Nuremberg

the Holy Roman Empire's great fortified palace on its rock

the Renaissance master's own home and workshop from 1509 — printmaking demonstrations, period rooms and the world of Germany's greatest artist

Germany's largest museum of cultural history — a millennium of art, arms and everyday life, including the Behaim globe

the gilded 14th-century fountain and the brick-Gothic Church of Our Lady, whose Männleinlaufen clockwork figures parade at noon

on the site where the Nazi party staged its rallies, the permanent exhibition "Nuremberg and the Nazi Party Rallies" confronts the rise

the wooden stalls, Glühwein, Elisenlebkuchen and Zwetschgenmännle fill the Hauptmarkt beneath the Frauenkirche each Advent

~400 artists on eight stages across the old town, some 200,000 guests, free to all

Nuremberg's celebrated fine-dining table in one of the old town's oldest buildings — a herb- and vegetable-driven tasting menu long holding two stars

the protected-origin Nürnberger Lebkuchen — nut-rich Elisen on a wafer base — at a historic Lebküchnerei, best in Advent

Nuremberg's toy-making heritage across four floors — dolls' houses, tin trains, model railways and modern play