Bremen, Germany

Bremen sits on the Weser River with roughly 570,000 residents, making it both a city-state and the smallest German federal state by population, with its port at Bremerhaven about 60 kilometers to the north. First mentioned in 789, the city centers on a marketplace where the 1405 Town Hall, the oldest standing one in Germany, faces a 10.21-meter Roland statue from 787 that joined the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2004. The Brothers Grimm's 1043 fairy tale of the Bremer Stadtmusikanten, the Town Musicians, serves as the town's recognized symbol. Beck's Brewery, founded in 1879, produces one of Germany's most widely exported beers, while the 1926 Böttcherstraße lines up 110 meters of red-brick Expressionist museums.