Although the old centre of Bremen is stunning and impressive the area known as Schnoor is in my opinion the most charming area of the city. Schnoor is a maze of tightly packed historic houses dating from the 15th and 16th century and are tightly…Read More

Although the old centre of Bremen is stunning and impressive the area known as Schnoor is in my opinion the most charming area of the city.
Schnoor is a maze of tightly packed historic houses dating from the 15th and 16th century and are tightly packed to resemble being attached with a piece of string which is where the area gets its name as in English Schnoor means string.


Schnoor is very historic and the houses here date from the beginning of the 13th century to the 16th century and it is originally where the poor of the city lived. Today Schnoor is one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods in the city and the gorgeous little houses are just as likely to contain some little artisan shop or cosy café as they are a home.

Wandering around Schnoor is like stepping back in time and the cobbled streets and gorgeous little houses are absolutely picture perfect.
There are some lovely little cafes where you can stop and have a coffee and several restaurants along the streets where I have had some really nice meals but be warned the restaurants here are nearly all high quality with prices to reflect this.

The shopping in Schnoor is fantastic and really makes a nice change from the usual high street shops. The majority of the shops are independently owned and sell items such as antiques and hand-made jewellery and it is a nice place to buy something that is a one of a kind as opposed to mass produced rubbish.

The entire area is really well preserved thanks in part to an extensive renovation of the entire area in the 1950’s where great care was taken to preserve this historic neighbourhood for future generations to enjoy.

Although the majority of Schnoor is taken over with shops and restaurants there are a few tourists attractions that you can visit once you have had your fill of wandering the charming streets.
St John’s Provost church is a 14th century building that is today the city’s main catholic church and is a nice representation of gothic architecture.
You can also go and visit the Schifferhaus which is a building dating from the 16th century and when you go inside is now a museum showing how people lived in Schnoor back in the 16th century.

Schnoor is utterly charming and one of my favourite places in Bremen in which to spend a couple of hours just wandering admiring the buildings and soaking up the atmosphere. It is especially beautiful when the fairy lights hanging from all the windows give it an almost ethereal quality and the olde world atmosphere is at its highest.
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I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that I fly a lot. I can't think of a European airline I haven't used at some time or another, most of them more often than I might like. So I was intrigued when I…Read More

I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that I fly a lot. I can't think of a European airline I haven't used at some time or another, most of them more often than I might like. So I was intrigued when I learned the only direct way to get from Brussels to Bremen was by using an airline called OLT which stands for Ostfriesische Lufttransport – or East Friesian Air transport. I had heard about them from many of my colleagues who all told me that flying OLT was 'a little bit special' and out of the ordinary. They were right.

~OLT – The Titchy Plane Company~

OLT started life in the 1950s as a sort of 'air taxi' service taking tourists and business people on flights to the Friesian Islands. They did a bit of flying around with promotional banners hanging off the back, taking photographs for surveying and stuff like that. Over the decades they evolved into what is said to be the largest regional airline in Germany. The term 'large' is used with a slight sense of tongue in cheek because OLT is the king of titchy planes.

From their two 'hub' airports of Bremen and Heringsdorf/Usedom (which I've never heard of) they fly to a small selection of European cities including Bristol, Brussels, Toulouse, Zurich, Nuremburg and Copenhagen from Bremen to and Bremen, Koln, Frankfurt, Zurich and Munich from Heringsdorf. For these destinations they have a 'fleet' of 12 planes, a mix of Fokker 100, Saab 2000, Saab 340 and Fairchild Metroliner aircraft. Plane nuts will recognise that the unifying factor of all four is that they are little. But compared to these, the 'fleet' that serves the Friesian Islands is microscopic – they use two types of Cessnas, the Britten Norman Islander and the aptly named GA8 Airvan.

~Small is Beautiful~

I knew to expect a small plane. One of my colleagues has twice flown OLT and been the only person on board. He calls it his 'private jet' company. Another told me she'd been given a ticket for a seat in row 13 and got on to find that there were only 11 rows. So yes, I knew this wasn't going to be a big aircraft. I had some problems with check in because I couldn't find the desk. Nobody turned up to take the bags until about 90 minutes before departure. The plane was sure to be too small to use an air-bridge so we were loaded onto a bus and taken out to the plane.

As I stood on the bus looking at the plane I couldn't help but think that amongst all the little planes I'd ever been on this was the smallest scheduled flight plane that I'd ever seen. I have been on one smaller aircraft – a private jet in Brazil that was like a flying camper van – but this was only about twice as long. The Fairchild Metroliner is a funny looking plane with a long pointy nose. You can clearly see the pilot sitting in the cockpit, looking a bit squeezed in and the baggage is loaded into two spaces – one in the nose and the other tucked at the back by the tail. There's no need for one of those bag loading conveyor belt things – there's just a guy at the front and another at the back shoving everything in. When we arrived the plane was being fuelled by a man standing on a step ladder pumping aviation fuel into the wings. It was very weird.

