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Kassel Travel Guide

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Kassel [1] is the regional "capital" of North Hesse in Germany and has a population of about 200 000.

Contents

Understand

History

Kassel has been first mentioned around 900 AD. Since then it has always been a provincial capital for the realms of North Hesse or Kur-Hesse.

During the 30 years war Kassels Landgraf Philipp declared for the protestants. This had an effect as later numerous Hugenots emigrated from France and brought with them their trade and skills. The impact of the Hugenots can still be witnessed in the centre of Kassel where streets are named after Hugenots.

Kassel became a considerable industrial and scientific city as can still be seen in the Orangerie museum where loads of scientific kit from the enlightenment period is on show. Noticeably the first steam pot producing a fountain was constructed in Kassel by Papin and rumors have it that he left Kassel in his steam boat a few years before James Watt got his prototype into shape.

Kassel was already a heavy industries site by WW2, where trains, tanks and planes were constructed. In the later years of the war Kassel was thoroughly bombed by English and American planes.


Kassel was home to the famous Grimm Brothers who wrote a lot of the fairy tales Disney uses today. The house that they lived in was made into a museum with a lot of interesting artifacts.

Get in

The best way to reach Kassel is by train since most of the Inter-City-Express trains and plenty of local trains stop at the Kassel-Wilhemshöhe station. There is also a Main train station (Hauptbahnhof) very near the city center. Trains run between the two stations. Much easier to see the downtown area if you take a train to the Hauptbahnhof and begin your exploring from there.

Get around

From the Station, trams leave towards the town centre and one can easily walk to the Bergpark which is visible from where the trams leave. If you are staying a few days in Kassel buy a public transport Wockenkarte. Ride as much as you like on the streetcars and buses for a full week from date of issue. April 2006 price was EURO16. And while you are at it, don't miss out to have an Italian ice-cream somewhere on the way to the park.

See

  • Herkules and Bergpark.
  • Schloss with its old masterpieces of art.
  • Orangerie and Karlsaue
  • Documenta art exhebition(every 5 years only, next summer 2007)
  • Friedericianum - museum

Do

  • Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe. Worth visiting is the "Bergpark" (Mountainpark) which is supposedly the largest in Europe and second largest park on a mountain slope in the world. The park contains the Herkules statue at its top end which is towering over the city and has become its symbol. Further the park contains loads of smaller features which are mainly fake greek temples, fake medival castles, fake querries - you see where we are getting ... Not fake though are the Rembrandts and Rubens paintings in the Schloss in the park - an entrance fee is charged. The Park also features during summer months the Wasserspiele (watergames) every Wednesday and Saturday starting from 3pm. Various of the features such as the Cascades (below the Herkules statue), the fake waterfall and the fake Roman Aqueduct have their water supplies opened for half an hour or so each and the crowd of tourists will move from feature to feature starting on the higher parts moving downslope.
  • The Centre of Kassel itself has been thoroughy destroyed during WW2 and was rebuilt in a post-war fashion - ugly. Hence, the inner city is mainly dominated by bank and mall buildings of the modern sort. However, in walking distance from the main high street, you can reach the Karlsaue, another, french style park with some old buildings containing all sort of museums (tapstries to astrology). That area is also the usual place for the Documenta art exhibition to happen every five years.
  • Getting a little bit out of the city can be a good thing. Near Lohfelden there are beautiful forests and ponds that have really good trails. Also just past there are some great churches and markets.

Buy

Shopping can be somewhat difficult in Kassel compared to the United States, but most of the good shopping is located close to the Rathaus so if you get off the Strassebahn around there you can do most of your shopping.

  • I found a good place to buy all of the stuff I needed for everyday things could be found at Mueller. It is somewhat like a Fred Meyer's or Target.
  • The best place I found to buy clothes was at the H and M. They have the best prices and clothing in my opinion around Kassel.

Eat

  • There are great bakeries on every corner and throughought the city.
  • Another great place to eat is any of the little stands located on Konigsplatz(city centre)

Drink

  • The Crèperie is a pub always popular with teenagers close to the Bebelplatz in the Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse.
  • Another great place to go out on Friday nights is NYTD New York the Dance Club which on the first friday of every month it changes its name to Mangu.
  • Spot was suppose to be a great place to go out, but it all depends on what night so make sure you find out what type of music is playing that night also it is a little ways off the main strip of Kassel so be prepared for that.

Sleep

  • Kassel has its own youth hostel close to the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station).

Get out

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