In October 2022, we returned to Germany to explore the wonderful fossil and volcano sites that the country has to offer. In a slight change from the itinerary of our previous trip to Germany (the blog of which can be read here), we started and finished in Frankfurt.
GeoWorld Travel’s “Germany: Volcanoes & Famous Fossil Sites” tour route map
Our group assembled in Frankfurt at the start of the trip and from there we headed to the Messel Pit for the first stop of the tour. After an excellent guided tour of the site (which was a new addition for this year), we moved on to the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt where we were able to view many more specimens from the Messel Pit. The following day started with the chance to visit the brilliant Jura Museum, which had been closed when our tour visited Germany previously. It was definitely worth the wait! After this we had visits to museums housing Archaeopteryx specimens and the find sites themselves, opportunities to search for our own fossils, and a visit to the Ries and Steinheim am Albuch meteor craters, before arriving in the town of Blautopf where we stayed for two nights. The picturesque town boasts a spectacular blue-coloured karst spring, and the wonderful Museum of Prehistory (URMU). After spending time in Blautopf and enjoying all it had to offer, the group explored the nearby UNESCO Caves and Ice Age Art World Heritage Site. The remaining days included further museum visits, another chance to search for our own fossils, a visit to a lava bomb, and a trip to Germany’s famous maars in the Vulkaneifel Geopark. We then rounded off the tour with more time looking at volcanoes in the Geopark, an underground tour of a lava cellar, a visit to a ‘wall’ of tephra 40m high, and finally a Roman mine site. Our group returned to Frankfurt having been treated to a wide variety of fascinating sites, having visited some outstanding museums and having seen some world-class fossils.
Below are the highlights of the tour in photos. We will be returning to Germany again in 2023 (dates tbc), so if you would like to join the tour in the future, check our website for final details and please do get in touch!
Please click on images to enlarge and to read the captions
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