Discard any perceptions of Germany as being homogeneous; a country of surprising regional diversity awaits your presence. Many tourists visit Germany to experience European history and the diverse German landscape. German culture, outdoor activities, German holidays and festivities, the countryside and rural areas, and the German cities are identified as being big draws for visitors. For a long time, the cultural division between north and south was the most notable but, because of the legacy of the Cold War, nowadays the division between east and west is more noticeable.
Germany has numerous cities of interest to visitors; here are just nine of the most famous travel destinations. They are mostly the larger cities of Germany. An economically, politically, and culturally influential nation, Germany is the richest and most populous European Union member state. In the first century AD, after a series of military campaigns, the Romans conquered what is now most of western and southern Germany from the Germanic and Celtic tribes living there.
The limits of the Roman empire were marked by the "Limes". The section separating the empire from the Germanic tribes Limes Germanicus was km long, stretching from the mouth of the Rhine to the Danube near Regensburg. You can still see and walk along sections of the raised bank. In Roman times the Limes were not a rigid border: trade and occasional Roman military expeditions influenced most of what is now Germany until at least the fourth century AD.
Several cities that are still important in Germany were founded by the Romans as military bases and later, settlements, including Mainz , Wiesbaden , Cologne and Bonn. The most impressive Roman remains in Germany can be found in Trier , the oldest German city. Charlemagne is often associated with France, but his realm was vast; his capital was in Aix la Chapelle, today the German city of Aachen.
Remains of Charlemagne's winter imperial palace the Kaiserpfalz can be seen in the town of Ingelheim. Starting in the early Middle Ages, Germany fractured into hundreds of small states, with strong regional differences that endure, for example in Bavaria. During this period the power of local princes and bishops increased, their legacy being the many spectacular castles and palaces like the Castle Wartburg in Eisenach , Thuringia.
