Sascha Mayerer, CEO of the Historic Highlights of Germany, in conversation with Annie Fitzsimmons from AFAR Media.
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TravelTranscript
00:00 So I am so excited to be here today with Sascha Meier, the CEO of the Historic Highlights
00:07 of Germany, which is, or you are based in Trier, actually, is that right?
00:12 Yeah, that's correct.
00:13 Trier right at the border to Luxembourg in the middle of Europe.
00:16 I love it.
00:17 I love it.
00:18 The heart of Europe.
00:19 And I'm especially excited to talk to you because you work with and you promote these
00:22 beautiful, smaller, charming cities in Germany, which is personally one of my favorite countries
00:28 and places to visit in the world.
00:29 And you've worked in tourism for 10 years.
00:32 You were supposed to work in a bank, but like many of us ended up in this industry that
00:37 you can never leave now, right?
00:40 And you say that you love these smaller cities and you said something interesting, which
00:44 I love, which is that they're easier to navigate.
00:46 And in bigger cities, you sometimes have the feeling that you've missed something, right?
00:50 Which I actually thought, I think is so true, that you feel overwhelmed by all the options.
00:56 So I think these smaller cities are really easy to see.
01:01 And you also love history and you love shows like the Crown and Vikings, which I can totally
01:05 appreciate.
01:06 And of course, these cities have that history as well.
01:08 So thank you so much for being here.
01:10 Thank you for having me.
01:11 Thank you.
01:12 So let's first start by talking about these smaller, beautiful towns.
01:17 I mean, most travelers to Germany do start in the bigger cities, but can you talk about
01:21 why you think these cities are so special?
01:24 Yeah, I'm actually getting it, why everybody wants to go to the bigger cities.
01:29 When people ask me why your cities are not that well known, or my members ask me why,
01:34 or my cities that I represent ask me why they are not known, I'm always asking them, so
01:39 what do you know about the States?
01:40 Or what do you know about other countries in the world that are not so close to Europe?
01:45 It's like when they say, okay, I know New York, I know Chicago and so on and so on.
01:51 And I'm always saying, oh, have you heard about like Charlotte, North Carolina?
01:55 Or have you heard about, I don't know, other smaller places in the States that I might
02:00 even don't think about, which are beautiful and are worth a visit.
02:05 But it's like, okay, I totally get it.
02:08 And that's on the traveler's bucket list that they want to go to the big cities like Berlin,
02:13 Munich, or other great European cities like Rome or Paris and so on.
02:18 But I always say it's the smaller cities that make all the charm of a country.
02:25 And so also when people are going to the bigger cities, I'm totally fine with that.
02:31 And that's something they should do, because that's what they know.
02:34 And that's what they want to see.
02:36 But going to the smaller places, I think that's where I would say the real magic happens.
02:43 When you really discover what a country is all about.
02:48 And exactly what you said, you sometimes have the feeling that you're missing out on things,
02:54 especially if you go on a tour and you really do only have like two days in Munich, Berlin,
02:59 Cologne, and so on, the bigger ones that everybody knows.
03:04 You sometimes have the feeling, or also I have to feel, I've been to Munich like four
03:09 or five times and I'm still thinking about, okay, I'm still missing parts of Munich that
03:14 I haven't seen or also Berlin, because Berlin is just so big and you can go to all of these
03:19 places.
03:20 But when you go to the smaller cities, I think it's a fair amount that you can do within
03:25 these two or one or two days, how much time you will ever have to visit them.
03:31 But by the end, you do really have a fair amount of knowledge about these places and
03:37 really taking everything in from these places too.
03:42 It leads me to my next question, which is, when we can travel freely again more, what
03:47 are some experiences that people shouldn't miss?
03:50 I love how you've divided it up on the website also between composers and music and museums
03:55 and literature.
03:56 So what are some of these experiences?
03:58 Yeah.
03:59 And that fits perfectly into why our cities should be on your list, because we were the
04:06 cities that were there long ago and our cities have to have at least 700 years of history.
04:12 But again, there are so many places in Germany, not only my 17, that have so much history
04:18 and so much things they can show you.
