A city that mined coal and produced steel for more than one hundred fifty years. And seen actually became the european dream capital for two thousand and seventeen how did it do it. As it lies at the heart of a former industrial region which means it is difficult for the city as a Tourist Destination to compete against other places with have to embrace houses castles or palaces in a city like essence you have to know what youre looking for before you can discover the real gems on offer and thats what im about to do. In addition to industrial sites ill be going out in two days. Then its on to this in our view video this week comes from paris. And globetrotter steve finish takes us to the city of shiraz in iran. That so far and was once the Worlds Largest and most modern coal mining complex. Twelve thousand tons of coal were mines here every day the coal plant was closed down in one nine hundred eighty six. I want to go up on the roof to get there i have to go through the belly of this rusty giant. From up here you can see how she watched this complex is over there was the cooking plant when it shut down in one thousand nine hundred four it was the biggest facility in europe. That so far and coal mine is the landmark of essen and stands for an era now gone forever from the woodville the pit will close in two thousand and eighteen that so far im is a place which forms a bridge between the present and the past so if you want to get to grips with this is the location to begin your city walking tour. At one point there were plans to tear all these buildings down or dismantle them and sell them abroad. People are glad that didnt happen. Thats all fine is now an industrial Historical Monument and a unesco World Heritage site. Its a setting that poses fascinating questions. How does the colliery work whats a coking plant. And what happens in a coal washer e. These questions are answered on daily guided tours. Right in the middle is what must be the most refreshing art installation in the rural valley the complex Swimming Pool and its very. Above it the sun wheel turns with its gondolas for visitors. Here in the decommissioned coking plant coal was converted into coke at temperatures of over a thousand degrees celcius. The coking plant only glows red these days when its lit up for the open air cinema films are screened against this industrial backdrop all summer long. In the rural museum you can find out all about the history of the rural region from the origins of mining to the present day it sees itself not as an ordinary museum but instead as the regions living memory. Its now been thirty years since the last worker clocked out. And its hard to imagine that this place was once filled with noise and heat. Over the years nature has reclaimed the complex. A dense forest has emerged without human intervention. Thats all fine coal mine has become much more than an industrial monument. Its a Recreation Area for the people of s. If your rifle is in by train you get out in the middle of the pedestrian precinct its name is known for its hundreds of store. The city center is an open air Shopping Mall so from time to time you need to break it said that in essence if youre never more than three hundred meters from a green space im going to ask around. Question was the worst the nearest park or garden. With you the worst your favorite green area here im going this is our park its not right around the corner but it is in essence. Where is your favorite garden or pork i know its gorgeous there didnt like paul my brain island and here. That guy sitting guard behind the main station. Can i ask you where your favorite park is its almost a photo was not its a conservation area. So what is that in essence not as in the us i live there. Thanks ben let me ask you where is your favorite park in the city garden up there its got a Beautiful Lake and. I like it. And by the lake bell ny spits and actually dry. And an even better tip for old timers out all the time he has packed i pod hesper Valley Railway runs along in the countryside at a comfy pace. And good mood today. Thanks thats all pretty. Well those were. Any parks and gardens we have created a best of list about. Google park the locals just call it. In one thousand nine hundred eighty nine this was where the first garden exhibition in germany took place the residents immediately took lucille flowers to their hearts and the love affair has continued to this day. Three thousand one hundred hectares of forest seven hundred eighteen green spaces. Three hundred seventy six kilometers of cycle paths and twenty six renamed rivers essen is the third greenest city in germany. How can a city that was once a Mining Center be so green. People recognized early on that they needed places to relax and recover from their back breaking work in the mine. In the early Twentieth Century the city boss wasteland in the south of s. And planted trees on it the city forest was created. The city garden is even older in a scene eighty one wealthy residents got together and donated a park to the city. It was the first public green space in the region. This park belongs to the villa hugel the former residence of the corp industrialist family at some point they fled the noise and dirt of the city and built themselves a house with a garden in the countryside actually more of a shatter it had two hundred. Sixty nine rooms you can visit it and learn about the history of the cork Steel Company and family in the mansions permanent exhibition. Lake by the nice stretches out below the villa who view the world a river