Well, this was the last stop on my German cemetery tour, Part 1. Hopefully I’ll be back again to visit other parts of Germany to see what other beautiful and/or interesting cemeteries they have. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised on this trip, which Continue reading “Site 65: Stuttgart’s Hoppenlau-Friedhof”
I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived in Stuttgart, but I found that I liked the city very much. It has a number of cemeteries one could visit as well, although I only really had time for two. The first on the list was Pragfriedhof, about a 30-minute walk north Continue reading “Site 64: Stuttgart’s Pragfriedhof”
On my way from Cologne to Stuttgart, I stopped by the small city of Worms, which happens to have the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe (if you don’t count Jewish burials in Roman catacombs). It is called Heiliger Sand, which means “Holy Continue reading “Site 63: Worms’ Heiliger Sand”
I usually try to avoid going to cemeteries on Sundays, as I know this will be a day when there will be many mourners and other visitors there to visit and tend to graves. Since I like to be as unobtrusive as possible, I find that going any other day of the week to be preferred. Continue reading “Site 62: Cologne’s Melaten Cemetery”
German cemeteries rarely make it into any top ten or twenty list of the best cemeteries to visit, and I’m not sure why. Well, maybe I do. Firstly, I have a feeling that most people who write those lists have not been to any of the cemeteries they write about. Secondly, and this is connected to the first Continue reading “Site 61: Hamburg’s Ohlsdorf Cemetery”
Down in the heart of Salzburg lies its oldest cemetery, Peterfriedhof. It lies at the base of the cliff on which Holhensalzburg Castle sits. Despite (or because of) the fact that there are numerous major attractions all around, this cemetery is popular with visitors to Salzburg, as evidenced by Continue reading “Site 60: Salzburg’s Peterfriedhof”
If skulls are your thing, then this is definitely the cemetery for you. St. Sebastian’s Cemetery is a small old cemetery located in the centre of Salzburg, just steps away from the well-worn tourist trail, hidden behind St. Sebastian’s Church and a high wall. That said, it was pretty easy Continue reading “Site 59: Salzburg’s St. Sebastian’s Cemetery”
There was a light drizzle as I made my way to one of Munich’s largest cemetery, the Ostfriedhof. But it looked like the sky was clearing as I arrived, so I wasn’t too worried about it. There is a streetcar that will bring you right to the edge of the cemetery, but I took the metro so had to walk a little bit Continue reading “Site 58: Munich’s Ostfriedhof”
Spring showers bring, uh, March flowers? You bet. Nordfriedhof had quite a lot, but I was unprepared for the Alter Südfriedhof (the old south cemetery). It was a field of crocuses everywhere you looked. Deep purple ones, yellow ones, and colours in between. Oh, and snow drops too. Continue reading “Site 57: Munich’s Alter Südfriedhof”
I woke up to a beautiful, bright sunny day and headed straight for Munich’s northern cemetery, the Nordfriedhof, as the first of three cemeteries I would visit this day (the other two being the Alter Sudfriedhof and the Ostfriedhof). I was excited as I got off the U-Bahn train at, not surprisingly, Continue reading “Site 56: Munich’s Nordfriedhof”
I’m in Munich for a conference at the university, and was unprepared for the almost two hour lunch break they had set aside for us. So I decided to see if there were any cemeteries nearby, and I found one just in the other side of the Englischer Garten. After a quick lunch in the Continue reading “Site 55: Munich’s Bogenhausen”
Not far from the mound of ears is a large temple complex that most tourists to the city give a miss. Chishaku-in is a Buddhist temple that features some nice small gardens, but I have yet to find a single reference to the large cemetery that lies at the very back of the complex. Of course, Continue reading “Site 54: Kyoto’s Jizoyama Cemetery”
When most people think of Kyoto, they probably imagine old temples and shrines, maiko and geiko walking in the streets of Gion, the soft rustle of bamboo…and…a mound full of severed noses? Welcome to Kyoto folks! You’ve just discovered Kyoto’s Mimizuka, also known as the ear mound. Continue reading “Site 53: Kyoto’s Mimizuka (The Ear Mound)”
stone and dust 