Frankfurt is a huge city.  It’s a major transportation hub, hosting one of Europe’s busiest airports and is the largest financial center in continental Europe.  Frankfurt’s famous skyline comprised of high-rises is often referred to as “Mainhatten” and has a rebuilt Old Town that is impossibly cute. It is extremely affordable to visit with easy public transportation, cheap beer, good food, trendy art galleries and street markets. Plus, there are so many old dudes here that LOVE blasting Rammstein while driving down streets packed with pedestrians, and I’m obviously really into that.  With so much to offer, Frankfurt hardly makes it onto any travelers list.  Most just pass through onto the next destination.  Why?  Frankfurt’s charm and attraction is not so obvious and requires a little digging.

We ended up in Frankfurt after accepting a house-sitting gig there for two weeks, and were initially planning to take it easy and use our time to regroup after a solid 2 months of backpacking through the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.  Our idea was to take some time and plan out our next moves, but it turned out that our next moves were right in front of us!  Frankfurt is a landscape filled with wood-timbered houses, graffiti clad industrial warehouses and glass sky-rises sitting side by side, and simply walking through the Old Town leaves a strong impression of this old-meets-new spirit.

We were in the right place at the right time and wandered into the gallery district during an art-walk opening night.  All the galleries were open and new exhibitions were being seen for the first time by an enthusiastic crowd of art lovers.

^^^Galerie Rothamel is a must-see for anyone interested in contemporary figurative art.

^^^I loved this… the galleries served pretzel bread alongside the wine as hors-d’oeuvres.

^^^and of course we found a little weekend food market complete with trendy food stalls and vintage cocktails.

^^^Woah is this another food market?  Jaime believes that Germany is the most festive country in the world, and of course staying true to this belief, the food market was fall-themed.

^^^This festive pumpkin prosecco is a testament to Frankfurt’s pursuit of all things fall.

Our wonderful hosts also took us to dinner and on a tour of Bethmann Park, which houses a beautiful Chinese garden.  Who knew that Frankfurt has so much to offer?

No trip to Frankfurt (whether simply passing through or staying for a proper visit) would be complete without trying the most important Hessen drink: Apfelwein.  This tart and delicious cider is traditionally enjoyed straight or mixed with water or lemonade.  Chris doesn’t always drink wine, but when he does, he prefers apfelwein.