Nearest Major Airport:

• Dusseldorf, Germany (DUS-Dusseldorf Intl.)

Area:

Gelsenkirchen, Germany: The thousand-year-old village of Gelsenkirchen boomed during the Industrial Revolution and was for decades the centre for German coal production. Now, former coal mine buildings house exhibitions and training academies. The city has two impressive castles, the 13th-century Berge Castle and the renaissance Horst Castle. The Bleckkirche, the city's oldest church, has an altar that depicts a 'Westphalian Last Supper'.