Latest news with #Altstadt
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Why Innsbruck is more than just snow: what to see year-round
Turn from bustling Marktgraben into pedestrianised Herzog-Friedrich-Straße, lined with medieval mansions in pastel colours and hung with elaborate signs advertising ancient businesses, and your eye will be caught by a patch of brilliance in the distance, which brightens further as you approach the heart of Innsbruck's Altstadt, or Old Town. Advertisement This is the Goldenes Dachl, or Golden Roof, a magnet for photographers in this city in the Austrian Tyrol, with 2,657 gilded copper tiles forming a steeply sloping roof over a carved and painted oriel window. It was ordered by Emperor Maximilian I in 1497 to celebrate his second marriage, and when completed three years later, it advertised both the stability of his reign and the city's prosperity. This came both from its silver mines and from its location, where trade routes to Germany Italy , Switzerland and beyond met at a crossing over the River Inn – the Inn's Bridge, or Innsbruck. The town now has 15 bridges serving its 130,000 inhabitants. The colourful facades of historical buildings, backdropped by snow-capped mountains, line the riverfront in the Old Town of Innsbruck. Photo: Shutterstock Look above and beyond the Golden Roof and you'll see a modern mainstay of Innsbruck's economy, the Nordkette, a string of 2,500-metre peaks that draws skiers from around the world. The mountains dominate the picturesque town, their steep, powder-covered slopes nearly as brilliant in the sunlight as the roof below, and ski runs of assorted difficulty are reached directly from its centre in only half an hour by a combination of funicular railway and cable car. But when a spring thaw eventually comes, other reasons to visit Innsbruck do not melt away, and there's more than just the Golden Roof to dazzle visitors. During his long reign (1486-1519), Maximilian chose to live in Innsbruck, nearly 500km to the west of Vienna , for its strategic location and natural resources. Advertisement The Golden Roof – an addition to an even earlier building – was the royal box from which the emperor and his family viewed entertainment in the square below while making themselves visible to the populace. Below the gleaming tiles, its surfaces are carved and painted with the coats of arms of Maximilian's territories, along with an image of himself placed tactfully between those of his first and second wives. And there are scenes of both courtly life and popular entertainment, such as Morris dancing.
Times
19-05-2025
- Times
The fun, under-the-radar German city that's now easier to reach
Second World War bombs destroyed nearly all of Münster's large, shield-shaped Altstadt, or old town. Yet rather than opting for a contemporary look, the city mostly recreated streets in an ersatz historic style. The results, especially along the focal Prinzipalmarkt street, are impressive, with a handsome riot of cobbles, red bricks, arcades, alleys and gabled houses, plus 90-odd churches whose bells seem to permanently be tolling. Even so, this compact city, north of the Ruhr in western Germany, is far from fusty. Students, contributing a youthful energy, account for 20 per cent of inhabitants while bicycles — most prominent along the three-mile Promenade, a moat turned leafy cycleway and footpath that encloses the Altstadt — outnumber everyone. Other reasons to board new flights from Stansted range from a heavyweight contemporary art scene and some thrillingly bloody history to the chance to try or buy superlative, farm-fresh examples of Germany's beloved white asparagus. • Morning: St-Paulus-Dom cathedral• Lunch: Wochenmarkt• Afternoon: LWL Museum of Art and Culture• Drink at: Balthazar• Evening: Stadthafen• Dinner: Altes Gasthaus Leve • Morning: Old town walking tour• Lunch: Die 3 Schwestern• Afternoon: Münster Botanic Garden• Drink at: Pinkus Müller Altbierküche• Evening: Lake Aasee• Dinner: Global Tarsusi ● The colossal cathedral at the heart of the Altstadt, St-Paulus-Dom, contains gleaming golden reliquaries, porthole-like stained-glass windows and a still-operational, 16th-century astronomical clock. Ornate and enormous, this produces a glockenspiel-soundtracked display at noon as figurines representing the Magi appear twice and bow to Mary and Jesus. Arrive by 11.45 for a clear vantage point. ● Spread over two floors of cavernous rooms, the LWL Museum of Art and Culture's regionally centred exhibits run through the centuries, ranging from Madonna statues and Luther bibles to Yves Klein monochromes and an Edvard Munch nude. You can also see works from the Skulptur Projekte Münster, which changes every ten years, the next edition starting in 2027 (£9; ● Stadthafen, Münster's 'port', where grand industrial buildings line a basin off the Dortmund-Ems Canal, has been gentrified into a buzzy hub of creative agencies and water-facing bar-restaurants with big terraces. As the latter are all a bit overpriced, opt instead for some hazelnut ice cream from MaMa's, just inland (scoops from £2; ● Take