Germanys

It’s early morning in Erfurt, the capital of Germany’s Thuringia region, and Domplatz is abuzz with local growers setting out crates of vegetables and flowers beneath the soaring medieval cathedral towers. This 14th- and 15th-century engineering wonder holds the Gloriosa, the world’s largest medieval free-swinging bell, cast in 1497 and weighing 12 tonnes. Though the city and surrounding landscape are notably flat, its skyline is pierced by soaring church towers and steeples, the atmospheric old town hardly changed over the centuries.

Thuringia – often called the “green heart of Germany” – lies in the centre of the country, between Hesse, Saxony and Bavaria. It’s famous for its dense forests, intellectual heritage and hearty cuisine, and I’m here for four days to explore using public transport.

Leaving Frankfurt behind, my three-hour coach journey rolls through rising forested highlands before descending into the wide, agricultural basin that cradles Erfurt. After checking out Domplatz’s morning market, it’s just a short walk to one of the town’s other famous sights, the 120-metre-long Krämerbrücke – a 14th-century bridge lined with colourful half-timbered houses.

Erfurt was once at the crossroads of two major trade routes, and the wealth that built its impressive churches and merchants’ houses came partly from waid, or woad, a plant cultivated in the surrounding fields and processed for its blue dye. I stroll past the craft shops (some still sell the dye) to Petersberg Citadel, one of the largest and best-preserved fortresses in Europe, with a maze of underground tunnels. This is also the city where the Protestant Reformation took root – Martin Luther studied here and was a monk in the Augustinian monastery (you can join a guided tour or even stay overnight).

Dinner is in a suitably historic setting; Wirtshaus Christoffel, in the Haus zur weißen Lilie (House of the White Lily), dates back to the 12th century (the house-brewed beer and beef roulade with Thuringian dumplings are delicious).

Next morning, I head to Egapark (a seven-minute bus ride or a 30-minute walk from town). Spread across 36 hectares (89 acres), it was created for the 1961 international horticultural exhibition. The old Cyriaksburg fortress houses the German Horticultural Museum, which traces the history of gardening, while displays range from landscapes of cacti and succulents to tropical planting.

The city of Weimar, a 30-minute bus journey away, is next on my list. The birthplace of the artistic Bauhaus movement, and where Germany’s first democratic constitution was adopted, it’s full of interesting historic sites and design gems. I visit the Bauhaus museum, with its ceramics, textiles, metalwork and painting, and wander around town, passing the former art school buildings that now house the Bauhaus-Universität.

The next morning, I swap culture for chilling and take another bus to Bad Langensalza, a spa town of 10 parks and themed gardens, 40 miles (64km) away. My guide, Markus Fromm, explains that people come here to “cure, to relax, to refresh”.

Sulphur springs were discovered here in 1811, and today, the Friederiken Therme is the town’s main thermal spa, offering natural sulphur, brine and drinking mineral waters, alongside indoor and outdoor pools, saunas and treatments. Traces of the older spa history remain around the town: at Friederikenschlösschen, an 18th-century summer residence, a fountain still runs with sulphur water that has been used for healing since 1812.

But it’s the town’s gardens that really win me over. I wander Friederikenschlösschen’s restored baroque garden and visit the Klagetor, a gate tower dating from about 1365, where the old town gives way to the Japanese garden, Kofuku no Niwa (Garden of Happiness), with its koi ponds, clipped azaleas and sculpted pines.

For nature on an even grander scale, I take a bus to Hainich national park, 10 minutes away (you can easily rent a bike/e-bike and follow cycling paths to get there too). Spanning 7,500 hectares, Hainich offers more than 75 miles of signposted walking trails through its beech forests, part of a Unesco world heritage site. The wider Hainich is Germany’s largest unbroken deciduous woodland area. “Parts of this landscape have been left entirely untouched for decades, abandoned to their own devices without a shred of human meddling,” says park director Rüdiger Biehl.

Before hitting the trail, I stop at the park’s restaurant, Forsthaus Thiemsburg, for a regional lunch – roast pork in black beer and Thuringian dumplings, washed down with a cold Köstritzer pilsner. Then, into the trees. Deep in the beeches, the sun sporadically breaks through the branches and the leaves crunch loudly under my boots. Up in the canopy, it’s mostly just the birds making noise – chaffinches and wood warblers chatter, interrupted by the occasional sharp rattle of a middle spotted woodpecker drilling into a trunk.

