Duisburg

It's the unanimous opinion of everyone who's been there: 'don't go to Duisburg' they say. Well, while I'm in Germany, I want to see everything, the good the bad and the ugly. So off I went to Duisburg.

Duisburg is one of several cities that makes up the Ruhrgebiet (Dortmund, Essen, Bochum, Gelsenkirchen are some of the others), with the Ruhrgebiet being the area most famous in Germany for 150 years of heavy industry. Steel, coal, the whole lot. My trip today to Duisburg was my first venture into the Ruhrgebiet.

I have to admit, when I got on the train I was in two minds about getting off at Duisburg. It was an Intercity train to Amsterdam and everyone on there had either a rucksack or a suitcase. They were all off to Amsterdam, I was off to Duisburg. Anyway, when we pulled in to Duisburg I had enough strength if will to step off the train and not carry on to Amsterdam.

I made my way out of the station, on to the Portsmouth Platz, and tried to get an intuitive sense of where the city centre proper lay. As there was a cluster of tall office blocks to my left, I decided to head that way. And off I went for a few hours wandering the streets of Duisburg.

Duisburg, the city centre, is not particularly nice but also not completely hopeless or without charms. It's not decaying and it certainly isn't dangerous. For whatever reason the Rathaus (the town hall) is some what out of the centre, and I headed there. Well, this part of the city was really quite nice as was the Hafen a few kilometres further north . So, all in all, Duisburg is pleasant enough and I'm willing to be a lone, defiant voice and say, 'Duisburg, do go there.'Read more