Travellers with a sweet tooth will find numerous confectionery-orientated museums and attractions in Germany.
Germans love sweets – and they make them rather well. It’s not much surprise then to find that the country houses a number of confectionery related attractions for the sweet-toothed visitor.
For example in Aachen, famous for its ‘Printe’ gingerbread, visitors to the Klein bakery can visit the small museum to discover how the speciality is made. Traditional as the Printe is, the methods used for baking have changed through the years. But the real attraction is the gingerbread itself – a traditional Christmas treat in much of Germany, but available in Aachen all year round.
Marzipan invented here - so they say
Or head to the city of Lubeck, on the Baltic coast of northern Germany, to find the Niederegger marzipan shop. Lubeck claims it invented marzipan, and whether or not that’s true it certainly has a long history of making the sweet. The Niederegger confectionery firm dates from 1806, and the shop and cafe stands right in the heart of the old Hanseatic city. The upper floors also contain a marzipan museum, and the artful delights on sale below include marzipan fruit, animals, and even castles.
In Kitzingen, in the southern district of Franconia, there’s another confectionery museum. The Konditorei Museum is housed in a lovely sixteenth century half timbered building and though it’s a rather traditional collection, with glass fronted cabinets containing gingerbread moulds and antique advertising materials, it’s worth a half hour visit. Naturally, this museum too has a cafe attached.
Now moving on from other sweets and cakes to chocolate, you can find the Rausch chocolate factory and museum in Peine, near Hanover. The firm’s selection includes single plantation chocolates (‘Plantagenschokolade’) ranging from the darkest, Trinitario (Trinidad) at 80 percent cocoa down to the ‘Noumea’ milk chocolate at 35 percent cocoa. The museum even has its own chocolate volcano – as well as chocolate memorabilia.
Cult chocolate on show
But the biggest and best chocolate museum in Germany is to be found in Cologne. It was founded by the head of the Stollwerck chocolate company, which is based in Cologne, and inhabits a fantastic modern, ship-like building on the river Rhine. In its tropical hall, you’ll see cocoa trees, coffee plants, and vanilla bushes; further on is a complete production unit which processes 400 kg of chocolate a day. That’s nearly half a tonne! Most recently, the museum has opened a ‘cult chocolate’ exhibition showing iconic bars such as Toblerone, the Lindt Bunny, and for American visitors the Mars Bar and Hershey’s Kisses.
Take a choc massage!
Besides museums, Germany offers other treats for tourists. For instance in Saalfeld, once the centre of chocolate production for former East Germany, the tourist office can arrange a number of chocolate-themed trips, including a full body massage in chocolate!
Whatever your taste in candies, Germany has a tourist attraction for you. And in just about any German city, you’ll find cafes and sweet shops to attract the sweetest toothed visitor. As popular singer Udo Juergens requests - ‘Aber bitte mit Sahne’ - serve it with cream, please!
