Posted on:
2009 12 02
2009 12 02
The Bremen experience
Trip to Bremen was extraordinary short - together with my wife we stayed in Bremen only for three days. Short stay indeed, but time was well spent. This trip was somewhat spontaneous - I got ticket from Ryanair almost accidentally during one of their extreme low price sales. Price was so tempting that I got 3 return trips - considering November being busy month for me - I got 3 trips for the first three weeks of the month.
It was time to find some place to sleep. Bremen is relatively small city, however it has quite few backpackers' hostels, but as we never had a chance to talk to local people in Germany (perhaps because every time in Germany we would end up for day or two in Frankfurt-Hahn airport), so we decided it would be a good choice to stay at someone's place through couchsurfing. This is first time we encountered trouble in CS. I have sent 10 inquiries, 3 of those are still marked as unread, and 5 replied NO same day or next one. One guy said he won't be available during this time, but invited to stay next time (well, that's a polite NO) and one guy replied YES, but he explained that his house is being renovated and living conditions were basically, well, very basic. However, he accepted us, and gave his address. My guess is that we received so many negative answers is because of lots of travelers flying through Bremen recently, I think some of those guys get at least one or two requests per day. I would be tired too.
And the big day came - just after couple hours (of somewhat scary rough flight in the fog) we landed in Bremen. It was a bit warmer than in Lithuania, but windy and it was raining. First surprise was tram ticket. I can speak German, unfortunately just a little. And this ticket had a dotted line across with couple of German words. I looked around for a ticket stamping machine in the tram, but I could not fit my ticket in, the slot was way too small! It turns out that you have to fold this ticket in half and then use it. Maybe it's not big thing, but it was annoying - good thing is that you will not experience it - now you know :)
Helooo
After wandering for an hour in the rain, we finally reached home of our host. He met us nicely we just put our backpacks, changed clothes into a bit less wet ones and our host offer a chance to go to local mountain hikers meeting - by bicycles. I should mention couple of things - Bremen is extremely bicycle friendly city. There are bicycles everywhere, their paths, crossings, stands. Another thing is that I didn't drive one for 9 years at least. Of course I still remembered how to do it and I have been driving a motorcycle for years now,.. But it's different.. and fun! If I lived in Bremen I would really own one. And I recommend to anyone who is traveling there during acceptable air conditions - to rent a bike because: you won't have problems with it; main attractions can easily be reached on foot, but also by bike - if your time is limited its great way to go around the city. So, to cut the story short - we drove into that meeting nearly without a single accident, and raining nearly stopped. Meeting itself was not so bad - despite our poor German knowledge there were lots of photos and we did not get bored.
After couple of hours we were back at our place, spent some time talking with our host about this and that (he was having some business troubles that day, so our communication were often distracted by phone calls).
Good morning, Bremen
Next day was better - weather was still windy, but at least there were few beams of light. After short breakfast, we went to the old town we heard so much about. Next big thing waiting for us was a tour through Haake-Beck's beer factory - biggest one in Germany. We can only thank to our host because he called to the factory to arrange place in the tour for us, and gave us directions how to get there.
Nice half-shining donkey.
That should be town hall
Strange houses, and lanes for the bicycles?
Old town itself was very beautiful. It is quite small, so I think it's possible to see most sights in Bremen just through one day - of course if you are going to the theaters, museums or other tourist attractions (like brewery tour, yay!) give it some more time. Personally, I would like to return to Bremen because of its friendly and warm atmosphere and beautiful old town. I think you can find about main sights in Bremen in wikitravel.org, or some other place so I will mention just a couple of things - of course symbol of Bremen - the Bremen musicians. You can see a statue of them in the middle of old town, it's said that if you put your hands on the donkey's legs, and think about the wish it will come true. I'm not exactly sure of it, but at least it keeps the donkey's legs shining. Next is buildings - church (build in early 15th century, if I'm not mistaken) - free entrance, town hall (or rathaus) - you can get a tour here for a few Euro, and many old 17th century buildings around. Also, there is a very famous statue of Roland, but I still have to figure out why. Few hundred meters away from town hall you will find Schnoor quarter. It's the oldest district in town, said to remain in original shape. Quarter is small, you can cross it on foot in a few minutes, but definitely worth it. There are small houses, few snaky roads though the narrow yards between the houses, and of course lots of tourists and shops.
It seems here you can make a wish too
Dream building!