a local-led tour of the handsome Altstadt. Its Peace Hall — where Louis XIV and other European dignitaries ended the Thirty Years War — and grand, gothic St Lambert's Church, complete with cages where the mutilated corpses of three Protestant revolutionaries were once shockingly displayed, are the headline acts (tours £61pp for two; ● Walk or pedal around the lime tree-canopied Promenade to the Schloss Münster, a baroque bishop's palace turned university building. Hidden behind is the Münster Botanic Garden; a circuit here reveals humid, lemon-scented glasshouses with boardwalks across ponds; a slumberous, lily-padded lake; bumpy rock gardens; and dappled copses studded with benches (free; ● Lake Aasee extends from the Altstadt's southwestern fringe. On sunny evenings, as locals festoon its flanks, ride the electric Solariis ferry (from £4; last service 5.30pm) to a museum of relocated historic buildings, headlined by a 17th-century post mill (£7; or look for Henry Moore's bronze amid a walking trail of former Skulptur Projekte works ( • 10 of the best places to visit in Germany On Saturdays and Wednesdays, the square surrounding the cathedral, Domplatz, hosts a large market. Food's the focus, with farm stalls selling punnets of strawberries alongside honey specialists and pumpernickel producers. The western side contains dozens of food trucks. Winterhoffs Flammkuchen serves crispy, pizza-like tarte flambées studded with bacon and onion for about £6, plus glasses of rosé ( Seconds from the deconsecrated Dominican Church, inside which Gerhard Richter's pendulum installation hypnotically proves the Earth's rotation, is the traditional Altes Gasthaus Leve inn. Full of cosy, dark-wood corners, this is the place to try typical Westphalian dishes: white asparagus with potatoes; open pumpernickel sandwiches; or veal ragout (mains from £14; On Wolbecker Strasse, this faintly beatnik vegan café majors in brilliant and beautifully presented brunch bowls. These might incorporate homemade banana bread, avocado, granola or kiwi fruit alongside smoothies or good coffee. Chilled-out beats play and it's common to queue for a seat (dishes from £5; Head east along the going-hip Wolbecker Strasseto find Münster's best cocktail bar. Decked out in jungle-green colours, compact Balthazar has a solar-system-themed menu. The Sun (gin, lemon sherbet, curaçao and yuzu saké) is the most popular, but I opt for a Venus, in which rich apricot, rhubarb and raspberry flavours riff with rye whisky and saké (cocktails from £10; Of the 150 breweries that once produced dark, malty altbier in Münster, only Pinkus Müller remains in business. Its century-old complex includes a simple restaurant with outdoor drinking tables. The classic summer order is altbierbowle, in which preserved strawberries or raspberries are added to the staple, chilled beer (beers from £3; Like all German cities, Münster has tons of Turkish restaurants. Offering more of a Mediterranean-wide outlook, this neighbourhood joint might be the best, aided by superb service. Sit out on the buzzy street and order herby minced lamb wrapped in freshly baked flatbread alongside homemade aioli (mains from £7; • Read our full guide to Germany This article contains affiliate links, which can earn us revenue Great design and gourmet foodRight on the Promenade, and very handy for the airport bus, this beautiful design hotel mixes mid-century furniture with oak-parquet floors, monochrome photography and moody taupes or greys. It also rents out bikes and has an ambitious but informal ground-floor restaurant, Reckos, whose white asparagus soup is outstanding (B&B doubles from £157; Simple style near greeneryIn a safe, residential area out near the Botanic Garden and Lake Aasee, adults-only Hotel Jellentrup's red-brick building contains 21 rooms exclusively on its first and second floors, but no lift. Expect simple but spacious furnishings in subdued colours, and to pay extra for a balcony with outdoor seating. Breakfast is a small but high-quality buffet (B&B doubles from £106; Private hostel rooms for a songDespite the name, this hostel inside the altstadt isn't just dormitories. There are also some capacious double or twin rooms with sitting areas, bathrooms and wardrobes. Drinks and coffee are available in the buzzy lounge, where pale woods and exposed bricks set a post-industrial tone. Expect a little late-night noise as younger guests return home (B&B doubles from £68; On March 30, Ryanair began flying four times a week from London Stansted to Münster Osnabrück; taking 60 minutes, these services will continue until October 25. The S50 bus, going to Munster Hbf from stop H outside the terminal, takes 40 minutes to reach central Münster and every half-hour (£8 one-way; Taxis cost about £60. If you want to join Münster's cycling swarms, or go rural and follow the 100 Castles Route cycling path to moated mansions and river valleys ( the Radstation shop by Münster Central Station has bikes from £9 per day. Electric options are also available ( Mellor was a guest of the German National Tourist Board ( and Münster Marketing (
