Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [474]
The most interesting fossils excavated are now held in the Hessisches Landesmuseum (Click here), in Darmstadt, the Senckenberg Museum (Click here) in Frankfurt, and Messel’s own museum ( 06159-5119; www.messelmuseum.de; Langgasse 2; 2-6pm Tue-Sat & 10am-6pm Sun Apr-Oct, 2-4pm Sat, 10am-noon & 2-4pm Sun Nov-Mar) in a pretty half-timbered house. For tours of the site itself, contact the Messel museum.
Messel is about 10km northeast of Darmstadt and is served by city trams 4 and 5 from Hauptbahnhof to Siemenstrasse (direction Kranichstein), where the bus U to Messel-Oberach departs.
Return to beginning of chapter
WIESBADEN
0611 / pop 276,000
The spa-town capital of Hesse, 40km west of Frankfurt and across the Rhine from Mainz, has a handful of historic attractions, green parks to calm the weariest of urban eyes and a century-old thermal bath.
Dostoevsky messed himself up badly here in the 1860s (where didn’t he, though?) when he amassed huge debts at the city’s gambling tables, inspiring – so they say – his masterpiece, The Gambler.
For information on Rüdesheim, along the Romantic Rhine, and nearby Koster Eberbach, Click here and Click here.
Return to beginning of chapter
Orientation
From the Hauptbahnhof, walk 1km north on Bahnhofstrasse to get to the city centre. The main shopping precinct is around Langgasse and its southern continuation, Kirchgasse. The Neroberg is 2km northwest of the centre.
Return to beginning of chapter
Information
Laundrette (Dotzheimer Strasse 96) Situated 1.2km west of the centre.
Network Launch (Luisenstrasse 17; internet access per hr €2; 10am-4am Mon-Sat, noon-2am Sun)
Planet Callnet (Wellritzstrasse 22; per hr €1; 10am-10pm) In the heart of a lively Turkish neighbourhood.
Post office (Kaiser-Friedrich-Ring 98) Facing the Hauptbahnhof. Has an ATM.
ReiseBank ( 743 19; Hauptbahnhof; 9am-6.30pm Mon-Sat, 9am-12.30pm & 1.30-5.30pm Sun, closed 12.30-1.30pm Wed & Fri) Currency exchange.
Tourist office ( 172 9930; www.wiesbaden.de; Marktplatz 1; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9.45am-3pm Sat, 11am-3pm Sun Apr-Sep)
Return to beginning of chapter
Sights & Activities
CITY CENTRE
A nice place to start exploring is Schlossplatz, where you’ll find the Marktbrunnen (Löwen-brunnen; Market Fountain; 1537), the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall; 1610) and the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall; 1884–87). The Protestant neo-Gothic Marktkirche (1852–62) has a Glockenspiel (carillon; rings at 9am, noon & 5pm) and hosts organ concerts ( 11.30am Sat year-round). On the north side is the neoclassical Stadtschloss (1840), built for Duke Wilhelm von Nassau and now the Hessischer Landtag (Hessian state parliament).
Built in 1913 as a municipal bathhouse on the site of a Roman steam bath, the gorgeous Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme ( 172 9660; Langgasse 38-40; 4hr €17.50; 10am-10pm Sat-Thu, 10am-midnight Fri) are fed by water naturally heated to 66.4°C. Ask for a sheet in English on ‘bathing like the ancient Romans’ by availing yourself of a succession of saunas and pools. Bathrobes and towels can be rented; swimsuits are unnecessary as, in keeping with Saunakultur, this place is ‘textile-free’. Actually, bathing suits are completely forbidden only in the sauna (you just wear a towel); elsewhere, nudity is merely a recommendation. Tuesday is for women only. The minimum age is 16.
Want to actually taste the hot spa waters for which the city is known (indeed, named), said to have wonderful pharmacological powers? Head to the Kochbrunnen (Kranzplatz; 24hr) – inside the stone pavilion are four free-flowing spouts. A sign recommends drinking no more than 1L a day, though if you can down more than a mouthful you deserve a beer.
The neoclassical Kurhaus Wiesbaden ( 172 90; www.wiesbaden.de; Kurhausplatz 1; 24hr, closed during events), built in 1907, serves as the city’s convention centre. On the plaza out front are the Bowling Green (a lawn for which locals have chosen a name