is dammed up here for eight kilometers. Excursion boats of the white fleet sail from shore to shore. There are places to lounge about. And plenty of water sports to enjoy. And the white sand on the Seaside Beach completes the feeling of summer. But what about the citys disused industrial sites. Pile of the have been turned into new attractive residential areas green spaces like the park one of europes biggest steel factories once stored here now theres an artificial lake. And bike park. Seven hundred trees have been planted there are some wards facilities and tomato. Parties estens newest mom. And the greening of estimate is far from over. The city dreams of a green urban belt right through its center. The transformation continues. There moments calling im on my way to the top of shooting a bus leckie. Slack heaps are made up of waste from mining rocks and gravel that were dug up and later piled up a bit like giant molehills. Oh and now many of them are covered in greenery. While im trying to get up here you can take a trip to another world totally different and exotic our check in globetrotter us the finish has been to iran and visited the town of here us this is history of a report. We started covering a story called town with the but she did not speak about you but. The vacuum mosque was built between seven hundred fifty one and seven hundred seventy three during the zonda period. Under the rule of car in khan shiraz became the capital of persia and seven hundred sixty two. More than Twelve Thousand workers were employed to construct the royal district. Still talking about cutting time was on the up and sion charge under seventeen hundreds were now thats the kind of time the citadel and east used to be the living quarters of this guy up to that. Car in conn invited the best architects and artists of the time to design the citadel which took just a single year to build. Just one thing and sure us you should get up really early fall and this is the nazi mascotte of the past why i will show you. The nicea almost mosque is also known as the pink mosque because so many pink tiles were. Used in its interior. Its best to visit very early in the morning because thats the only time the sun shines through all the stained glass windows. No trip through us would be complete without paying a visit to the home of this was one of the greatest treasure islands and we also influenced a lot of europe people with such a scooter and hes from here hes from she writes. Its a lot about a one hour drive from here us we arrive at the countrys most important unesco World Heritage site as he put this which means the city on the passions that used to be the ceremony capital paglia compact hundred fifty to three hundred that until alexander the great destroyed and it is believed that he destroyed it by fire and it was ever an act of revenge for the passions destroying the acro put his neck in one hundred fifty years before that. Nothing least slate magazine leaked the missing the city comes because of his small to translate i like tomatoes playing up the birth. Because you suck his passion average time play from each other have some explaining lumps and comes all the backlash was it. Ive made it to the top off sure going bust it looks like a lunar landscape. From up here you can see the last bit still in operation. This place is fascinating somehow mystical. And right in the middle of it there is an artwork. Its a sculpture by american artist Richard Serra sixty seven tons of rolled steel. In the war district there are more than thirty slick heaps you can visit all close to each other and a lot of them and all sport works of art on top they are perfect destinations for a bike trip you can use a well developed system of cycling routes and soon there will be germanys first bicycle autobahn. Need to do quite a bit of paddling here but its worth it at an elevation of one hundred fifty nine metres canyon slide keeping but top is one of the highest observation points in the area. Until it is an art installation made of Railroad Ties the work is by basque artist. Twelve hundred kilometers of bike trails run through the rural region often along disused train lines that once linked industrial sites tourists on bicycles are often astonished at whats on offer. There are lots of surprisingly just true greenery scorn reordered community all for the combination of Industrial History social history and an amazing amount of green. Riding through here you dont notice the cities at all. And to me really it is in the works r s one the new bicycle autoconf it will eventually stretch one hundred kilometers from. East to west across the region. Here it runs right along the lines of the former mining railways to. The present a railway is to the left of it for commuters the obvious one is meant to be a real alternative to car travel. In a metropolitan area where five Million People live thats a good idea. Melanie who commutes on the r s one almost every day shes a tour guide. If you cycle just a few kilometers on the new route its easy to see how much s n has changed in the past few years the trip is full of contrasts. And also have the. Backside is just c s n and the Rural Regions and maps dont show much greener. No one suspects its here even though as it is germanys third green a city street isnt but after half an hour of cycling when weve left the city under on the railway line most people say they have never believed it. And cycling here takes you to some of the most interesting places in essen and the rural valley in almost no time. Only sections of the