The Baumkronenpfad, a wooden walkway through the treetops, rises to a 44-metre observation tower. Here, the canopy of an oak that is estimated to be 350 years old is almost at eye level. It’s a spectacular view, but the forest’s real engine is down below. Deadwood is left to decay where it falls, providing habitat for rare wood-boring insects and endangered Bechstein’s bats. Back in Erfurt that evening, I catch the final symphony concert of the season at Theaterplatz. It’s a reminder of the winning combination of culture and nature that I’ve enjoyed over my four days in Thuringia. I had come looking for a less familiar corner of Germany and found a region that offers plenty of variety – and all accessible with a few short bus rides.

The trip was provided by the German National Tourist Board. Dorint Hotel am Dom in Erfurt has doubles from £85. For journey planning, VMT has information on buses, trains and trams across central Thuringia, as well as a free app with live departure updates

Far-right and far-left parties gain ground in local elections as Merz’s approval rating sinks.

Chancellor ⁠Friedrich Merz has hit out at what he called political “extremism” in Germany after recent stinging defeats in local elections to far-right and far-left parties.

“This is a task for ⁠our society as ⁠a whole, and it is ⁠one I intend ⁠to play ⁠my part in,” he said on Wednesday at an ‌event in Berlin.

Merz said “extremism” was forcefully making its way into the country’s parliaments, a day after a member of the far-right Alternative for ‌Germany (AfD) was elected president of the state parliament in Saxony-Anhalt and the Left Party won out in Berlin’s state election last month.

“Anyone who casts their vote for ⁠the AfD is ⁠playing the extremists’ game and undermining credibility,” ⁠Merz said. “In ⁠any case, this is incompatible with the values of ‌my party, the CDU [Christian Democratic Union of Germany].”

Despite winning the vote in the September 6 election in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD fell three seats short of the absolute majority it had had sought. AfD lawmaker Tobias Rausch won the presidency of the parliament in the eastern German state Tuesday, backed by the left-populists in a secret ballot.

Founded in 2013 as a Eurosceptic movement, the AfD won over voters with an increasingly hardline opposition to immigration after about a million people fled to Germany in 2015, many of them from war-torn Syria.

The party has since become a dominant political force in much of eastern Germany, especially among voters disillusioned with mainstream parties, though most traditional parties have pledged not to enter coalitions with the AfD.

Berlin election

Merz’s comments followed the far-left Left Party’s victory in the Berlin state election on September 20, in another defeat for the chancellor’s ruling Christian Democrats.

Lead ‌candidate Elif Eralp campaigned on the soaring cost of housing in the German capital and immediately promised to follow through with a pledge to nationalise private housing associations that account for a large share of the city’s housing stock.

The result, which roughly doubled the party’s previous score, could see her become the first mayor of Berlin from the Left Party, which grew out of the former East German communist party following the reunification of the country 36 years ago.

Eralp, the 45-year-old daughter of left-wing Turkish parents who fled a coup in 1980, said the increasingly difficult rental situation was the biggest social problem in the capital.

She promised to proceed with nationalising the housing associations she said drove property speculation, in accordance with a referendum from 2021 in which 58 percent of voters backed a proposal to promulgate the move.

While the AfD has attracted most attention, the ⁠Left Party has also benefitted from a general turn against the mainstream centre-left and centre-right parties.

Meanwhile, Merz has received a record low approval rating. Earlier this month, a survey by Germany’s public broadcaster ARD found that only one in 10 respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with his performance, the lowest figure for any chancellor since the survey began in 1997.

Another major election test will come in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, where voters are set to elect a new parliament in April.

German chancellor visits Kyiv amid air raid sirens, pledging strong support as Russian strikes disrupt the capital.

Russia has struck a key bridge in Kyiv just as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in the Ukrainian capital to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The unannounced visit, marked by the sound of air sirens and explosions, came on Sunday to underscore Germany’s support for the nation at a time when Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities are increasing.

In a written statement, Merz said he “travelled to Kyiv today because Ukraine needs all our support in the coming weeks”.

“If Russia is not stopped, its war machine will sooner or later turn against us,” he said.

Merz and Zelenskyy met at the National Academy of Sciences, which was struck by a Russian drone on September 28.

Zelenskyy told Merz that Kyiv’s citizens are going through “terrible nights and days” due to the ongoing Russian attacks.

Merz was accompanied by his economy minister, as well as executives from several large German companies, such as Siemens Energy and Diehl Defence.

Ukraine and Germany are also expected to finalise a deal to produce drones and other weapons together that can travel more than 600 miles (965.6km) in an effort to strike deeper into Russia.

Germany has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters. In April, the two countries signed a military pact worth more than $4bn. On Sunday, a $1.1bn military aid package is set to be announced, alongside $394m to repair damage to Ukraine’s energy sector.

