Fabulous Fürth.

2014.

04.05.2019

Art Nouveau in Furth - Fürth

"Fürth"

Originally we booked a hotel in Nüremberg, a city we have stayed in before, but then my husband found a good offer for a hotel in Fürth. The hotel had a swimming pool and the offer included breakfast. I agreed to the change, but I was not really expecting Fürth to be all that interesting and scarcely even researched it. When we got there, we were very pleasantly surprised. We both really, really liked Fürth. For one thing there was a huge chimney stack in the centre of town, with an enormous nest housing three storks in it. I really liked that. It was like something out of a fairy tale. When we left Fürth, I saw similar chimneys minus the stork’s nest in various towns and it actually made me feel homesick for Fürth. Homesick! and we were only there for three nights.

Storks - Fürth

For another thing, there was a music festival on when we visited which for us meant lots of free street entertainment. To add to the carnival atmosphere, we were there during the World Cup 2014 and were actually there to see Germany win the final. While I am not really into football and my husband is a die hard England fan, I enjoyed watching people with their painted faces, yellow, black and red clothes and flags. I particularly enjoyed the party tractor, which made me laugh a lot. Fürth has some beautiful old houses, a town hall, churches, two rivers, a park and several statues and fountains, but more than all that, it had a great atmosphere and we loved it.

Below is a review of the hotel we stayed in in Furth.

"Great Stay, Great Town" : Fuerther Hotel Mercure Nuernberg West.

We stayed in the Mercure in Fuerth for three nights in July. We did not have a car. We got to the hotel by taking the S-bahn Line 1 from Nuremberg to Fuerth Rathaus Station. We exited the station and walked down to Henri Dunant Strasse. We walked along here, then crossed the Ludwig Bridge over the Pegnitz River and walked along Erlanger Strasse. From station to hotel took about 20 minutes on foot. If you don't want to walk, there is a bus from the centre that stops right outside the hotel.

This hotel is very much a family hotel. It had a small outdoor swimming pool. There were also sandpits, play houses, play trucks and table-tennis for children in its garden area. Check-in was pleasant and efficient. Our room was comfortable. We had a fridge with a free minibar. By that I mean you got a bottle of water, a coke and a beer in the fridge when you arrived. If you drank them, they were replaced free of charge. We also had tea/coffee making facilities in the room. Our bed was nice and comfortable. The room was clean and pleasant. On our deal breakfast was included in the price. Breakfast was very busy, but the food was excellent with delicious fresh bread, cheeses, cold meat, smoked salmon, salad, cereals, fruit, yoghurt and some hot food, too. Coffees or teas were brought to the table. There was a machine for squeezing your own orange juice. The hotel had a restaurant and bar. Check out was efficient and the bill was accurate. We really liked Fuerth as a place. It had lots of lovely old historical buildings and plenty of restaurants. There was a music festival on when we visited. It's also a convenient place from which to visit places like Nuremberg, Bamberg, Lauf, Erlangen. I'd love to stay here again. Address: Laubenweg 6, Furth, Bavaria, 90765, Germany.

Great Stay, Great Town

Below are some of the things to see in Furth.

Jewish Museum.

Near the town hall there is a Jewish Museum. We did not visit, but it is supposed to be interesting. The Jewish Museum was opened in 1999. The house was occupied by Jewish families until the late 19th century.

Jewish Museum

Old Town Near Town Hall.

Near the rathaus around Gustav Strasse there are some lovely old buildings well worth seeing. There are also many restaurants, cafes and bars. This was a busy area during our stay as many of the music festival performances took place here. We ate in this area twice and had a particularly wonderful meal in an Afghani restaurant called the Kabuliya.

Old Town Near Town Hall.

Gruner Markt.

When Fürth was given market rights in the early Middle Ages, residents were able to hold markets in the area now known as Gruner Markt. The Gruner Markt has some strange and interesting statues. This was high up on my list of places to see, but the statues were largely hidden by music festival stages, speakers etc. One of the statues made rather inaccessible by the festival was the 'Jugglers’ Fountain' which was designed in 2004 by Harro Frey. This fountain shows performing acrobats.

Gruner Markt

St Michael’s Church.

St Michael’s Church was closed when we visited and there was a festival stage and a bar outside. I liked the odd children’s artwork behind it, with giant pencils and dragon statues. Strange, but cute. St Michael's Church is the oldest building in Fürth. Its origins date back to 1100.

