If you have ever used a Baedeker travel guide or Falk road map, then you are already at least a little familiar with Ostfildern. This town of 35,000, located eight kilometers southeast of Stuttgart, is where your materials were created.
Since the 1960s, Germany’s printing and publishing industry has flourished here, with major entities moving in one after another, including the National Association of Print Media.
Not surprisingly, among your first stops when you visit should be the town’s public library in Nellingen, one of the six districts of Ostfildern. Here you will see a grand collection of printed works on all topics for all ages, many of them produced locally.
As you might expect, such emphasis on the printed word has led to an upsurge in educational institutions. Drop by the Technical Academy (TAE), the Municipal School of Music, and the Ruit Sports School, which attract students and visitors by the tens of thousands each year. Or perhaps you might take a class yourself at the Volkshochschule, where adult courses have been the focus since 1979.
But your stay here need not be all work and no play. Ostfildern offers you two indoor swimming pools, well-equipped sports facilities, a lively music scene, and the new Scharnhausen Park district, with lots of modern architecture in a green environment.
One event you will not want to miss if you visit in summer is the “Blazing Star” International Fireworks Festival. Held on the third weekend in August, it attracts some 50,000 visitors to the city.
Although rather young by German standards, the town of Ostfildern is not without historic sites to attract you. The Evangelical Church of St. Blaise and its monastery, for example, were dedicated in 1777, while the Kemnat district’s old town hall, established in 1579, now serves as a community center.
During your stay, be sure to take advantage of the famed local hospitality. The “town in the country” has restaurants and hotels that are certain to match your tastes, whether it’s the Mayor’s Suite with a four-poster bed and private bath, a cozy pension, or a strictly business hotel room. Just make yourself right at home. :-)
