A Walking Tour with a Difference

The backdrop to this story is a wet, grey and all around miserable one - one, in fact, that matches the atmosphere here in Liverpool as I write this. I had found myself in Dusseldorf, a large city on the Rhine and frankly one that left little impression on me, the weather probably contributing in that regard.

Normally when writing a post, I look through my photos in order to bring back memories, particularly in a case like this as it has been more than a couple of years since I visited. The complete dearth of photographs from there offers little encouragement that it was indeed a place worth visiting. (It is also the reason I have used assorted photos from all over Germany in the gallery at the bottom of this page.)

The only place I have physical evidence of being there is the K21 Museum (the cover picture); there I experienced Tomás Saraceno’s ‘In Orbit’ sculpture. An installation of layered, interlaced mesh that hangs 25 metres above the museum's main piazza and visitors are allowed to enter and climb through the web-like structure - a very unique and interesting experience.

Besides that, there is little else to Dusseldorf that I remember; it is simply a pit-stop in my mind between two more memorable destinations - Bremen (bad) and Cologne (very enjoyable). That said, whilst I may not remember much about the city, my memories of the walking tour there are amongst the most prominent of the entire trip.

Free walking tours are a staple of my travels, as they are for many other travellers I know. Upon arriving in a new place they are often the first thing I will look to do. There is a standard structure to these tours; for two hours you are shepharded around and information is piled on to you: history, myths, legends, local recommendations, etc.

Of course, when receiving so much information in such a short space of time, inevitably a lot of it goes in one ear and immediately back out the other. However, for me, on top of generally being very interesting, these tours are the perfect opportunity to get my bearings in a new city, see the attractions briefly, and decide which ones are worth returning to later on.

For those who haven’t used this system before, they also offer the best value tours possible. By being entirely tip-based the guide is incentivised to provide the best tour possible and it often shows in the quality. A standard tip of around 10 euros gets you a far better experience than a pre-booked trip which may cost three or four times that.

In any big or touristic city you are spoilt for choice with different companies offering tours. In fact, they are so popular now that even in many smaller places you can find at least one local entrepreneur offering the service. Indeed, these smaller, more local companies often offer even better service with particularly passionate, local guides who love showing off their hometowns.

Having said all that, on this particular cold, wet October day in Dusseldorf I could not find a walking tour online and resorted to something I almost never do when travelling: I used the tourist information office.

For me - and I imagine many of my generation - these are almost like a relic of bygone times as opposed to a useful source of information. With modern technology and, in particular, the internet, there is little that these establishments can offer that I can’t find far faster elsewhere.

That being said, in this case it came to my rescue and there was indeed a English speaking tour that morning. I was told that the tour would start in around ten minutes and so took shelter from the increasingly heavy rain and waited inside the office.

After thirty minutes there is no tour and, besides one other lost-looking soul, no one is even seemingly waiting for one. The receptionist informs us that the guide has not shown up for whatever reason; probably reasonably assuming no one would be daft enough to go on a walking tour in these conditions.

Fortunately, another guide lives nearby and she gives him a call to see if he is available. Five minutes later we are introduced to Hans (I do not remember his real name). The bearded and energetic Hans is in his sixties and has lived in Dusseldorf his whole life. Now retired he works as a guide as a means to keep himself occupied and out of the house.

Hans, the other traveller - a young American backpacker - and myself head out into the sideways rain. Our first stop, ironically, is for Hans to point out a mark high on a wall left by an historic flood that took place in the city.

The second point of interest I won’t even pretend to remember, but I recall well the third: a bar. Dusseldorf is famous for its altbiers (old beers). There are six breweries surviving within the city that are producing altbiers, that being the only drink they serve.

Hans, sensing our relief at being inside, suggests we stop for a beer and encounters zero resistance. Here you do not ask for a beer, if you are seen seated and empty handed one appears in front of you. Finished? Again, it will be replaced with a full glass unprompted and almost immediately. The only way to stop this cycle is to put your beer mat (on which a tally of your drinks is recorded) on top of your glass.

The beer is good and Hans senses an opportunity to mix up his regular tour route with two young, soggy guys. Having told us about the history of the beers and their importance to Dusseldorf as a city, he suggests it would be improper to only taste one of them. We couldn’t agree more; it would be an injustice to form an opinion on altbiers by sampling only one of them.

And so began the bar crawl. What started as a wet and windy walking tour evolved into a two young travellers and an eldery German stumbling from brewery to brewery for the next few hours. Our ‘tour’ only ended when Hans was required at home by his wife.

Posted: 04/07/2021
Written by: Tom Taylor (@tomtayloor)