Manhole covers in Germany

I know manhole covers are not such a glamorous topic, however, the ones in Germany are quirky – and I love a quirky difference from a country!  These little differences are ultimately what makes a place unique in our memories after we get back home to the everyday.

Why manhole covers? 

With so many amazing things to see in Germany, you may wonder why I came to be looking at the ground in the first place.   Well, the reason is because I am a little bit accident-prone.

If there is something to trip over or fall off, it will be me that is doing it.  Even seemingly harmless things like sitting in treeless hammocks somehow manage to go wrong when I am involved. Such as ending up in the emergency department of the local hospital with a concussion after the hammock self-destructed around me.

Or tripping over a rock whilst roller skating backwards and breaking my arm in the fall.  Not all my incidents are major problems, sometimes it can be as simple as falling off a bicycle on a dirt road in the Greek islands and skinning my knee.

Yeah, so, when I am on holidays I tend to take extra care when walking around, and I pay a lot of attention to where I am walking.   That’s how I came to be looking at the pavement in Berlin.

Manhole covers in Germany

The first few hours in Berlin, were spent doing a walking tour of the streets to “get the lay of the land” as my Dad is known to say. As we were approaching the Brandenburg Gate, I noticed the manhole cover on the pavement was decorated. This was not the usual flat boring covers that I was used to seeing around at home.

Having found the first interestingly decorated manhole cover, I was mildly curious to see if there were any others around the place.  To my surprise, I found unique manhole covers in many of the towns we visited.  The more I found, the more I started looking for them. It became like an epic treasure hunt across Germany.

Quirky little differences

Each of the different towns we visited had their own unique beer, a distinct bratwurst recipe, and seemingly a unique manhole cover.  Not every manhole cover in the town was decorative. Sometimes I only found one or two decorative manhole covers. These were usually by the fountain in the main square of the town.

It was a fun “side-quest”, if you will, while we were exploring the towns.  Below I have included some photos of the Manhole covers I found in Germany.  If you have any more, please add your picture to the comments.

I found these manhole covers in the following towns:

Wurzburg, Weimar, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Pirna, Neuschwanstein, Munich, Mainz, Konigstein, Eurfurt, Dresden, Boppard, Berlin, Augsburg.

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