With almost 40 million foreign overnight guests every year, Germany is one of the seven most visited countries in the world. There are 6,135 museums, 366 theatres, 34 leisure and adventure parks, 45,000 tennis courts, 648 golf courses, 190,000 km of hiking trails, 40,000 kilometres of long-distance cycle paths as well as holiday and theme routes available for use in tourism.
Business and congress tourism is of outstanding importance; Germany is the most important international trade fair location with several world-leading trade fairs: Caravan Salon Düsseldorf, CMT Stuttgart, etc. The Internationale Tourism-Börse Berlin is the world's leading tourism trade fair. Germany also has the highest density of festivals like Wacken, Rock am Ring,
Outstanding sights: Sanssouci Castle - Brandenburg Gate - Cologne Cathedral - Saxon Switzerland National Park - Wadden Sea - Hamburg Harbor - Brocken - Old Town of Hameln - Externsteine - Wartburg - Neuschwanstein Castle - Zugspitze near Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Rothenburg ob der Tauber - Königsee in Berchtesgadener Land - Old town of Bamberg - Imperial castle in Nuremberg - Mainau Island in Lake Constance - Lichtenstein Castle - Meersburg - Ulm Minster - etc.
During our tour through Franconian Switzerland, we drove in the Wiesenttal along the scenic country road towards Ebermannstadt, which also led along a steep rock face. Here we noticed a few climbers who, because of their colorful clothing, stood out clearly from the grey, weathered rock faces.
A so-called bridging day (between a public holiday and a weekend) enabled us to take a short get-to-know-you trip to Franconian Switzerland, where we also wanted to meet up with a long-standing business partner from Halle, almost halfway.
Together with Lydia and Georg, who still had some errands to do in Augsburg, we used the time in downtown Augsburg coming from Diedorf to take a leisurely Christmas stroll through the center.
Once again we were guest at Brita, so, after a short over fly of the press releases, we decided to use the Saturday afternoons to go to Iphofen to the opening of the Christmas market.
In the late afternoon we made our way to Kaufbeuren with our hosts Lydia and Georg. The Christmas market in Kaufbeuren was already open on the day before the 1st Advent, so a short tour of the old town followed by a visit to the Christmas market in the historic old town was planned.
For some time there have been connections in terms of cultural cooperation between KUKI Augsburg and Alaturka, so it was obvious that we also received an invitation to the Grenzlos Festival, which has been taking place for years and is probably the most important art and culture spectacle in Swabia.
It is considered one of the best fishing waters for trout and grayling in Europe, the Wiesent River in Franconian Switzerland. So it's no wonder that while driving along the river, we notice numerous fly fishermen on the bank, who are trying their hand at fishing with the unique casting technique, sometimes more and sometimes less professionally.
From the local daily newspaper we had read about the beginning of the medieval festival in the village of Bonstetten, which took place on the occasion of the 950th anniversary of the village from August 1st. until 11th. invites you to visit with a colorful supporting programme.
In our article "Harburg an der Wörnitz" we also mentioned Harburg Castle itself, but we were unable to visit it at the time due to time pressure.
On Sunday morning, after we had had another great breakfast with interesting conversations, Brita suggested that we go on a day trip from Kitzingen to the Mönchsondheim fortified church.
Georg had taken the time to drive us from Diedorf along the B 17, the so-called Romantic Road, to Landsberg in the afternoon to show us the historic town, a little of its history and the barrages of the Lech.
We spent yesterday's Sunday afternoon in the vicinity of Volkach on the Mainschleife, where, thanks to the excellent local knowledge of our "tour guide" Brita and her friend Gerda, we were given a compact presentation of some of the local sights.
We were on our way back from Wassertrüdingen and were driving on the B25 from Nördlingen in the direction of Augsburg when we wanted to go through the tunnel below Harburg Castle again.
We were driving with Brita from Kitzingen in the direction of Geiselwind when we decided to stop for lunch in one of the restaurants along the way due to our feeling of hunger.
The following morning is similar to the previous one with a little research on the internet and a few phone calls to friends and acquaintances. Around noon, Georg will take us on another short tour of discovery,
The next morning, the owners Lydia and Georg are already away on business, we prepare our breakfast in the kitchen, where we are greeted by the two dogs present, wagging their tails. They are visibly pleased when we open the patio door for a first run into the garden.
We want to spend the next few days of our preparatory tour with our friends Lydia and Georg in Kutzenhausen, a small village near Augsburg, who have called several times to ask for an exact arrival date. It's a nice feeling when you're expected.
During our round trip through the Steigerwald, Brita also took us to the village of Wachberg above the Füttersee, the site of an oak tree that is more than a thousand years old and was probably planted there when Charlemagne was born in 742 AD.
We were again on the road in the Lake Constance region during the Easter days, so we set up a product presentation at the Gitzenweiler Hof campsite, a leisure area not far from the city of Lindau that was very popular during the Easter days.
After a strenuous day at the Nuremberg Camping Fair, we were still so fit that we wanted to use the evening hours for a short tour of Nuremberg's old town.