A tour of the Goethe house, the modern city and the old city of Frankfurt.
We left Heidelberg for Frankfurt at 10 am on the S-Bahn, which is the metropolitan and suburban railway network in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and after 80 minutes we arrived. Frankfurt, a central German city on the River Main, located in western Germany in the state of Hesse with 800,000 inhabitants, is also the fifth largest city in the country.
Goethe’s house
Frankfurt is the birthplace of the famous writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832), who was a German poet, novelist, playwright and scientist, a fundamental reference of Romanticism, a movement that he profoundly influenced. In 1772 he moved to Wetzlar in the same state of Hesse, where he met Charlotte Buff, fiancee of his friend Kestner, with whom he fell in love. This frustrated passion inspired his first novel,The sufferings of young Werther, work that constituted the paradigmatic novel of the new movement that was being born in Germany, Romanticism. Goethe’s best dramatic work is undoubtedlyFausto, which has become a classic work of Universal Literature. The play deals with the story of Faust, a doctor of theology, who in his search for knowledge decides to sell his soul to the Devil to obtain the favors of one of his servants, the demon Mephistopheles. His former home is now the Goethe House museum. Like most of the city, the house was damaged during WWII. The building had to be rebuilt after the end of the war in order to restore it to its former splendor of the 18th century. There are exhibited various articles belonging to Goethe’s daily life, such as his puppets, his study, the dining room and the family music room. The Museum also exhibits various paintings and sculptures from the Baroque period to early Romanticism. The house was bought in 1733 by Cornelia Goethe, who was Goethe’s grandmother. In fact, it was originally two houses, dating from around 1600 in the typical medieval wood-fronted style, until 1755, when Goethe’s father had it extended, remodeled and modernized to the unique structure that we see today. Since 1998, Goethe’s house has been part of the “classical Weimar” architectural complex, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco. The Goethe House Museum opens its doors from Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 17:30, Saturdays from 10:00 to 18:00 and Sundays from 10:00 to 17:30 and, in addition, at 10: 30 and at 14:00 you can take guided tours.
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The Modern City
It is an important financial hub that houses the European Central Bank. We start with Gallusanlage, the banking area where the construction of the skyscrapers began in the late 1960s and, today, there are twelve buildings over 150 meters high and several more that exceed 100 meters. We observe the skyscrapers of the Eurotower, the Silvertown, the Maintower and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The Maintower building is the highest viewpoint in the city. It took three years to build it. It is the only skyscraper that has an observation deck 200 meters high. It is the fourth tallest skyscraper in Frankfurt at its 55th and 56th floors. The tower has 1,090 stairs and the elevator takes you in less than a minute from the lobby to the observation deck.
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The old city
The city has as a tourist attraction the Römerberg square, which is located in the reconstructed Altstadt (Old Town), and is where the annual Christmas market is held. Römerberg Square has been the icon of the city of Frankfurt for hundreds of years, as well as being the most beautiful square. Located in Alstadt (Old Town), it is surrounded by historic buildings, such as the Römer (Town Hall), and traditional houses. Römerberg was built in the 12th century and was the meeting place for merchants and travelers, since there were different fairs . One of them, the Frankfurt Book Fair , still operates there. To the west of the square is the Römer or Town Hall , and to the east there is a set of six traditional buildings , with the typical half-timbered structure, called Oszteile. They were originally built in the 15th and 16th centuries, but were destroyed during the world war and rebuilt between 1981 and 1983. The central building of the town hall, known as “Haus Römer”, gave the town hall its name which means “house of the Romans” , referring to the Roman settlements that existed here long before the founding of the city of Frankfurt. In the center of the square is the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen or Fountain of Justice, from 1543. The central figure, facing the Römer, represents Justice with her traditional balance, although without the blindfold to signify that she is not blind and sees all people with the same standard.
The King Toad
After leaving the Old City, we decided to find where to have lunch. Researching on Google, my son found the jewel in the gastronomic crown: Sapo Rey. This is a place where a paisa, who claimed to have lived in Cali, Tuluá and Trujillo, is the owner of the sapo restaurant and club. The head chef is a countrywoman from Buenaventura, and she prepares the seafood casserole just like the one made at the Los Balcones restaurant in the port. As it was restricted to eat inside the site because they required the rapid test of the Coronavirus, I was left with the desire to taste the seasoning of the countrywoman. Due to the large turnout of Colombians, Ecuadorians and Mexicans, we had to quickly buy the “arepa con todo” (shredded meat, shredded chicken, and pork rinds) and crispy chicken empanadas with chili pepper. We ordered Club Colombia beer and a Lemon Sprite made in Colombia, and we went to eat in the park around the Nemo River, and while we were there, a Colombian countrywoman discovered us when she saw what we were eating.
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