I had become a bit freaked by seeing the chord that's used to close the back luggage area was still hanging out the bottom of the plane so I stuck around to make sure it was tucked back in before I got on board. I deliberated over whether my normal sense of Britishness would mean I'd just shut up and get on or whether I'd hunt someone down and say "Did you know there's a toggle hanging out the back of your plane – would it be too much trouble to ask you to tuck it back in please?" Fortunately it got sorted just before I boarded up the tiny steps.

What I hadn't realised was that it's so cramped inside. You cannot walk down the plane but have to crouch over and shuffle down the aisle. There's no need to choose between window or aisle as there's only one seat on each side so every seat is both window and aisle. I was the last one to board and it was quite a squeeze getting down the aisle with my standard sized briefcase which barely fitted under the seat. No adult will get down this plane without bending double. A bag with a cheese roll and a bottle of water was sitting on my seat so I shoved it to one side and shuffled in to my seat. I had intended to take my coat off but once seated it seemed like that was going to only be possible if I elbowed half the passengers on the plane so I stayed put. There's no stewardess to serve you food – hence the bag on the seat. If you are lucky and if you stay awake, unlike me, you might get a cup of coffee if the person sitting near the front decides to pass it round. The front seat has a 'Red Riding Hood visiting Grandma' wicker basket with a flask of coffee and some cups. There's also no toilet – or at least I didn't spot one and I can't figure how it could possibly have been fitted in. So as your mother would have advised 'Be sure to go before you go'. The seats are comfortable though slightly more reclined than most flights and I was fast asleep before we'd actually taken off. Despite only having a capacity of 18 passengers, everything felt quite cramped.

It's not a long flight – around 40 minutes or so – and we were on time both departing and arriving. With such a small number of passengers and so few bags to be sorted, the bags were already on the carousel by the time we stepped into the arrivals hall. There's seldom much of a delay at Bremen but this was even quicker than normal.

Flights with OLT are not cheap – I think my one way journey was about €250 – but it went from where I wanted to leave to where I wanted to go without sending me half a country away in the wrong direction or charging me twice over for airport taxes. The flight times on this particular route are excellent – early morning or mid evening means day trips are possible from both directions.
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Bremen is located in the northwestern part of Germany. It is very rainy. It rains pretty much everyday, but the rain does not stick around for long, it come sin small bursts. Bremen is an independent Municipality so they have their own government and laws.…Read More

Bremen is located in the northwestern part of Germany. It is very rainy. It rains pretty much everyday, but the rain does not stick around for long, it come sin small bursts. Bremen is an independent Municipality so they have their own government and laws.

We traveled to the center of Bremen on our first day, a very quaint place with many shops and strong manly architecture. You get a real sense of community here. Most streets are cobblestone, making them glisten in the sun when wet (which is usually.) The center is full of little shops and cute statues. Almost every store sells "the four Bremen musicians" merchandise. This is an old folktale about a donkey getting too old for his master and setting off on the road to Bremen to become a musician. On his way he picks up an old dog, cat and cock, and they merrily travel into town together to play music. On the way they scare off some burglars from a farm, acquiring respect. Most depictions have them stacked on top of each other or with various instruments.
The center is also home to many fine beer breweries. In fact, the famous Becks is from Bremen. These breweries range from big shot beck to small town original brews, and are always accompanied by a restaurant. I have to say, you can't really get anything but schnitzel here, not that I'm complaining. One that sticks out in my mind had their chandeliers adorned with old fashioned wooden puppets, and huge barrels lining the walls.

The day after my cousin took me out "clubbing" for my first time. We met up with her friends in their apartment. One thing I noticed was how deep all the elevators are, which was done for bikers. Just like in Amsterdam, everyone bikes here, and if anyone owns a car it’ll be a Mercedes or BMW. This includes the taxis.

I made some bad choices that night…beer, wine, vodka and absinthe all together…this only hurt me the next day thankfully. They took me to an insane three story German club, the likes of which I’ve never seen since. It was very busy and played a different type of music on every level (there were three in all.) The crowd was very respectful and was very into their dancing. My friends informed me that many fights break out on this sort of scene, and several different gangs occupy the premises. So if you go out on, do not pick a fight with anyone as they are likely to have five friends just around the corner to avenge them.

There were also many Russian clubs in this area, which were just as popular. Bremen contains an incredible amount of Russian Germans making it a nice place for Russian immigrants. My family’s Jewish friends moved to Bremen from Russia, which was done quite easily because Germany had been accepting Jewish people with eagerness at that time because of what occurred during world war two.

The rest of my trip consisted of me eating blackberries and going to the beach. There are several lovely little beaches in Bremen, surrounded by adorable rural communities. Many children come here and play, swinging from the trees into the water. Another favorite activity of mine was to visit the food markets. There markets are lavish with different local produce, and you can buy eggs that are still covered with hen feathers! Overall, Bremen is a lovely place in Germany, where one can quickly feel at home. I don’t recommend it for city dwellers, as it won’t impress you with high-class restaurants or large building, art and music scene. I saw it very much as a community city, for laid back, small town people.

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