bicycle autobahn have been completed so far and it will take a few years before you can paddle the entire one hundred kilometers. But people are certainly enjoying whats already there. Yes ambitious plans in the next few years the city wants to become even greener. Thats the specially true in northern essence with its working class districts and former industrial sites. Im vs keepa is a Landscape Architect she ping this transformation. As a Landscape Architect your redesigned brownfield sites were now in coal park which you designed what ideas did you start out with. Im going above all to create space for people not to long for them to open what has been inaccessible for years and really make it green. If you create greenery there has to be water we see that here in the background. For everything to work the ground has to work to the ground is the body for the water is the sole and this lovely green is the stress. Of climate. Was great for decades but it was made green and is becoming still greener can you give me a few examples of the ecological or sustainable projects evolved before. Brazenly people began swimming in the rural again you know where your. Past is here and thats a challenge to enable people to swim unlike bald and i in the ruler. To do that in an Industrial City to be in on that transformation and make the city flow again from north to south to diffuse each other for were here in the north shaped by industry and then in the south its hilly. Theres the villa hugo one of the many examples you then like the room linking those with each other linking these contrasts dots and that includes the Industrial Heritage and innovative Landscape Architecture. How can other cities learn from this principle of going from greater green im thinking of cities like detroit or pittsburgh which also have an industrial past. I mean yes in america they talk of the City Beautiful Movement for money from a vice versa if you no longer know what to do then you beautiful. Parks people did that one hundred years ago and theyre doing it again and as that is a role model that metaphor from gray to green is now so established that people come from brazil mexico moscow china and of course the u. S. To see what weve done in finding. Would be what do you see as the strong points of the city this is these are these alice not everything is close to everything else. The friendly beautiful south the old Housing Estates all rough north which also shouldnt be pretty fied me but should live with its wrinkles and Blues Mission this mixing of cultures creates a new culture. Its not only old Industrial Heritage increasingly its becoming a melting pot a new global culture. A final question whats your personal favorite green place and. To do well as always want both we want to civilization the city that gives a security but we also want to feel close to nature we have places dear to us mine is a wonderful place the highly. Secret love. Center of our time its a good. Its a restaurant called family. Slightly hidden with a great view and so secret and cozy that you just have to love that money. Come ok thank you very much i keep going i think. And now we head for a city which is for a lot of people the most beautiful city in the world paris our viewer katherina from my orca has spent her whole days there and sent us this video thanks get anymore. I have really earned one of these. Somehow it all goes together cold steel and the fact that people here love to drink beer beer is definitely the drink in the region its made of a lot of. Sugar looking good but. If you want to meet the locals youre most likely to do that in a pub or beer garden like this one. I have to admit i am surprised by s. And i half expect its Industrial Heritage but not so many green spaces this city doesnt stand still there something going on and you can actually see that im. Glad i made the effort to come forth. Into orbit while his fans watch from the tuesday end of a new focus presuming i live not because its far from alexander gaffes just heading back to the eye it says after two years of intense preparation. Whats the german astronauts mission and what challenges does he face. Through the small w. O. Two accidentally shared some of. The trophy. Time in the field. How can you get out. With him because. Oh a serious. Shift this week on d. W. Time for an upgrade. Our furniture grows all by. A house with no roof. Poor design highlights you can make yourself. Trends tips and tricks that will turn your home to something special. Upgrade yourself with d ws interior design channel on you tube. European stars deliver browsing performance or. A. Live concert every weekend im such a good book in concert. Big. Singapore has set the stage for the historic meeting between u. S. President trump and north koreas dictator kim jong il but can the june strike a deal denuclearization in peace on the Korean Peninsula really on the cards or is this all just a glorified photo op to find out join our full coverage of the summit from singapore here on the foley. This is it we knew it was life for a girl in the eyes of the world our own singapore and that of a high stakes meeting between u. S. President donald trump and north korean dictator kim a truly trump already announcing a leave the summit early because preliminary negotiations on denuclearization have moved faster than expected as final preparations for their historic summit are being made the phenomenon is there. Anything that could be transposed security in east asia and beyond kicks off in just a few hours on the ground in singapore