Always trying to stay ahead of the curve, i.e. the upcoming German nominations, and using a Deutsche Bahn free travel reward earned by countless commutes to Berlin I stayed for a night in Augsburg. I had passed through Augsburg often before when traveling between Stuttgart and Munich, but never made the effort of visiting. So it came as a pleasant surprise to find a lovely Southern German city.

I did most of my site seeing in the morning walking first in the direction of the Lech river and visiting the locations there. And then I headed back into town. I can confirm there is plenty of canals and water management in the city, but I did not see an outstanding component worthwhile mentioning.

Augsburg overall, though, holds plenty of interesting churches and other buildings, many due to the patron of the town, Jakob Fugger. Once (15-/16-century) dubbed the richest man in the world, he ruled from Augsburg a banking and trading empire with some mining operations thrown into the mix for good measure. To this day, the Fugger Bank continues to operate a private bank in Augsburg. The most notable structure of Fugger is the Fuggerei, the first social housing complex that operates to this day. For 0.90 EUR per year and daily prayers for the Fugger family, a Catholic in need can reside in the complex.

Unfortunately, Augsburg was heavily bombed in the Second World War as several German weapon factories were located in the town. To this day Augsburg is a center of German Engineering. Much was rebuilt and saved, but it's not a medieval town anymore. An Augsburg unharmed by bombs in the 2nd World War would have surely made the list. The Fuggerei alone would deserve inscription, was it in its original state instead of being heavily reconstructed. The town center to this day boasts an impressive number of historical houses and remnants of Fugger's greatness.

[Updated July 2019] To me, this should not have been inscribed. The water management angle seems weird in a country like Germany where water is neither scarce nor too much. I am also not aware that Augsburg was influential for said water management. Nearby Ulm isn't that different.  Pretty sure the marketing material will skip past the special scope and simply refer to Augsburg as World Heritage City.

Getting There and Away

Augsburg is well connected to all parts of Germany by rail (Munich in the East, Stuttgart/Ulm to the West). From the railway station it's a 15min walk to the city center.

While You Are There

On my way to Wies, I traveled via Augsburg from where I took the regional train to Füssen. It was a weekend and normally that means that German trains are quiet and seating is available in abundance. Little did I know as the train was filled with tourists from all over the world. I managed to squeeze myself into one of the last free seats and was wondering: What is happening here? Are they all going to Wies? I knew Füssen has a nice old town, but this nice? Only when we arrived in Füssen and images of Neuschwanenstein (T) greeted me, did I understand.

Traveling westwards will take you to Ulm for the Ice Age Art. There are also Pile Dwellings in the proximity. And the Limes passes near Augsburg.

Notes

Augsburg is the birthplace of Berthold Brecht, probably the greatest German dramaturg (and poet) of the 20th century. Fittingly, Augsburg is also the home of the Augsburger Puppenkiste, Germany's most renowned puppet theatre.

Augsburg is also the area in Germany with the most public holidays. Bavaria is already plenty blessed. In addition, they have a town-specific public holiday to commemorate the end of the 30 Years war: the Peace Festival (Friedensfest).