Gorlitz

Walk east through Steinweg and Brüderstraße — three minutes — and the cobblestones widen into Untermarkt, the most complete Renaissance square in Germany. The town hall's external staircase carries a gilded Justitia holding her sword backwards so as not to offend the Habsburg emperor, and the wooden warrior on the astronomical clock rolls his eyes every minute. Loop slowly around the central Bäckerbänke to see all four sides of the patrician houses with their vaulted arcades.

Tip: Photograph the Rathaustreppe from the southwest corner by Hotel Börse — most tourists shoot from the steps themselves and miss the gilded Justitia framed against the Schönhof gable opposite. Around 11:00 the wooden warrior on the tower turns to face Poland — wait one minute for it.

Two hundred metres back up Brüderstraße sits Tischendorf, the Görlitz bakery dynasty baking Silesian rye and Mohnstollen on the same square since 1893. Order a Belegtes Brötchen mit Leberkäse (€4.50) and a thick slice of Schlesischer Mohnkuchen (€2.80) — the poppy-seed cake is a regional speciality you won't find west of the Elbe. Take it away and eat on the stone bench facing the Dreifaltigkeitskirche tower across Obermarkt.

Tip: Skip the wooden chairs inside and take the takeaway counter — the cake selection runs out by 13:00, so order Mohnkuchen before sandwiches. Total spend €10 with a coffee — half the price of any sit-down café in town.

Cross Untermarkt and follow Neißstraße north for 300 metres to the river end of the old town, where the five-towered Peterskirche dominates everything. Climb the small grass terrace on the Vogtshof side for the angle that catches the church spires framed by the half-timbered Waidhaus — the oldest building in Görlitz. Continue five minutes further north into Nikolaiviertel to the roofless Gothic ruin of Nikolaikirche, used as a memorial and the most haunting place in the city.

Tip: Free Sun Organ recitals inside Peterskirche play daily at 12:00 (Mon-Thu) — but the exterior is the icon here, and you're after lunch. Don't pay any private guide for the Nikolaikirche ruin; the public grass approach from Nikolaistraße has the same atmospheric view for free.

From the Nikolaiviertel walk down cobbled Hothertorstraße — six minutes — to the Altstadtbrücke, the slim sandstone footbridge over the Lusatian Neisse. There is no border post; one step is Germany, the next is Poland. Walk twenty metres up the Polish embankment, turn around, and the postcard image of Görlitz — Peterskirche's five towers mirrored in the river — exists only from this side.

Tip: The Polish-side promenade has the only angle for the Peterskirche-in-river reflection; sunset light hits the German facades from 17:30 onwards (May-Sep) and stays gold for about fifteen minutes. Carry a 5 PLN note — a Polish Bambino ice cream from the Zgorzelec-end kiosk costs 3 PLN, half the German price across the water.

Cross back over the Altstadtbrücke and walk thirty metres north along the German bank to Vierradenmühle, the easternmost restaurant in Germany — its terrace literally hangs over the Polish border. Order Schlesisches Himmelreich (smoked pork with dried apricots and prunes, €18) and the Silesian potato soup with marjoram (€8) — dishes rarely served west of here, paired with a glass of Saale-Unstrut Riesling (€6). Ask for 'Tisch direkt am Wasser' and watch the last light fall on the Polish bank across the river.

Tip: Reserve before noon for a riverside terrace seat, or arrive at 18:45 sharp and ask for 'Tisch direkt am Wasser, bitte'. Pitfall warning: avoid the 'Silesian' tourist restaurants clustered along Steinweg and around Demianiplatz — twice the price, half the soul, and not a single local on the tables. Bill around €30-35 with wine; tip 10% in cash.

Leave Untermarkt by Bruederstrasse, a 4-minute uphill walk that opens onto the twin spires above the Neisse. Inside hangs the legendary Sonnenorgel (Sun Organ) of 1703, named for the gilded sunburst pipes that fan from the choir loft. Time your visit for the noon recital — 12:00 every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday in summer — when the church empties of tour groups and the sound shakes the stone vaults.

Tip: Skip the main nave and head down to the crypt-level Georgenkapelle first — it is almost always empty, and the 1497 sandstone reliefs are the oldest art in town. Then climb back up just before 12:00 to claim a pew under the organ loft.

A 5-minute downhill walk along Peterstrasse drops you into a vaulted Silesian cellar restaurant tucked beneath one of the old patrician houses. Order the Schlesisches Himmelreich (smoked pork with stewed dried fruit and bread dumplings, around 16.50 euros) — it is the dish that defined this borderland kitchen and almost nowhere in western Germany still serves it. Pair with a local Landskron Pilsner brewed 800 metres down the road.

Tip: Walk in by 12:15 to land a table in the back vault under the brick arches — by 12:45 the day-trip coaches arrive and the front room fills. Cash and card both work, but tip in cash (round up about 8 percent).

Walk west along Steinweg for 6 minutes through the medieval wall line — you'll pass the Kaisertrutz bastion on your left before the round tower rises ahead. This is the only one of the old city towers you can climb; 165 steps lead to a 360-degree view where you can read the entire layout of Goerlitz against the green of the Neisse valley and, on a clear day, the first ridges of the Polish Sudetes.

Tip: Buy the combined Reichenbacher Turm + Kaisertrutz ticket (6 euros) at the tower entrance — it gets you into the modern art floors of the Kaisertrutz on the way back down with zero queue. Afternoon light from the top is best between 14:00 and 15:00 when the sun hits the orange tile roofs head-on.

Walk back east along Steinweg and turn into Brueder­strasse — 7 minutes — to the Schoenhof, Germany's oldest Renaissance burgher house (1526), which has been turned into the country's only museum devoted to the lost world of Silesia. The collection tells the harder story under Goerlitz's prettiness: a region split in 1945, populations exchanged, a culture rebuilt on two sides of a river. Afternoon is the right slot — by 16:00 the tour buses are gone and you have the gabled rooms almost to yourself.

Tip: Pick up the free English audio guide at reception — without it, the post-1945 expulsion rooms on the second floor read as just photos and suitcases; with it, they become the most affecting part of the city.

A 3-minute walk back across Untermarkt brings you to the city's beloved southern-Italian kitchen, run by a Sicilian family for over twenty years and the standing answer when you ask any Goerlitzer where they take guests. Order the homemade tagliatelle al ragu di cinghiale (wild boar ragu, around 17 euros) and the gnocchi al gorgonzola (around 15 euros). The wine list leans into small Sicilian producers — let Salvatore pick.

Tip: Reserve the day before by phone — twelve tables, and weekends fill by Wednesday. Pitfall warning for the Untermarkt area: avoid the tourist-menu restaurants facing directly onto the square with photo-laminated menus; they coast on the film-set view and serve frozen schnitzel at double the price. The locals' places, like this one, sit one street back.