04:21 And when it comes to this, these places have had universities for centuries where people
04:29 studied music, poetry, medicine, and so on.
04:33 And that's when it comes to effect what you said, when it comes to, okay, these poets
04:38 and composers on our website, it's just like, that's where they are from, or that's where
04:43 they are studied.
04:45 And it's the smaller places they are from and they are studied.
04:48 And it's so great.
04:51 You can just sit there and then listen to a concert when it comes to, let's say, Beethoven,
04:57 which we have to celebrate this year because it's 250th birthday.
05:01 So very long ago already.
05:03 And he's from Bonn.
05:05 And if you go to Bonn and you want to listen to something from Beethoven, you know that
05:10 he was there, that he was, is from there, that he lived there, that he studied there
05:16 and so on, and that he composed there.
05:18 And I think that's, again, something special.
05:21 I know that the Chicago Symphonic Orchestra did a lot with Beethoven this year because
05:27 of its anniversary.
05:29 But then if you're in this place, I think it's, it's again, I wouldn't say something
05:34 magical, but I think for some people that really are into music and want to listen to
05:39 Beethoven, it's something special that you are in this place where you can actually hear
05:47 what he wrote or what he did with music, and then also experience what it's like where
05:54 he lived.
05:55 And yeah, I think that's...
05:57 Well, and I think Americans definitely don't get that, right?
06:00 Because these great European composers, of course, lived hundreds of years ago.
06:05 It's something that draws us, I think, to Germany and to places like Bonn, because you
06:08 can actually live and kind of breathe that history a little.
06:11 Oh, definitely.
06:12 Yeah.
06:13 And it's with so many others.
06:15 It's like many people know Heidelberg, and they know Heidelberg because of the fortress,
06:22 of the fortress ruin that is atop of that hill.
06:25 But on the other hand side, that influenced so many composers and poets, not composers
06:31 really, but poets, because they just went on the other side of that Neckar River and
06:37 just looked at this beautiful scenery of Heidelberg and were so influenced by this view that they
06:43 just wrote so many beautiful poems.
06:45 And actually Mark Twain was there.
06:47 I think Mark Twain might be a name many people will recall.
06:52 And he was there and wrote so many great things about this place.
06:57 And it's just beautiful.
06:58 Yeah, yeah.
06:59 And I love Heidelberg.
07:00 I think it's one of the most interesting cities.
07:02 And you just walk through the small town and all the shops and restaurants, and then it's
07:05 like there it is on top of the hill.
07:07 It's so cool.
07:08 Yeah.
07:09 And Mark Twain was quite the traveler.
07:11 So that's, that's.
07:12 Oh, yeah, definitely.
07:13 Yeah.
07:14 Yeah.
07:15 He was in Heidelberg.
07:16 And, you know, for those who, you know, who are combining a big city with this smaller
07:21 historic experience, because it is kind of easy to do, right?
07:26 You can combine big and small.
07:28 What are some pairings that are usually made, like Berlin with Potsdam, for example, which
07:32 is one of the cities that you promote?
07:33 Yeah, right.
07:34 You mentioned Berlin, Potsdam.
07:37 It's so easy.
07:38 It's just if you know the train system, if you know how to get around in Berlin, it's
07:42 so easy.
07:43 You come 30 minutes outside of Berlin, you find Potsdam with this beautiful more than
07:49 20 palace and palace like buildings where Frederick the Great built his amazing palace
07:54 Salso See.
07:56 It's just beautiful.
07:57 Or if you if you want to do a little bit more local food and beer scene when you are in
08:03 Munich, perhaps you can just hop on the train and go 30 minutes outside of Munich, which
08:07 will then be Augsburg.
08:10 With also centuries old breweries, there is one famous brewery right next to the train
08:16 station, which is called Regula, which is from the 14th century.
08:22 So that's already they brew for a long time already.
08:25 They know how they know their beer.
08:28 Let's put it that way.
08:33 Or when you are in Frankfurt, because most people will end or begin in Frankfurt, because
08:38 that's the biggest hop when it comes to flying into Germany.
