No Filter on Frankfurt: The Layover That Became a Walk

For years Frankfurt meant one thing to me: a connection. A hub, a layover, the place where you change planes and check the departures board. Plenty of travellers must know the feeling. Then a friend asked me to meet at the airport, and I had a few hours to spend in the city instead of in a terminal.

At Frankfurt Airport, the busiest airport in Europe.

I was living in Bonn at the time — the former capital of West Germany, Beethoven's birthplace and the home of the UN in Germany. Standing under Frankfurt's skyscrapers reminded me of big cities in India and elsewhere, and made me realise, with some amusement, how much I had come to prefer smaller, quieter places since moving to Bonn.

Before the trip I had looked up a short list of things to see. Goethe's birthplace was top of it, along with a trip up the Tower for a view over the whole city.

The book that changed the city for me

A year later I picked up Mark Twain's A Tramp Abroad and was startled by how many stories and legends he attached to this part of Germany and to Western Europe in general. I like stories, myths and legends — the #Mythical Mondays series had started a few months earlier — so I began digging into the history and culture behind the places I had seen. Reading about Frankfurt settled it: I want to go back and look at the city again with different eyes.

When I heard about the #NoFilter Frankfurt project run by London City Airport, it seemed the right moment to put up a few unfiltered photographs of the city and tell some of the stories attached to it. The project exists to challenge the banking-and-business image of Frankfurt and to show the less obvious side, in unedited pictures.

Why the city is called Frankfurt

According to what I read, the name has a story behind it. Charlemagne, King of the Franks, reigned in the Middle Ages, laid the foundations for modern France and Germany, and ruled a large part of Western Europe. At one point he was fighting the Saxons. He and his army reached the bank of a river early in the morning, in fog so thick that nobody could see where the crossing would be easiest. Then he noticed a deer with her fawn nearby. He watched her wade through a shallow stretch and ordered the army to follow. The crossing worked, and the Frankish army won. Charlemagne is said to have founded a city on the spot and called it Frankfort — the ford of the Franks. I cannot vouch for the accuracy, but it is a plausible explanation for what I have seen.

The city sits on the river Main and is officially Frankfurt am Main. It is the fifth largest city in Germany.

Frankfurt am Main.

The station with Atlas on the roof

The central railway station took about seven years to build and opened in 1888. At the entrance there is a large clock, flanked by two statues that stand for night and day. Look up and there is another figure on the roof: Atlas, carrying the world, helped here by two companions representing Iron and Steam.

The central station, with Atlas on top.

Gutenberg at Rossmarkt

Frankfurt is also said to be a city where Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, lived. In the centre, at Rossmarkt, there is a sculpture of him with two of his main donors and the four cities that took up printing early. Those four are Mainz, Venice, Strasbourg and Frankfurt.

The Gutenberg sculptures.

Good Friday, and a change of plan

I set out for the Goethe House and the Main Tower, got the directions muddled, and wandered. Wandering turned out better than the plan. I came across a church full of people and remembered it was Good Friday, so I set the search aside for a while and joined the Easter celebrations instead.

I was delighted when I finally spotted the Goethe House from a distance. Goethe was a highly distinguished writer and statesman, and his family lived in a large house in Frankfurt. Before moving to Germany I had taken German classes at a Goethe Institute — they have branches all over the world — so I was more curious than most about the man himself.

He is said to have been born in this house and to have spent a long time in it, writing some of his best-known works while still in the city. He collected paintings by artists of his own time and hung them in the house, each one framed in black and gold. He and his father were both devoted to books, and their library held more than 2,000 volumes across a wide range of subjects.

The picture gallery and library at the Goethe House.

The two Frankfurts

Frankfurt feels like a city of contrasts. On one side are the skyscrapers, the banks and the financial institutions; on the other, history, old architecture, a great many museums and parks. The two sit within sight of each other, and neither seems embarrassed by the other.

Next time I want to explore the different neighbourhoods, visit the wineries outside the city, spend time along the river, and retrace the locations of the historical events and stories I have read about. I would also like to learn more about the Brothers Grimm and where they found their inspiration. They were not from Frankfurt, but from a town very close by.

Frankfurt is a very multicultural city, and one of the things I loved most was the range of food along the main streets. Eating my way through it is firmly on the list for the next visit.

Have you had a chance to explore Frankfurt and the countryside around it?