Frankfurt am Main – Germany – Life's Adventures

Frankfurt is an interesting city centre dominated by some of Europe’s tallest skyscrapers but despite how built up the city looks, there are lots of pockets of parks and green areas present in the city centre providing relief from the concrete jungle. It is also one of the biggest financial capitals in Europe, with the nickname “Bankfurt”.

Frankfurt’s city centre was famous for its timber-framed buildings before WW2, where Europe’s largest timber-framed old town was Frankfurt. Unfortunately, most of Frankfurt’s buildings were destroyed in WW2, but many of the old buildings were rebuilt to their former glory. One notable building is the Opera House. Römer in the city is also worth checking out which has some timber-framed buildings reminiscent of the old buildings of the city centre.

One of my first stops in Frankfurt was a breakfast stop! The restaurant ALEX in the Skyline Plaza is worth a visit. They have a wonderful breakfast buffet with great meats, bread, eggs and cheeses served with a glass of orange juice. Their coffees are also noteworthy.

St Bartholomew Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church worth a visit in the city centre, being the largest religious building in the city. The church’s excavations show that it has existed since the 7th century. It is currently the 3rd building on the site serving as the church. Historically the church has experienced great damages. In 1867 it was destroyed by fire and rebuilt. In the 2nd World War, the area surrounding the church – the old town of Frankfurt – suffered 6 bombardments and the church suffered severe damage and the interior was burnt beyond repair. After the war, in the 1950’s it was rebuilt and now reaches an impressive 95 meters.

Römer and the area between the cathedral (former town quarter) that suffered great damage in WW2 have been redeveloped and has historical buildings that have been reconstructed. It’s a great area of Frankfurt to enjoy the old town feel and unique architecture.

I recommend a walk along the Main River which runs through Frankfurt. It’s a 525 km river, the longest right tributary of the Rhine. It’s a nice way to see the city along the river.

The next step is to go explore some of those sky scrapers! A popular place to take a picture is at the Euro sign at the Euro Tower.

Walk through a few parks in the area…

On the way to the Main Tower, we stopped at the Alte Oper (Opera House), which is now a concert hall. It was opened in 1880 but was ruined in WW2 by bombs, with only some outer walls and the front of the building left… From 1970 to 1980 it was rebuilt again and was reopened in 1981.

There is a viewing platform on top of the Main Tower, which extends 200 m and is 56 story’s high. The tower was built from 1996 to 1999. They are a weather reporter that stands on the platform during weather reports for the TV station.

You can buy tickets to the viewing platform and enjoy sights of the Frankfurt city centre.

There is a relatively new mall that has been opened in 2009 which has unusual architecture designed by a Roman architect. Its entrance is on Zeil which is Frankfurt’s main shopping street. Its architectural design is to give the impression of being in a canyon. The roof has a triangular structure with a tunnel that runs through the building, letting lots of light in. The shopping centre also has a 45 m long express escalator that can take you all the way from the ground floor to the fourth floor which has the food section.