Berlin in Frankfurt

Since I’ve already been in Vienna for a month, I better get this Frankfurt post finished before it simply doesn’t happen!

I had visited Frankfurt once at Christmastime before we moved there so I already experienced the highlights of downtown, the massive Christmas market, went for an icy run along the riverfront, and took a day-trip to Heidelberg.

But I had no idea what life would be like in Frankfurt. I figured we’d enjoy the massive airport nearby but didn’t know how much I’d enjoy everyday life in Frankfurt. Here is a sampling of a few notable places – certainly not exhaustive otherwise this blog would be far too long.

Parks

Grüneburgpark
This massive park was just a short walk from our apartment. We spent so much time here: picnics, happy hours, sports, runs, reading in our hammocks… One of the things I love about Europe is that parks are gathering places for old and young, regardless of season of the year. I love watching kids birthday parties, young adults sharing a bottle of wine on a warm evening, a friendly match of soccer or table tennis, an elderly couple slowly strolling arm in arm. The park is a meeting place for all ages and in all seasons.

City Wall Park
This “park” actually has several sections but is basically a green belt tracing around the top of the downtown area and marks where the old city wall of Frankfurt once stood. I especially enjoyed Eschenheimer Anlage, which houses Fein Frankfurt, a former drink/beer stand turned charming coffee shop with cozy vintage furniture scattered about the park grounds.

Bethmann Park is adjacent to the next section and houses Frankfurt’s beautiful Chinese Gardens among other beautiful garden plots.

Holzhausenpark
Another park close to our house and incidentally on the way to the best ice cream in Frankfurt, (Eis Christina) this park has a unique feature – Holzhausen Palace. This building sits directly in a small pond and captured my attention every time I walked by. In normal times, they hold music/cultural events there which I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to check out.

Palmengarten
I’m embarrassed to say I only made it to the Palmengarten once despite its close proximity to our apartment. It is well worth the visit with gorgeous and expansive gardens filled with plants of all varieties. You immediately feel yourself relaxing as you stroll the grounds…must be the oxygen from all those plants.

Hauptfriedhof (Frankfurt Main Cemetery)
This isn’t a park in the traditional sense of the word but is green, expansive, peaceful and you’ll find people doing all sorts of things here. First opened in 1828, this serves as Frankfurt’s main cemetery and houses approximately 60,000 graves. It’s a beautiful and contemplative space – once I received some hard news and decided to turn into the cemetery for a stroll and immediately felt more at peace – I think it was the green space and knowing how many have gone before me…

If you’re in town, I recommend a tour of the grounds with Frankfurt on Foot.

Farmer’s Markets

Yes – the markets have wonderful produce, meat, cheese, and many regional specialities but let’s be clear – I went for the wine! A friend and I would regularly meet at one of the markets (my favorite was the Schillerstrasse Markt, where folks would gather on the steps of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange for wine and live music) for a couple of glasses of wine – always Rosé trocken for me, Silvaner for her.

The wine was cheap, icy cold, and delicious (like 3 euro a glass or 7 for a bottle). Kleinmarkthalle downtown – while technically an indoor market and not an outdoor farmer’s market – was another favorite. We’d sit inside on the cozy upper level overlooking the stalls in the winter or outside on the stone patio as soon as the weather allowed. I’d sometimes visit the Persian snack stand inside for crunchy rice crackers, salty nuts, or spicy-sweet chunks of candied ginger. Unfortunately, I don’t have many pictures of the markets because I was too busy enjoying them!

Festivals

Sadly, many of these were cancelled in the months before we left because of Covid but man, Germans sure know how to throw a festival! When we moved to Frankfurt, we lived in a hotel downtown for a few weeks. One of the first evenings, we were on a walk and came across a lovely wine street festival – the first of many! Here is a selection of some of my favorites:

• Museumsuferfest – “For three days Frankfurt celebrates its museums and its river in a unique combination of art and culture, music and gastronomy right on the Main in the heart of the city in front of the wonderful backdrop of the Frankfurt skyline. With around 2 million visitors, the extraordinary program offers of the Frankfurt museums, numerous stage productions and productions, the Museumsuferfest is one of the largest European cultural festivals.”
• Grüne Soße Festival – This festival celebrates Frankfurter Grüne Soße, which is a cold herb sauce made of sour cream, spices, and herbs. “Traditionally, there should be seven herbs in the sauce, and 70% of them should have been grown in Frankfurt. These seven herbs are borage, chervil, garden cress, parsley, salad burnet, sorrel, and chives.” Delicious! I like it best served with potatoes and eggs on the side, a salad, and a large glass of Apfelwein.
• Opernplatzfest – The Opera Square Festival is a 10 day festival celebrating regional specialities (food and drink) in front of the beautiful Frankfurt opera house. I was always partial to the Aperol Spritzes there!
• Wäldchestag – A forest festival! Rides, food, biergartens, and more set in the beautiful Frankfurt city forest. You can read more about the history here.
  

Bottom line: Frankfurt is a lovely, often overlooked place to visit and an even better place to live. As beautiful as Vienna may be, this post makes me really miss Frankfurt and the familiar. Please let me know if you would like specific food, drink, or activity recommendations if you visit!