Technical masterpieces with cultural significance on the Ems
Nature and technical innovation meet in an exciting contrast on the Ems cycle path, especially where the topic of water connects them. For example, at the “KÜ”, the old canal overpass of the Dortmund-Ems Canal over the Ems near Greven. While it was a technical masterpiece when it was built, it took on a new cultural meaning after the new ride was built - as a social meeting place for the people of Münster, who affectionately called it "Münster's big bathtub".
A little further north, history and the present also stand side by side in an exemplary manner: part of the Listrup weir, which was built at the beginning of the 18th century to make the Ems navigable, was converted into a rough ramp. Today, the Ems is once again open to fauna and flora in a modern form. However, the lock in the weir is still operated by hand.
Technology and nature meet
In Papenburg, the huge Meyer Werft site immediately catches the eye. Among other things, the massive AIDA cruise ships are built here and transferred to the North Sea. To make this possible, the Ems is dammed using the impressive Ems barrage in Gandersum.
Before you cycle past it on the way to Emden, the destroyed Frisian Bridge is a sight in transition on the side of the path. Until a freighter collided with the bridge, it was possible to cross the Ems here on Germany's largest bascule railway bridge. Now the largest swing bridge in the world is to be built at this point in the form of a lifting-swing bridge.
