Düsseldorf’s Rhine Promenade is built above a road. After the Second World War, a very busy street cut the Old Town off from the river. In 1976 the city moved that street into a tunnel, and the riverbank became a place to walk, eat and watch the boats.

The cafés and restaurants sit in the Kasematten, the casemates, flood defences built around 1900 and partly underground. One piece of the old waterfront remains behind them: a restored pendulum clock, the Pendeluhr, among the few things left from the buildings that stood here before the war. Cruise boats leave from the promenade, including trips to Kaiserswerth, where the remains of a 1100s imperial palace stand.

VoiceMap’s Düsseldorf tour walks the promenade, points out the clock and the casemates, and explains how the road ended up underground.