and symbol of Bremen, Rathaus, built at the beginning of the 15th century in the Renaissance style and is famous all over the world for its luxurious facade.
Porta Nigra ( Porta Nigra, translated from German as “black gate”) is the symbol of the city of Trier, the largest and best preserved ancient gate in the world, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Reichstag ( Reichstag – “imperial assembly”) is the historic government building in Berlin.
Castles:
Heidelberg Castle (Heidelberger Schloss) – a 13th-century castle, a symbol of the city of Heidelberg and one of the most famous ruins in Germany, Martin Luther, Victor Hugo and Mark Twain wrote about the castle.
Hohenschwangau Castle and Neuschwanstein Castle ( schloß Hohenschwangau, Schloß Neuschwanstein – “New Swan Stone”) are castles of the 12th and 19th centuries, respectively, located in Bavaria, the residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria.
Sanssouci Palace ( Schloss Sanssouci ) – located in Munich, the summer residence of Frederick II.
Cathedrals:
Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) – a Gothic cathedral in Cologne (Germany), the beginning of construction – 1248, 157 meters high, was the tallest building in the world from 1880 to 1884, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.
“Frauenkirche” (Frauenkirche) – a majestic church of the 18th century. In Dresden, one of the city’s most significant cathedrals.
Aachen Cathedral (Aachener) – a cathedral of the early 9th century, located in the city of Aachen, an architectural complex that combines the styles of different periods of the construction of Christian cathedrals, headed by the palace chapel of Charlemagne, a UNESCO world cultural heritage site.
Museums and Galleries:
Berlin: Museum Island, or Museum Island, located between the branches of the Spree River and the Lustgarten Park, works of art from ancient times to the present day are collected here; Old Museum – museum of ancient art; The Old National Gallery is a museum of painting and sculpture of the 19th century; The Pergamon Museum is a complex that includes: the West Asian Museum, the Collection of Antiquities. Islamic Museum, Museum of German Folk Art and East Asian Art Collection.
Bremen: The Bremen Art Gallery is one of the most important galleries in Germany, featuring German and French paintings from the 15th-19th centuries.
Dresden: Dresden Gallery – the world-famous gallery, which contains masterpieces of great masters; The Zwinger Art Gallery includes several exhibition complexes.
Cologne: Romano-Germanic Museum housing the archaeological heritage of Roman and Frankish Cologne and the surrounding area; Wallraf-Richartz Museum – German painting, works of Italian, Dutch and other schools of painting of the 17th century are collected here; The Chocolate Museum, which presents the 3000-year history of chocolate and its production.
Munich: The Alte Pinakothek is one of the most famous museums in Germany.
Cuisine
German cuisine is characterized by a variety of dishes prepared from selected products and typical for different parts of the country. All kinds of meat products are very popular here: sausages, frankfurters, sausages, including the famous Bavarian white sausages. As well as a sausage platter with stewed sauerkraut (Sauerkraut), pea soup with sausage and the popular Eintopf Berlin soup, which replaces a whole meal. Germans love flour and confectionery products – over 20 varieties of bread are sold in bakeries, and German apple strudel is the pride of Germany. Of course, one cannot fail to mention the excellent German beer for which Bavaria is especially famous, and the fine wine made from the grapes of the Rhine and Main valleys.
Holidays and festivals
January 1 – New Year; January 6 – Epiphany; April – Easter; May 1 – Workers’ Day; June 7 – Feast of the Body of Christ (day off in some lands); October 3 – Unity Day; October 31 – Transfiguration; November 1 – All Saints Day; December 25-26 – Christmas. March – Thuringian Bach Festival; April – jazz festival (Stuttgart); 2–4 June – rock festival “Rock im Park1′ (Nuremberg) – Germany’s largest open-air rock festival; September-October – autumn festival of classical music (Berlin); September – Beethoven Festival (Bonn). Late September – early October – beer festival Oktoberfest (Munich);
