Germany Archives ⋆ The Passenger

February 8, 2026February 8, 2026

Planetenweg

The Planetenweg in Göttingen is a fascinating blend of science, art, and landscape – a miniature model of our solar system mapped onto the real world. Stretching roughly 2.5 kilometres through the city centre to the outskirts, it’s built to a scale of one to two billion. That means every metre you walk represents about two million kilometres in space. The trail starts near the Göttingen railway station, where the Sun is depicted. From there, you can follow the path through the city up the hill, tracing the order of the planets as you move farther from the railway station.

February 8, 2026

Haus Loufried

Lou Andreas-Salomé was born in 1861 in St. Petersburg and died in 1937 in Göttingen, where she had spent the last decades of her life and intellectual work. She moved within the great intellectual currents of late nineteenth- and early twentieth‑century Europe, shifting from theology and philosophy to literature and, finally, to psychoanalysis. Her life feels like a continuous journey between cities and languages, but it comes to rest, symbolically and quite literally, in Göttingen, where her grave still draws visitors who know her name more through others – Nietzsche, Rilke, Freud – than through her own books.

January 25, 2026January 25, 2026

Iberg

Rising gently above Heilbad Heiligenstadt, the Iberg mountain offers a rewarding and well-marked hiking circuit known as the TOP-Wanderweg „Erlebnis Iberg“. This route showcases the diverse natural and historical features of northern Thüringen. Although the trail involves a noticeable incline, particularly during the gradual ascent through the Langes Tal (‘long valley‘), the climb unfolds in a comfortable rhythm, making it suitable for anyone with moderate hiking experience. The path is well-maintained, with clear signposts and rest areas that invite you to take in the surrounding forested landscape.

December 23, 2025December 24, 2025

Mittelbau-Dora

The KZ-Gedenkstätte Mittelbau-Dora, located near Nordhausen in Thüringen, stands as a stark reminder of one of the darker chapters of the Second World War. Initially established in the late summer of 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald, it became an independent concentration camp in the autumn of 1944. Prisoners were forced to work under appalling conditions in a vast network of underground tunnels carved into the Kohnstein mountain. These tunnels, developed for the storage of fuel and later dedicated to the production of the V2 rocket, symbolised both a technological triumph and a humanitarian disaster – tens of thousands of inmates perished from exhaustion, malnutrition, disease, and outright execution.

December 21, 2025December 22, 2025

Friedenseiche

The Friedenseiche at Hombressen, a high point on the Warthügel above Hofgeismar, is one of those modest rural memorials that quietly anchor big history in a very local landscape. It was planted after the victorious end of the German‑French war of 1870/71, when communities across the new German Empire marked peace, unity and sacrifice with commemorative oaks and small monuments rather than grand triumphal arches. Even today the tree stands as a reminder of how intensely the events of that short but decisive conflict were felt even in small Hessian villages far from the front.

December 20, 2025December 20, 2025

Neroberg

Neroberg rises gently above Wiesbaden, offering one of those classic hillside viewpoints where city, river and forest seem to knit together in a single panorama. On a clear day the view stretches across the elegant Kurhaus quarter towards Mainz and the wider Rhein-Main region. The hill has long been treated as the city’s local ‘house mountain’, and even today the mix of woodland paths, vineyards and historic architecture gives it a distinctly cultivated, almost park-like character rather than a wild, rugged feel.

December 20, 2025December 21, 2025

Ophelia

The Museum Wiesbaden is one of the most significant cultural institutions in the German state of Hesse, combining art, natural history, and special exhibitions under one roof. Its origins date back to the early 19th century, when the foundation of the Nassau Antiquities Association laid the groundwork for a formal museum. The current building, an elegant neoclassical structure completed in 1915, stands at the edge of Wiesbaden’s city centre and was carefully restored after the damage it suffered in the Second World War. Over time, the museum evolved into a multidisciplinary institution dedicated to the visual arts, natural sciences, and decorative culture.

November 8, 2025November 8, 2025

Neuengamme

The Neuengamme concentration camp, located in the outskirts of Hamburg, was established by the SS in late 1938 initially as a subcamp of Sachsenhausen before becoming independent in 1940. The site, built around a disused brickworks, played a grim role in Nazi efforts to exploit forced labour for the war economy, with prisoners compelled to endure backbreaking tasks under brutal conditions. Over its seven-year existence until liberation in May 1945, Neuengamme became the central concentration camp in north-west Germany, expanding to include dozens of satellite camps throughout the region.

October 29, 2025October 29, 2025

Ruhmeshalle

The Ruhmeshalle in München stands as a grand neoclassical monument, overlooking the Theresienwiese from its elevated position on the western edge of the city centre. Designed by the renowned architect Leo von Klenze and commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, it was completed between 1843 and 1853. Its purpose was to serve as a hall of fame, celebrating figures who had made distinguished contributions to Bavarian culture, science, and public life. The open colonnade, built in the style of a Greek temple, forms a semi-circle that conveys both prestige and reverence, harmoniously blending with Münchens 19th-century architectural spirit.

October 28, 2025October 29, 2025

Starkbierfest

Nestled on a gentle hill in the district of Au, the Nockherberg holds a special place in Münchens cultural and brewing history. It is best known as the home of the Paulaner Brewery, which has stood here since the seventeenth century. The origin of Nockherberg’s fame dates back to 1634, when monks of the Neudeck ob der Au monastery first brewed a dark, strong beer known as Salvator to sustain themselves during Lent. This hearty beverage quickly gained popularity, becoming not only a symbol of local craftsmanship but also an inseparable part of Münchens identity. Over time, the hillside location transformed from a monastic retreat into a vibrant site for one of Bavaria’s most beloved beer traditions.