With around 17.9 million inhabitants, North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous federal state in Germany and the fourth largest in terms of area at around 34,100 square kilometers. 30 of the 81 major German cities are in its heavily urbanized area.
The northern part of the Rhine-Ruhr conurbation is formed by the heavily urbanized Ruhr area with the centres of Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg and Bochum. Its economic rise in the early 19th century was based on industrialization and the mining industry, particularly ore and coal mining.
The Route of Industrial Culture is a tourist themed route that leads to the most important industrial-historical sites in the Ruhr area and serves as a starting point for marketing the Ruhr area as a tourist region.
There are numerous technology and industrial museums in the Ruhr area, such as the German Mining Museum in Bochum, the Museum of German Inland Shipping in Duisburg, the Recklinghausen substation, the DASA – working world exhibition and the Hoesch Museum in Dortmund, and the Bochum-Dahlhausen Railway Museum in Bochum and the decentralized museums Westphalian Industrial Museum and Rhenish Industrial Museum. There are also several art museums in the Ruhr area, such as the Museum Folkwang in Essen, the Lehmbruck Museum and Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg, the Ludwig Gallery in Oberhausen Castle, the Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum in Hagen and the Museum Ostwall in Dortmund. With the opening of the Capital of Culture in 2010, the Ruhrlandmuseum was reopened as the Ruhr Museum in the former coal washing plant of the Zollverein colliery. The Zollverein colliery and coking plant in Essen was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001. In 2010, Essen represented the European Capital of Culture region.
The Ruhr Valley has the important function of a local recreation area, especially for the residents of the Ruhr area, so the banks of the Ruhr are largely spared from industry and other buildings and are more characterized by wide meadows and forest areas, which are specially protected for drinking water production.
In a first article we had pointed out the Railway Museum as a place to get involved in Bochum-Dahlhausen, which we could easily reach on foot or by bike from our campsite "Horster Ruhrbrücke".
We had already passed the Railway Museum in Bochum-Dahlhausen several times during our cycling excursions on the Ruhr Cycle Path, and now it was finally time to visit the museum.
Once again, we ended up in the Ruhr area for some time, more precisely at the campsite at the Ruhr Bridge near Essen.
We were traveling in Bochum, had a few appointments to take care of and therefore still had some time to visit the Christmas market in the city centre that had already opened.
It's been years since we were last in Dülmen, the time to extensively visit the excellent, universal leather tailoring of the Wiesmann brothers' sports car manufacturer, and of course the sports car manufacturer itself for an arranged test drive of an MF2X.
With a length of 13.3 kilometres, the Wuppertal Suspension Railway is not only a monument of German industrial history that is unique in the world, but also the most important means of transport in the city. Over the past 120 years, it has transported more than 1.5 billion people.
We just had the opportunity in Wuppertal to "check" the statement of a connoisseur of classical music, Sir Simon Rattle, for his so important sentence: "Wuppertal has one of the best acoustic concert halls in the world."
Despite many experiences in life, there is always something new, previously unknown, that you come across. Or have you ever heard of Schenkenschanz or even visited it?
Visitors to the Caravan Salon Düsseldorf can always discover the latest and most unusual campers on their way through the halls of the world's largest camper and caravan exhibition.
The days at the trade fair during the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf are long and exhausting, so after the hectic day's events it is good to end the day with a walk along the Rhine.
Despite the many appointments and the tight time frame of our current trip through some European countries, we had made this appointment very firm: visiting the "Caravan-Salon" trade fair in Düsseldorf.
Once again on the way to visit relatives and friends, this time we were heading for Dülmen - Münster.
The Borbach has its headwaters not far from the Witten district of Schnee and then flows into the Erlenteich. Again we are fascinated by the naturally preserved course of the stream. It then flows through the Hasenholzken and turns west towards the Buchenholz.
Another hike in the vicinity of the Hohenstein, not far from the Berger monument, brought us to the well-known Ruhr Viaduct and the hydroelectric power station that spans the Ruhr River as a railway bridge.
The river Volme forms the natural border between the Sauerland in the east and the Bergisches Land in the west. From the source of the Volme in Meinerzhagen to its confluence with the Ruhr below the Hengsteysee, the Volme covers a distance of just 50 kilometers.
We had been hiking in Hohenstein recreation area in the foothills of the Ardey Mountains several times. This time it should hike to the Berger monument, an observation tower near Witten.
The city of Witten, the destination of our visit last weekend, is located at the transition from the lower Sauerland to the Lower Mountainous hills in the west and the Emscherland in the north, framed by the cities of Dortmund, Bochum and Hagen.
Hattingen's old town with its almost 150 medieval half-timbered houses is a popular year-round destination, not just when the historic Christmas market is taking place.
Climbing has been in for many years. And the hype is continuing - and this is reflected in the number of climbing opportunities in the Ruhr area, too.