Mainz

Mainz is the capital city of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany.

Visit the small but very pretty Altstadt (old-town) of Mainz. Located just behind the cathedral with a beautiful baroque church and a number of well preserved Fachwerkhäuser (Medieval style houses) to be seen.

Mainz has two culinary specialities, both types of cheese. Spundekäse is local cream cheese whipped with cream into a soft paste, served with chopped raw onion and pretzels - the taste is mild and it goes great with beer. Handkäse is a sour milk cheese with a pungent aroma, most often served mit Musik, or marinated in vinegar and oil, then sprinkled with caraway seeds, resulting in a bizarre, firm, gelatinous mass that most people find to be a bit of an acquired taste - and the "music" refers to the flatulence it tends to cause!