Frankfurt on foot: a loop past 9 places most people walk right by

For anyone who wants to know Frankfurt better in two hours: visitors with a free afternoon, people who have just moved here, and locals who only pass these corners on the way to work. The route is flat, almost entirely car free and easy to cut short, because an underground or S-Bahn station is never far away.

Start on the iron footbridge across the Main. It has been here since 1869 and was paid for by Frankfurt citizens themselves, because the city did not want to build it. Look up at the portal of the bridge: there is a line from Homer's Odyssey in Greek, about sailing across the sea to people who speak another language.

Five minutes to the north stands the Paulskirche. In 1848 the National Assembly met here, the first freely elected parliament for all of Germany. The church burned out in 1944 and in 1948, for the centenary, it became the first major building of the old town to be rebuilt.

Between department stores and the Kleinmarkthalle food market there is a 14th century Gothic church with a Capuchin monastery. Its courtyard is one of the quietest spots in the city centre. Many people walk past for years without ever stepping inside.

Struwwelpeter, known in English as Shockheaded Peter, comes from Frankfurt. The physician Heinrich Hoffmann wrote and drew the book in 1844 as a Christmas present for his young son, because he disliked the children's books he found in the shops. The fountain shows characters from the stories. How many can you name?

The tower was finished in 1428 and is 47 metres high. It was part of the city wall and stayed when the fortifications were torn down in the 19th century. There is a legend about its weather vane: the poacher Hans Winkelsee is said to have shot the shape of a nine into it with nine shots and won his freedom.

Two bronze figures by the sculptor Reinhard Dachlauer have stood in front of the stock exchange since 1985. The bull thrusts its horns upwards and stands for rising prices. The bear strikes downwards with its paw and stands for falling ones. Together they are one of the most photographed spots in the city.

The opera house opened in 1880 and burned out in 1944. The ruin then stood in the middle of the city for decades, and there were even plans to blow it up. A citizens' initiative raised money to rebuild it, and in 1981 it reopened as a concert hall. The dedication above the entrance reads: to the true, the beautiful, the good.

Walk through the Taunusanlage, a park on the line of the old fortifications, to Willy-Brandt-Platz. The blue euro sign with twelve yellow stars is 14 metres high and was made by the artist Ottmar Hörl. It stands in front of the Eurotower, the first home of the European Central Bank.

A few steps further, next to the city theatre, stands an Art Nouveau fountain from 1910. Between bank towers and tram lines it looks like something from another time. From here it is about ten minutes back to the Main and the Eiserner Steg.

In front of the Messeturm the Hammering Man by Jonathan Borofsky is at work. The figure is about 21 metres tall and has been slowly raising and lowering its hammer since 1991. A little further on stands the Bockenheimer Warte, a 15th century watchtower of the old outer defences. Right next to it, the underground entrance looks like a tram breaking out of the ground.

Every place in this text is a stop in CuriFox. In the app you pick a start and a destination, or a ready-made route, and at each stop you get a short story and a small riddle about what is in front of you. Walking the routes is free.