The Krämerbrücke (Merchants' Bridge) is Erfurt's most photographed sight and one of the most unusual streets in Germany. A medieval stone bridge lined on both sides with half-timbered houses, it spans the Breitstrom arm of the Gera River and has been continuously occupied since the 14th century — you can look through the windows of shops and apartments and see people living and working as they have for 700 years.
Today the buildings house antiques dealers, jewellers, galleries, and craft shops — independent and slightly eccentric, nothing like the souvenir traps you find on equivalent bridges elsewhere. The bridge is best seen from the banks below, from where the reflected timber facades in the water make the whole thing look like an illustration from a fairy tale. Two towers guard the entrances; the western one, the Ägidienkirche tower, can sometimes be climbed for views.