Thursday, September 03, 2026

Southbound 2026 - Frankfurt

Frankfurt, Germany. Wednesday/Thursday 02/03-September-2026.

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Introduction.

After the hectic bank holiday weekend in London we headed off on the Eurostar with a change in Brussels to get us as far as Frankfurt. Our target was Nuremberg but the German railway system has a reputation for unreliability so, rather than risk a very late arrival or failure to make it all the way, we decided on an overnight stop in Frankfurt. That would give us a short, two hour journey the next day which we paid for rather than use an interrail pass day. You save the pass travel days for long segments to get best value.

Wednesday 02-September-2026.

The Meeting Place at the international departure platforms is a 9-metre-high, 20-tonne bronze sculpture that is intended to evoke the romance of travel through the depiction of a couple locked in an amorous embrace.

Arriving at Frankfurt the area around the station wasn’t as bad as some people had reported, possibly because the building works had displaced the homeless and drug addicts a street or two back. Our hotel was only a few minutes from the station but we walked straight passed it thanks to invisible signage!

Supper was at Klosterhof near the hotel serving traditional German food and beer. I had a local speciality which comprised excellent roast potatoes and hard boiled eggs on a green sauce - apparently a seven herbs concoction developed by monks. Mary had her first bratwurst of the year.

And, of course beer to wash them down. Mary prefers the weisse but the German red beer is more to my taste. 

Thursday 03-September-2026. 

We had the morning to explore before our train after lunch. Wandering the streets of Frankfurt you would never guess how badly it was bombed in the the Second World War.

We visited the relatively austere cathedral. As shown above it somehow escaped the bombing with only damage to one wing. Most of the windows are now very plain and and the few colourful windows that remain are presumeably the original, surviving stained glass. We spotted high up on one wall a collection of heraldic shields with curious toppers.

In the immediate aftermath of the war many buildings were reconstructed to original their design, intermingled with modernist shops and offices. Looking around the town it is impossible to tell which are original and which restorations but we read that around 80% of the buildings in the centre were destroyed.

We saw a surprising number of churches, all very pretty. This is Dreikönigskirche on the south side of the river.

A view from the top of the Main Tower a recommended tourist attraction: two kilometres up to the 54th floor for panoramic views over the city.


From there we could see size of the Frankfurt main station. It was Frankfurt’s role as a transportation hub that made it a target for the Allied bombing raids.

We were not due to leave for Nuremberg until 2 o'clock so had a noodle lunch at Jaho Kitchen on the way to the station. It was very tasty and so filling that it partly spoiled my appetite for the evening meal.

Next stop: Nuremberg.

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