08:45 We have either on the western side, there would be half an hour away Wiesbaden, which
08:51 is a lovely city which had which had its plume in the late 18th, early 19th century.
08:59 And it's supposed to be or it was and still is a spa town.
09:05 Or like when you go east, you can also go to Würzburg, beautiful city with a lot of
09:12 wine and UNESCO World Heritage site.
09:16 Or if you go up north Hamburg, maybe if you if you're doing the north of Germany, which
09:20 is pretty uncovered, undiscovered, sorry, undiscovered by American tourists.
09:25 And I think that should also definitely be on the list to go a little bit more north.
09:32 It's different from the south that everybody knows, like Bavaria or southwestern Germany.
09:38 It's a little bit different, but nonetheless beautiful.
09:41 So if you go to Hamburg, you can also do Lübeck, which is right at the Baltic, which is also
09:47 named the Queen of the Hanseatic League.
09:50 It's so beautiful.
09:51 It's really, that was actually on my list.
09:53 I was supposed to fly to Hamburg at the beginning of November and also go to Lübeck because
09:57 I wanted that was on my list.
09:59 And of course, everything happened and borders shut again.
10:02 But one day, that is what I'm going to do because I've heard great things about those
10:06 places.
10:07 And I love what you're saying, too.
10:08 I mean, 30 minutes like that's I can't even get halfway across London where I live, like
10:11 in 30 minutes.
10:12 So, I mean, that's a very easy way to combine some of these cities, right, with the bigger
10:16 ones.
10:17 Well, do you have any other tips for how travelers can kind of best explore these these charming
10:22 little towns?
10:23 Yeah, yeah.
10:24 So one thing I said is the train system, because it's easy from getting to point A to point
10:30 B. But on the other hand side, I do get it.
10:33 We do have great autobahns where you can go as fast as you want.
10:39 Taking the sustainability a little bit aside, you should rent a car and go from one place
10:45 to the other by car to experience a little bit the autobahn feeling.
10:50 But what I also say to travel like a local, what many people or many travelers really
10:57 do want to do and get to know the local colors and flavors of each place, I'm heavily suggesting
11:05 going with a guided tour because these guides, they are locals.
11:09 So and they know their cities so, so well.
11:13 And they can give you so many great ideas if you're just going to the smaller places
11:19 that you don't really know.
11:22 I think it's great to have someone to talk to.
11:25 And if you do a guided tour, and you just do you have two hours, usually guided tour
11:30 takes one and a half to two hours.
11:32 And then you talk to your guide while you are walking and why he's explaining or she's
11:36 explaining something to you.
11:39 I think that that's a great thing to do to get more and more information from that person
11:45 that really lives in this city.
11:47 Well, thank you so, so much.
11:49 I'm really I'm excited now to kind of dive deeper into this and plan trips to these places.
11:55 And I mean, Germany, I think will again, always be a destination that Americans want to go
11:58 to.
11:59 But these smaller towns, I think are so important to talk about.
12:01 So yeah, and that's and that's why I also always call my cities not only historic highlights
12:08 of Germany, which is the name of our association.
12:11 But that's why I also call them German heritage cities or Germany's originals.
12:16 Because I think that's what we are, that's where Germany started, how Germany started,
12:22 and what it's developed into.
12:23 Absolutely.
12:24 And I think it's important to understand today and in the present, you have to understand
12:29 what happened in the past too, right?
12:31 So all right.
12:32 Even if it's in the 1400s.
12:33 Yeah, yeah, no, no.
12:34 And they go back that far.
12:35 It's like, as you introduced me, Trier, my hometown, that's that's more than 2000 years
12:42 old.
12:43 We have more than 2000 years to get the knowledge from.
12:48 That's awesome.
12:49 Well, thank you so much, Sascha.
12:51 I really, really appreciate it.
12:53 And I will have a great day.
12:55 Yeah, you too.
12:56 Thank you.
12:57 Bye.
12:57 Bye.
12:58 Bye.
12:58 Bye.
12:59 Bye.
12:59 Bye.
13:04 Bye.
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