St Michael’s Church

Centaur Statue.

Near the Haupt Bahnhof there is a centaur statue. It is a beautiful statue despite its rather sad subject matter. It shows a centaur being captured and tied up. It stood near the start of Germany’s first railway line and is supposed to represent man overcoming the forces of nature.The Centaur Fountain was designed by Rudolf Maison in 1890 in commemoration of the German railway which was established in 1835 and to the establishment of the central water supply which occurred in 1877.

Centaur Statue

The Fürther Freiheit.

The Fürther Freiheit was once the site of the first German rail line which was constructed in 1835 and went from Fürth to Nuremberg. It was in operation until 1922. It had a stage and lots of stalls when we visited.

The Fürther Freiheit

The Paradise Fountain.

The Paradise Fountain is a great fountain depicting Adam, Eve, the snake, apples – some with bites out of them, unicorns and much more. It’s a fun fountain and you can walk along a wall into the middle of it. You’ll even find a half-eaten apple on the park bench next to it which is also part of the fountain. I really liked this site. The fountain dates from 1996 and was designed by married couple Barbara and Gernot Rumpf.

The Paradise Fountain

Hornschuchpromenade And Konigswarter Strasse.

Hornschuchpromenade and Konigswarter Strasse are two streets near Jakobinenstrasse Station that have lots of Art Nouveau architecture. I loved the houses with their weird and wonderful male, female and animal faces.

Hornschuchpromenade And Konigswarter Strasse

River Pegnitz and Rednitz.

Fürth lies on both the River Pegnitz and the River Rednitz. These rivers join together in Fürth to form the River Regnitz. We visited the confluence of these two rivers which is located in a pretty park. This is a very pleasant park with lots of greenery and ponds. The park dates back to the mid-nineteenth century when Johann Wilhelm Engelhardt, a local machine factory owner, had trees and plants placed around the edges of the old cemetery.

Rivers

The Stadtpark

Near The Stadthalle Station.

Near the Stadthalle Station there were lots of beautiful buildings. The Jewish Cemetery is also in this area. Unfortunately it was closed when we went. I read somewhere that you can only visit by appointment.

Near The Stadthalle Station

Fürth Town Hall.

There are several train stations in Fürth and one of them is right next to the town hall. I rather liked this building. There were food stalls behind it for the duration of the festival. There was also a stage for some of the festival’s musicians. Fürth Town Hall was built between 1840 and 1850 by Georg Friedrich Christian Bürklein and Eduard Bürklein.

Fürth Town Hall

Here are some other things we noticed about Fürth.

The Clover Leaf.

The clover leaf is the symbol of Fürth. We saw it on street signs, pub signs, restaurant signs and notices all over the place. It kept reminding me of Ireland with its shamrock as it looks very similar.

Symbol of Fürth - Fürth

The Clover Leaf

Football.

Germany won the 2014 World Cup Final while we were there. There was a great atmosphere with people dressed up in the colours of the German flag. They also painted their faces. World Cup souvenirs were everywhere. Windows were decorated with flags. I had a good laugh at the celebration tractor, bedecked in the German colours and laden down with football fans. When the final was over, the sky was shattered with the explosions of victory.

Football

Festival.

We enjoyed the music festival which was on in Fürth in July. There was lots of free interesting street entertainment. However, I was glad our hotel was a little bit out of town as I would not want to have been disturbed by it at night.

Festival

We had a great meal in the restaurant described below.

Kabuliyan Restaurant: Wonderful Meal.

We had a wonderful meal in the Kabuliyan Restaurant in Fuerth. It is an Afghanistani restaurant and I would love to go back and try Afghani food there some time. It also did German food and that is what we ate as getting German food is an enjoyable rarity for us. My husband had the Cordon Bleu and I had the Wiener Schnitzel. Portions were huge. We could hardly move after eating it and the food was delicious. I absolutely loved the way they flavoured my roast potatoes with cumin. The beer here was also great. Service was very efficient and very friendly. We sat outside and enjoyed listening to the live music from the festival. The price was really reasonable. I would definitely eat here again on any future visits to Fuerth. A great find. Directions: To get here from Nuremberg take the S1 line to Fuerth Rathaus Station and then walk to Gustavstrasse. It's at the far end away from the church and Grunermarkt.

Wonderful Meal