Best of Bremen

When, on the 1st of October 1958, a ship transporting over 1,000 US soldiers docked at the Columbuskaje in Bremerhaven, the curiosity of onlookers and reporters could barely be contained. The reason: Elvis Presley, the ‘King of Rock ’n’ Roll’ was on board. The American superstar had been stationed in Europe on military service. His first steps on German soil were thus taken in the harbour town.

The Stromkaje, or riverside quay, of the Bremerhaven Container Terminal ‘Wilhelm Kaisen’, built in 1968 at 700 metres in length, is today the longest riverside quay in the world, at 5,000m. It offers four berths for large container ships.

The Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research is located in Bremerhaven but its members are very much at home in the frigid zones. Whether on board the research vessel Polarstern, the aircraft Polar 5 and 6 that fly out of Bremen Airport or on site at Neumayer Station III in the Antarctic, these scientists have dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to the exploration of the polar regions.

Bremen scientists at the German Aerospace Centre are currently engaged in a pilot project to plant vegetables in a shipping container in the Antarctic – without daylight or soil. Over the long term, procedures are to be developed by which astronauts on long Mars-missions can be provided with fresh vegetables. In a separate project, tomato seeds are being brought into orbit by research satellite, where they are to grow at an altitude of 600 kilometres.

At first glance, an inconspicuous manhole cover. But it hides much more beneath: right next to the Bremen Bürgerschaft (city assembly) is the Bremer Loch (Bremen Hole), an underground donation box belonging to the charity called 'Wilhelm-Kaisen-Bürgerhilfe'. Every time a coin is dropped in, the sounds of one of the town musicians of Bremen is heard from beneath the earth. In this way, thousands of euros are collected each year for charitable purposes.

… or so goes the famous saying, often used to mean ‘third time lucky’. It harks back to the middle ages, when the city had its own peculiar legal principles: for example, three stages of legal recourse, three witnesses needed for evidence to have legal force, three proclamations required for legal validity to be achieved. Aside from this, the people of Bremen were also guaranteed three special rights by the Emperor: the right to wear gold and fur for the aldermen, the city’s own legal jurisdiction and the freedom of shipping on the Weser.

In the USA there are in total eleven cities called Bremen. In 2003, passengers and crew of the cruise ship MS Bremen discovered a previously unrecorded island, which since then has been officially known as ‘Bremen Island’. It is separated from its neighbouring island by the ‘Bremen Canal’.

In north-west Germany, going on a ‘Kohlfahrt’, or kale-walk, in the period between the start of November and the end of February, is a must. Traditionally, the excursion is done through the countryside in the bitter cold with a handcart full of drinks, warming up again afterwards with a shared meal of kale, Kassler gammon, Bregen and Pinkel sausages. But don’t get confused: Braunkohl (in Bremen) and Grünkohl (in the surrounding region) may sound like two completely different kettles of cabbage, but mean the same thing.

Instead of beef, in Bremen you get a roll with a fresh patty made of various white fish, such as pollock or hake, coated in crispy breadcrumbs and garnished with a mix of herbs, mustard and fried onions.

The Town Musicians of Bremen, by the Grimm Brothers, are known across the world – a musical has even been made about them in South Korea. The fairy tale celebrates its 200-year anniversary in 2019. It is one of the few tales whose title refers to a city – despite the fact that the animals never actually got to Bremen. And another thing, for when you visit the statue next to the Rathaus: the customary belief to this day is that if you clasp the legs of the donkey firmly in both hands, a wish will be granted!

Europe’s largest samba and masked carnival parade takes place every year in Bremen. One week before Shrove Tuesday, friends of the exotic dance from across Germany and the neighbouring countries bring a breath of Brazil into the Bremen streets and onto the open-air stages.

Since 1992, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie has had its base in the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. The chamber orchestra has become world famous in the past years thanks to performances, among others, of the complete Beethoven symphonies. But it also takes an interest in local affairs: as part of the ‘Melody of Life’ project, musicians and pupils at the Bremen-Ost comprehensive school come together. The young people bring thoughts, ideas and feelings from their school day, which are then made into music and presented on stage.

Because of its unique acoustics and elegant art-deco ambience, the Glocke (‘bell’), which opened in 1928, is today one of the most renowned concert-halls in Europe. The original chapter house on this site, initially part of a monastery, existed since the 9th century. Then, in 1869, it was repurposed as a concert-hall.

The rhododendron park in the Bremen district of Horn-Lehe spreads over an area of 46 hectares. Within this area, the botanika – a nature experience centre with many different plants and animals – is to be found. Together, the park and the science centre have the second-largest collection of rhododendrons in the world, with over 3,000 cultivars and nearly 600 different species. A special highlight: the Dalai Lama is presenting every continent with a 2.4-metre tall golden Buddha. The European statue stands in the botanika’s Japanese garden and is a symbol of peace and understanding between peoples.

They define the cityscape in many places: two to three-storey buildings with a cellar, front-gabled rather than side-gabled, with high ceilings inside, often standing in rows. Since the middle of the 19th century, this architectural type has been known as the ‘Altbremer Haus’ or old Bremen house – even beyond the walls of the Hanseatic city.

Böttcherstraße, near the marketplace, is home to museums, art collections and arts and crafts workshops, alongside shops and cafes. What’s more, a glockenspiel of Meissen porcelain rings every hour while picture-panels tell the story of the crossing of the Atlantic. One particular architectural highlight is the Atlantis House, with its famous ‘sky room’.

If you see a young man in front of the cathedral, busily sweeping bottle-caps from the steps, you can be sure he is a genuine bachelor. Traditionally, men who are still unmarried on their 30th birthday, have to sweep the cathedral steps, only being released on receiving a maiden’s kiss. Their counterparts are young women who clean the door handles.

Schnoor is a quarter of mediaeval alleys. In its winding passageways, the aura of past centuries can still be sensed. It is possible that the name of this handsome old-town quarter derived from the shipbuilding handicrafts predominantly practised there in former days – the making of ropes and cables – because ‘Schnoor’ is the Old Low German word for ‘Schnur’, string. A different explanation holds that the houses are lined up like pearls on a string.

The supposed defender of good manners Adolf Freiherr von Knigge – his name equivalent in German to ‘Debrett’ – spent the last years of his life in Bremen. He is buried in the Cathedral of St. Peter. His book ‘On Human Relations’ is still falsely seen today as an etiquette guide. Knigge’s approach was, in fact, directed less towards good behaviour and more towards sociological aspects.

In 1974, Radio Bremen started the first talk show in Germany, ‘3nach9’. The programme airs every four weeks late on Friday evening and is still produced in Bremen.

It’s not just in Bremen and the region that the football club SV Werder is in people’s hearts. Now as before, Werder is positioned at number 2 on the all-time Bundesliga tables. Also, the first goal ever in the Bundesliga was scored on Bremen’s Osterdeich.