Schwabach

Schwabach beats gold thinner than breath. The Franconian town is the world capital of gold-beating: for centuries its workshops have hammered ducats into leaf a few ten-thousandths of a millimetre thin — gold membrane that gilds domes, altars and statehouse details across the planet, from local church vaults to distant landmarks — and though machines now share the labour, Schwabach's remaining beaters and its gold museum in the city museum keep the craft's secrets, while a golden roof gleams demonstratively on the civic ensemble.

The town that houses the glitter is Franconian sandstone at its best: the long market square — one of the region's finest — runs between the Renaissance-gabled town hall and the "Schöner Brunnen" fountain toward the great parish church of St John and St Martin, whose carved high altar ranks among Franconia's treasures. Needle-making was the sober twin trade: Schwabach needles once stitched across Europe, and the town's crafts museum threads that history too.

Nuremberg's metropolitan life begins one S-Bahn ride north, but Schwabach — a proudly self-governing "kreisfreie" city despite its size — keeps its own festivals, its beer cellars in the sandstone, and the Rednitz meadows for evening walks. Gold by the leaf, needles by the million, sandstone by the square: Schwabach's shine is hand-made.