Hof, Germany

Hof is a town of roughly 45,000 residents set along the Saale River in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, near the former Inner-German border. First documented in 1230, it stood on the principal Berlin–Munich rail line until 1945. Among its landmarks are the 1214 St. Michael's Church with its 67-metre tower and the 1499 Hospital of the Holy Spirit, one of the oldest hospitals in Franconia. Since 1854 the town has held Schlappentag, an annual beer festival rooted in a local militia's daily beer procession. The knitted woollen Wollmütze hat still marks traditional regional dress.