"Surprising Ruhrpot" a Duisburg Travel Page by Sjalen

When I first heard of Duisburg, it was as the place to where IKEA ran its freight line to and from its base in Älmhult, Sweden. At that time I didn't know anything other than that the city belonged to the heavily industrialised Ruhrpot area of Germany. I was therefore quite surprised when Sabsi picked the city for a VT meeting but since it was on my way to Brussels I thought "oh what the heck" and decided to give it a go, knowing that this region has surprised me before and trusting Sabsi to know what she's doing. I was not disappointed as Duisburg turned out to hold plenty of surprises, not least the magnificent maps of Mercator which was fascinating to me as a human geographer!

Duisburg is right where the Ruhr meets the Rhine and therefore perfect for industry in what has become Europe's largest inland port, especially since it is also in the coal belt of Western Europe. During WWII, the city suffered more bombing than most other cities in Germany for this reason and there is not much left of the Altstadt today. The mining has also almost ceased, and lots of other heavy industry with it, but just as in many other cities in the area there has been other business in its stead. No, it is not the most visually pleasing city in Germany with the centre full of buildings from the 1950s and onwards, but the inner harbour has some great nightlife and the museums and industrial heritage sites really merit a stop here. My only wish is that the local council markets itself a bit better and that includes to those of us already there as tourists. It can be hard to find detailed maps and such when wandering around.