Erfurt: the bridge covered in shops

The Krämerbrücke, a bridge from the fourteenth century entirely covered with houses and craft shops, remains the longest inhabited bridge in Europe still in existence.

A short walk away, the Cathedral of Erfurt and the Church of Saint Severo, built side by side on the same hill, form one of the most photographed Gothic views in Germany, reached by a broad stone staircase.

Continuing, you walk through the medieval Jewish quarter, which preserves the oldest synagogue still standing in Europe, now a museum.

As evening falls, the Fischmarkt, a Renaissance central square, closes the day among painted facades and the neogothic town hall illuminated.

The Krämerbrücke still hosts active shops and artisan workshops today, maintaining the commercial function for which it was built seven hundred years ago.

The old synagogue of Erfurt, closed and repurposed for different uses for centuries after the expulsion of the Jewish community in the 1300s, has paradoxically allowed better preservation than synagogues that remained continuously in use.