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into a Raubritterspiess –“robber baron kebab”, something rather like a mixed grill on a skewer. Not far from the Rathaus and housed within the renowned Die Glocke concert hall, you’ll find Intermezzo serving up further treats for the palate. The Bremer Tapas Teller has a variety of local delicacies such as Knipp, Labskaus, and Bremer Hochzeitssuppe (wedding soup). For larger groups the restaurant offers an original Bremen Beer menu, where appropriate beers are served with each of the five regional speciality dishes. Every second cup of coffee drunk between Flensburg in the north and Füssen in the south, originates from firms in the Hanseatic city of Bremen. The first coffee house in the German-speaking lands was opened here in 1673 and traditional coffee roasting can still be experienced today in the Münchausen Coffee Roasting House. Bremen is also ideal for lovers of a more “hoppy”taste – beer has been brewed here for 700 years. World renowned and enjoyed in 140 countries, a brewery visit to Beck’s takes you through the works, the brewhouse and a small museum before the tasty

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finish with a small product testing session. The culinary exploration doesn’t end here though: head to Bremen’s Überseestadt to visit the“Piekfeine Brände”open distillery, where the process of making brandy from the raw fruit to finished distillate captivates visitors before culminating in an aroma and taste session. The finished products range from many fruit brandies to nut liqueurs and even Panna-Cotta liqueur. In the Überseestadt there are also many opportunities to enjoy a good cup of coffee. In the listed marble hall of the Lloyd Coffee Roasting House you can be inducted into the secrets of the art of coffee, and then test your heart and kidneys on the different kinds in the adjoining café – enjoyment guaranteed. The Handicraft workshop on Böttcherstrasse, the small alleyway between the Marktplatz and the Weser, is home to a host of arts and crafts and also houses the Bremer Bonbon Manufaktur (Bremen Sweet Manufacturers). A large copper vessel, in which the colourful sweet mixture is boiled, dominates the pretty shop floor and a huge selection of sweets is available for purchase – the choice is yours: self-consumption or as a gift. Sampling the sweets here is more than encouraged!

So whether it’s coffee, chocolate, beer or sweets, Bremen knows the meaning of good taste. Aesthetically too, it’s a city that understands our visual appetite: Between April and June the Rhododendron Park is transformed into an extraordinary sea of colour with more than 2,000 different kinds of Rhododendrons and Azalea, a unique occasion in mainland European and one not to be missed. www.bremen-tourismus.de Top left: Bremen's Böttcherstraße. Photo: Jan Rathke Top middle: Ratskeller. Photo: Dietmar Banck Top, cluster of images: Schlachte beer garden. Photo: Dietmar Banck (left) Schnoor quarter. Photo: Ingrid Krause (below left) Lloyd coffee. Photo: Jan Rathke (right) Beck’s beer brewery (below right) Below: Sweet surprises in the Schnoor quarter. Photo: Hans-Joachim Harbeck

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