Weissbier (white beer), also called Weizenbier (wheat beer) or even Hefeweizen, is a top fermented, unfiltered, bottle conditioned wheat beer with yeast sediment and a cloudy appearance.

Weissbier © Moe_/flickr.com

The typical Weissbier or Weizenbeer is a Bavarian specialty beer with a significant amount of malted barley being replaced with malted wheat. According to German law it must be made with at least 50% malted wheat, but most Bavarian Weissbiers contain 60 to 70% of it.

It is not quite clear whether it is called Weissbeer due to its paler colour or due to its content of wheat as both words are of the same origin. It is quite sweet and fruity with a full body.

You get special glasses for Weissbier and it should be poured smoothly not to produce too much head. When there is about a quarter of it left in the bottle, swirl it to lift the sediment and pour it into the glass. This will give the beer its cloudy appearance. Serve it chilled at about 6-8 °C.

Some people add a slice of lemon to a Weissbier but you will hardly see any Bavarians do this, as it ruins the taste of the beer and kills the head. It is more common to add lemon slices to Kristallweizen, the filtered version of Weissbier.

The Bavarian city of Bamberg is located in Upper Franconia on the River Regnitz and is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed during the Second World War.

Because of its authentic medieval appearance and the many valuable architectural monuments the old town of Bamberg is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Old Town Hall/Altes Rathaus © Qole Pejorian/flickr.com

Two of the most outstanding buildings are the Romanesque cathedral and the Old Bridge Town Hall, built in the middle of the Regnitz and accessible by two bridges.

The Bamberg Cathedral (Bamberger Dom St. Peter und St. Georg) is Bamberg’s most famous landmark and one of the best-known architectural monuments in Germany. The late Romanesque building has four imposing towers and was founded in 1004 by Emperor Henry II. The magnificent marble tomb of the founder and his wife, Empress Cunigunde is considered to be the masterpiece of the famous sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider. It was carved between 1499 and 1513.

Another very famous treasure is an equestrian statue inside the cathedral called the Bamberg Horseman (Bamberger Reiter). Over the years people have tried to guess who the knight on horseback really was but as the sculptor has not carved his name on the statue, it isn’t even clear how old it really is. But it is now thought that the statue shows 11th century Hungarian King Stephen I.

Bamberg Cathedral/Bamberger Dom © liquidbonez/flickr.com

At a time the river was a boundary between the merchant and episcopal parts of the city, the old town hall was built on an artificial island in the middle of the River Regnitz, as according to the legend neither side could agree on a location.
Even though the façade of the town hall is painted in a baroque style, the core of the Gothic building of 1763 has still been preserved. The half-timbered Rottmeister House (1688) next to it seems to float on the river.

Also worth a visit is the row of neatly kept houses along the river known as ‘Little Venice’. Most of them are finely restored half-timbered fishermen’s houses dating back to the Middle Ages. Many of them have balconies and tiny front gardens with moorings for barges.

But Bamberg is also a beer city with 9 breweries within the town boundaries producing more than 50 different beers. You can not only try the smoked beer but join the Sandkerwa summer beer festival at the end of August, visit the Franconian Brewery Museum or one of the many beer cellars in town.

Bamberg boasts a total of 14 museums and you can learn about the history of Levi Strauss, who became world-famous because of his jeans, and many other things.

Especially in winter the German Erz Mountains are a great travel destination for all the family as they offer great winter sports facilities.

Oberwiesenthal is the alpine centre of the Erz Mountains and there you can go downhill skiing and snowboarding. The bobsled in Altenberg is one of the most modern in the world and therefore world famous and the right destination for curling-fans would be Geising. If you want to go cross-country skiing the Kammloipe ski run between Johanngeorgenstadt and Schöneck will certainly be your number one. But there are many other cross-country ski runs everywhere in the Erz Mountains.

Erz Mountains ©ohaoha/flickr.com

Oberwiesenthal close to the Czech border has the highest peaks of the Erz Mountains, the Fichtelberg (1215 m) and the Czech Klinovec (1244 m). Oberwiesenthal not only is a spa town but Germany’s highest town. Besides skiing, snowing and cross country-skiing you can also go hiking in the nature reserves and forests in the area.

Altenburg offers not only the famous bobsleds but also more than 30 kilometres of cross-country ski runs, over 30 kilometres of ski-hiking trails and of course downhill-pistes.

Johanngeorgenstadt was founded in 1654 by the elector Johann Georg I and was famous for its silver, tin and iron-mining. From 1960 on it became a centre of tourism with cross-country ski runs as well as downhill pistes.
Of course the Erz Mountains also offer a great variety of accommodation matching everybody’s taste.