I enjoyed Zollverein when I visited in August 2015. There was a German gourmet food festival going on (apparently not an oxymoron!), with dozens of stalls selling food mostly consisting of pork. We took the opportunity to try currywurst for the first time, and washed it down with a welcome glass of Pilsner.

Walking among great hulking industrial buildings and passing fearsome-looking pieces of mining paraphernalia was pleasant but also poignant. This site, after all, was a key engine of Germany's 1930s rearmament that contravened the Treaty of Versailles as it geared up to launch the Second World War.

We reached the site on foot from the Essen-Zollverein Nord S-Bahn station, having come from Dusseldorf airport and changes trains in Essen.