Augsburg in the Swabian part of Bayern, Southern Germany, was a Free Imperial City for over 500 years. It’s a university town and the 3rd-largest city in Bavaria (after München & Nürnberg), population: 286,000. After Neuss and Trier, Augsburg is Germany’s 3rd-oldest city, founded by the Romans as Augusta Vindelicorum, named after the Roman emperor Augustus. It’s the only German city with its own legal holiday, the Augsburger Hohes Friedensfest, celebrated annually on August 8. This gives Augsburg more legal holidays than any other city in Germany. It was home to 2 patrician families that rose to great prominence internationally (replacing the Medicis as Europe’s leading bankers) - the Fuggers and the Welsers.