Merz’s visit comes a day after Russia warned foreign diplomats and nationals to leave the capital to avoid getting hurt.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence promised to intensify strikes on Ukraine after Zelenskyy said in an interview with the Reuters news agency that it is doubling down on targeting Russian oil refineries after several civilians were killed and wounded over the weekend.

The strike that hit the Northern Bridge over the Dnipro River on Sunday also damaged a road and the supply of hot water in the area, according to a social media statement from Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. It is the second bridge in the capital to be hit this weekend.

Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine is in its fifth year. Both sides have increased the number of drone and missile attacks on infrastructure, logistics and military sites in recent months.

Far-right AfD defeated German chancellor’s CDU in recent Saxony-Anhalt state election, casting doubt on his future.

Voters in the eastern German states of Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are heading to the polls as far-right and far-left gains threaten to affect the political standing of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

About 2.5 million people are eligible to vote in the city-state of Berlin, Germany’s capital, and nearly 1.3 million in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday. Polling booths in both states – traditionally seen as more left-leaning – opened at 8am local time (06:00 GMT) and will close at 6pm (16:00 GMT).

Pressure on Merz has been mounting after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) delivered a major defeat to his Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) party two weeks ago in the key state of Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD fell just short of an absolute majority, which would have allowed it to govern on its own.

And after just 16 months in power, Merz’s approval ratings have plunged to about 14 percent, the latest polls suggest, as he struggles to push through promised economic and social welfare reforms with his centre-left coalition partners, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), raising doubts among fellow party members whether he can continue to lead.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Merz’s party is an onlooker to the main battle between the SPD’s popular state premier Manuela Schwesig and the AfD’s lead candidate, former radio presenter Leif-Erik Holm.

While the AfD was polling at 36 percent against the SPD’s 37 percent, Merz’s CDU, at just 6 percent, was dangerously close to the 5 percent hurdle needed to stay in the state parliament, according to public broadcaster ZDF.

Reporting from a polling station in Schwerin, Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane said there was “very much all to play for” in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

“The race between the AfD here and the Social Democrat government is very close indeed,” he added, pointing out to the recent opinion polls.

In  Berlin, the CDU is running a tight race against the far-left Die Linke (The Left), which promises drastic measures to solve a dire housing crisis and is popular with young people.

Regional elections would not usually draw much interest outside Germany, but the AfD’s success in Saxony-Anhalt, which it sees as the first step towards winning federal elections due in 2029, has sent shockwaves through Europe.

“Saxony-Anhalt was certainly a revolution for the German party system,” Florian Hartleb, a professor of international relations at Modul University in Vienna and an expert on far-right movements, told Al Jazeera.

Hartleb said the AFD had been “fundamentally excluded” from the power system, with the other political parties trying “everything” against it in recent years. “But it didn’t work out,” he said, citing voters’ dissatisfaction over migration, the economy and social inequality.

Merz has reportedly scheduled a crisis CDU meeting and cleared his calendar to deal with potential aftershocks from Sunday’s elections.

Frankfurt grapples with a rare malaria outbreak tied to air travel, marking three deaths in recent months.

A third person has died from malaria after a recent cluster of cases linked to Frankfurt Airport, in what German officials have described as an extremely rare air-traffic-related ⁠outbreak of the tropical disease.

In a statement on Thursday, city administration said the person died at Frankfurt hospital and was one of two infected residents living in the Schwanheim district, in the immediate vicinity of the airport.

The two new malaria cases in the neighbourhood had been reported on Tuesday.

“Both individuals ‌had become infected with the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum, even though they had not travelled to a malaria-endemic region and had not worked at the airport,” the statement said.

According to the city’s public health department, the two newly infected people contracted the disease from a mosquito flown into Germany on an aircraft or in luggage.

Six Frankfurt airport workers had contracted malaria tropica, the most dangerous form of the disease, in July, authorities said. Two later died.

Malaria is a potentially life-threatening mosquito-borne disease that is extremely rare in Germany.

The malaria parasite is spread between ⁠humans by some types of mosquitoes, but not through direct human-to-human contact.

Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport said it set up traps to catch ⁠mosquitoes and sent the insects to a laboratory in Antwerp in Belgium in July and August, but ‌results were not available yet.

Health authorities have warned doctors near the airport to consider malaria in patients who come in with a fever.

Airport workers and residents have been urged to seek medical advice in case they display symptoms including fever, chills, headaches, confusion, seizures and breathing difficulties.

An airport spokesperson said local public health authorities had the power ‌in ‌principle to order airlines to disinfect aircraft.