By the way, somehow for the first time we had trouble finding tourist office, so we wandered in the old town without a map. Luckily, in Schnoor we met a guy who arrived on the same plane with us, and he was generous enough to give us his map. I think he was a bit amused when I told him that we have here only three days, and now were going to see beer brewery. Well, that’s the real spirit of beer tourism :)
Inside visitors center.
So - on to the brewery tour - it is not far from the center - around 20-15 minutes on foot. In colder month there is only one tour per day starting at 2 pm, but it's in English! Costs are 9 Euro per person, I think that's a fair price - because if you would go to the bar in the center of the city, I think you would leave nearly same amount. What you get so see - two short movies about brewing processes - a pity it's movies. Also, you will visit beer technology museum, and have a short walk within the factory yard, see some boiling tanks inside. And finally - the beer tasting. At first there is a little game where you will be given two glasses of beer and will have to guess what beer type you are drinking. After that three more rounds await. It is possible to choose from ~12 beer types - I can say that's a fair deal. Whole experience including the tour and beer tasting lasts from 2 to 3 hours.
It's brewery recommended - Krauzen!
After the tour, we went outside together with other drunk tourists, took a stroll around old town and Schnoor again, and went back to our place.
We had calm and relaxed evening even prepared national Lithuanian dish for our host, had some talk about this and that, and finally went to sleep.
Our plane was leaving in the morning, so goodbye to Bremen was short. It takes around 15 minutes to the tram station and 15-20 minutes by tram to airport. I have to say that if you arrive to Bremen airport for first time it may look confusing, especially if you are traveling by Ryanair - they have their flight gate set up separately and nowhere in main airport building you will find announcements about Ryanair flights. A bit strange.
So ends my tale about beer and Bremen. I really hope to visit it again someday.
Few tips to sum up:
• Tram costs 2.20 Euro for one person one way, from airport to center there is around 15-20 minutes, get off the tram at Domscheide.
• FOLD your ticket in the tram and then stamp it :)
• Beck's Brewery tours cost 9 Euro, registration required, English tour starts at 2 pm every day.
• There is tourist office in the train station (just few tram stops from city center, Domscheide), or ~10-15 minutes on foot from there.
• get the bicycle if you have the chance, and air is good enough!
• Don't miss Bremen's musicians, church, and Schnoor!
A bit of random knowledge - did you know that stainless steel keg was invented by Beck's? Now you know :)
It was time to find some place to sleep. Bremen is relatively small city, however it has quite few backpackers' hostels, but as we never had a chance to talk to local people in Germany (perhaps because every time in Germany we would end up for day or two in Frankfurt-Hahn airport), so we decided it would be a good choice to stay at someone's place through couchsurfing. This is first time we encountered trouble in CS. I have sent 10 inquiries, 3 of those are still marked as unread, and 5 replied NO same day or next one. One guy said he won't be available during this time, but invited to stay next time (well, that's a polite NO) and one guy replied YES, but he explained that his house is being renovated and living conditions were basically, well, very basic. However, he accepted us, and gave his address. My guess is that we received so many negative answers is because of lots of travelers flying through Bremen recently, I think some of those guys get at least one or two requests per day. I would be tired too.
And the big day came - just after couple hours (of somewhat scary rough flight in the fog) we landed in Bremen. It was a bit warmer than in Lithuania, but windy and it was raining. First surprise was tram ticket. I can speak German, unfortunately just a little. And this ticket had a dotted line across with couple of German words. I looked around for a ticket stamping machine in the tram, but I could not fit my ticket in, the slot was way too small! It turns out that you have to fold this ticket in half and then use it. Maybe it's not big thing, but it was annoying - good thing is that you will not experience it - now you know :)
Helooo
After wandering for an hour in the rain, we finally reached home of our host. He met us nicely we just put our backpacks, changed clothes into a bit less wet ones and our host offer a chance to go to local mountain hikers meeting - by bicycles. I should mention couple of things - Bremen is extremely bicycle friendly city. There are bicycles everywhere, their paths, crossings, stands. Another thing is that I didn't drive one for 9 years at least. Of course I still remembered how to do it and I have been driving a motorcycle for years now,.. But it's different.. and fun! If I lived in Bremen I would really own one. And I recommend to anyone who is traveling there during acceptable air conditions - to rent a bike because: you won't have problems with it; main attractions can easily be reached on foot, but also by bike - if your time is limited its great way to go around the city. So, to cut the story short - we drove into that meeting nearly without a single accident, and raining nearly stopped. Meeting itself was not so bad - despite our poor German knowledge there were lots of photos and we did not get bored.
