As part of an Industrial Heritage tour of Europe, I arrived at Zeche Zollverein in Essen at about 3pm, after a great ride through the backroads of northern Germany. I spent 6 hours that evening floating around the eerie, deserted landscape of Zollverein, a huge and widely spread mining complex.
With it's broad streets and grand Allées, diversity of architecture, beautiful rivers, lakes, bridges, parks and gardens, and infinite layers of history and culture, Berlin is close to the top of the list of great cites for immersing yourself in culture and history, anywhere in the world.
For more than four decades, the underground fortress, with it's heavy artillery guns, monitored all Warsaw Pact naval vessels, entering and leaving the Baltic Sea. The fortress was constructed to withstand a nuclear attack, and packed with radar, sonar and hydrophones, it could monitor all movements in the western Baltic, and react instantly in the event of an attack.
On the way southeast out of Berlin, you should take a ride along Mühlenstraße and visit the East Side Gallery. Famous for many reasons, the East Side Gallery is one of the largest open-air art exhibitions in the world, as well as the one that has existed for the longest time. It features murals by artists from all over the world, painted in 1990, just after East suddenly became West, and the overpowering desire for freedom dissolved what was known as the "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart" (In German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall).
With 120 rooms spread over 5 floors, the bunker holds approximately 3,000m² of exhibition space, and temporary exhibitions are planned in close cooperation with with artists such as Olafur Eliasson, Elmgreen and Dragset, Robert Kusmirowski, Sarah Lucas, and Tobias Rehberger. A 500m² penthouse extension at roof level provides living space for the art collector and his family.
The Atlantic Wall, an extensive system of coastal fortifications, was built between 1942 and 1944 by the German Third Reich, to defend against an anticipated Allied invasion of mainland Europe. Stretching over 5,000km along the western coast of Europe, it runs from the top of Norway down to the top of Spain, and consists of many different types of concrete fortifications, from ammunition bunkers, to gun emplacements, to supply depots and submarine stations. Over the years, we have visited all of the sites along the entire length of the Atlantic Wall, and one of the highest concentrations of fortifications can be found at Hanstholm, on the west coast of Denmark.
The European Touring Route leads you to the Eidsvoll municipality in Akershus. Eidsvoll was the site where the constitutional assembly met, to draft and sign the Constitution of Norway, on the 17th of May, 1814. The building (Eidsvollbygningen) in which the meetings were held, is a famous museum today.
The Norwegian Olympic Museum is the only museum in Northern Europe that presents a comprehensive history of both the Summer and Winter Olympics. From the very beginning in 776 BC, to today's modern games. This national cultural treasure has fascinated Norwegians for over 100 years. With over 7,000 artifacts on display, it is Norway's most extensive sports exhibition. There are three areas in the Norwegian Olympic Museum: a history section, Lillehammer 94, and the Olympic Room.