After couple of hours we were back at our place, spent some time talking with our host about this and that (he was having some business troubles that day, so our communication were often distracted by phone calls).
Good morning, Bremen
Next day was better - weather was still windy, but at least there were few beams of light. After short breakfast, we went to the old town we heard so much about. Next big thing waiting for us was a tour through Haake-Beck's beer factory - biggest one in Germany. We can only thank to our host because he called to the factory to arrange place in the tour for us, and gave us directions how to get there.
Nice half-shining donkey.
That should be town hall
Strange houses, and lanes for the bicycles?
Old town itself was very beautiful. It is quite small, so I think it's possible to see most sights in Bremen just through one day - of course if you are going to the theaters, museums or other tourist attractions (like brewery tour, yay!) give it some more time. Personally, I would like to return to Bremen because of its friendly and warm atmosphere and beautiful old town. I think you can find about main sights in Bremen in wikitravel.org, or some other place so I will mention just a couple of things - of course symbol of Bremen - the Bremen musicians. You can see a statue of them in the middle of old town, it's said that if you put your hands on the donkey's legs, and think about the wish it will come true. I'm not exactly sure of it, but at least it keeps the donkey's legs shining. Next is buildings - church (build in early 15th century, if I'm not mistaken) - free entrance, town hall (or rathaus) - you can get a tour here for a few Euro, and many old 17th century buildings around. Also, there is a very famous statue of Roland, but I still have to figure out why. Few hundred meters away from town hall you will find Schnoor quarter. It's the oldest district in town, said to remain in original shape. Quarter is small, you can cross it on foot in a few minutes, but definitely worth it. There are small houses, few snaky roads though the narrow yards between the houses, and of course lots of tourists and shops.
It seems here you can make a wish too
Dream building!
By the way, somehow for the first time we had trouble finding tourist office, so we wandered in the old town without a map. Luckily, in Schnoor we met a guy who arrived on the same plane with us, and he was generous enough to give us his map. I think he was a bit amused when I told him that we have here only three days, and now were going to see beer brewery. Well, that’s the real spirit of beer tourism :)
Inside visitors center.
So - on to the brewery tour - it is not far from the center - around 20-15 minutes on foot. In colder month there is only one tour per day starting at 2 pm, but it's in English! Costs are 9 Euro per person, I think that's a fair price - because if you would go to the bar in the center of the city, I think you would leave nearly same amount. What you get so see - two short movies about brewing processes - a pity it's movies. Also, you will visit beer technology museum, and have a short walk within the factory yard, see some boiling tanks inside. And finally - the beer tasting. At first there is a little game where you will be given two glasses of beer and will have to guess what beer type you are drinking. After that three more rounds await. It is possible to choose from ~12 beer types - I can say that's a fair deal. Whole experience including the tour and beer tasting lasts from 2 to 3 hours.
It's brewery recommended - Krauzen!
After the tour, we went outside together with other drunk tourists, took a stroll around old town and Schnoor again, and went back to our place.
We had calm and relaxed evening even prepared national Lithuanian dish for our host, had some talk about this and that, and finally went to sleep.
Our plane was leaving in the morning, so goodbye to Bremen was short. It takes around 15 minutes to the tram station and 15-20 minutes by tram to airport. I have to say that if you arrive to Bremen airport for first time it may look confusing, especially if you are traveling by Ryanair - they have their flight gate set up separately and nowhere in main airport building you will find announcements about Ryanair flights. A bit strange.
So ends my tale about beer and Bremen. I really hope to visit it again someday.
Few tips to sum up:
• Tram costs 2.20 Euro for one person one way, from airport to center there is around 15-20 minutes, get off the tram at Domscheide.
• FOLD your ticket in the tram and then stamp it :)
• Beck's Brewery tours cost 9 Euro, registration required, English tour starts at 2 pm every day.
• There is tourist office in the train station (just few tram stops from city center, Domscheide), or ~10-15 minutes on foot from there.
• get the bicycle if you have the chance, and air is good enough!
• Don't miss Bremen's musicians, church, and Schnoor!
A bit of random knowledge - did you know that stainless steel keg was invented by Beck's? Now you know :)
