fairy tale town

.Saturday Sept. 22, 2018 Wurzburg to Rothenberg ob der Tauber

Today we signed up for an optional tour that took us to Rothenberg ob der Tauber in the Franconia region of Bavaria. Franconia is a distinct region within Bavaria and they do not identify as Bavarian...and they have a reputation of being grouchy. They are still upset that Napoleon awarded the area to Bavaria after the demise of the Holy Roman Empire. Some of the Franks left this area and eventually founded France. That's the short version of history. Anyhow, all our guides warn us about the reputation of Franconians and Bavarians but we did not have any problem with the people!

We were off the ship (in Wurzburg) and on our way down the romantic road to the charming town of Rothenberg. The scenery is beautiful - historic towns with timbered frames, farm land, trees and lots of apples. Thus the abundance of apple strudel! It's called the romantic road because of the nostalgic feeling have when traveling this road from Wurzburg to Fussen.

I visited Rothenberg in 1991 as a youngin' backpacking in Europe with my friend. We stayed at a hostel for a few days, visited the medieval crime museum, bought Christmas decorations and learned about fledermaus. (I remember the most obscure things). If you can believe, Rothenberg hasn’t changed since then. I think they have some of the same snowballs in the shop windows. More on that later.

Rothenberg is full of beautiful medieval buildings. We learned Rothenberg was an impoverished area that was kind of forgotten and never industrialized which is why it is stopped in time. In the late 19th century artists discovered the city and brought life back in to it.

Since there is no garden space - people grow fruit along the buildings

This is my favorite building in Rothenberg. We bought a mini version for our wall.

After a traditional Bavarian lunch we looked around the time. It’s full of Christmas shops and tourists. I love it here and we certainly did not have enough time in this splendid town.

We liked the goblets. We weren't crazy about the wine.

We took the bus back to Wurzburg passing by lots of fields of sugar beets, canola, maize, wheat and more apples.

Wurzburg is a university town with 30,000 students in a city with a population of 130,000.

We visited the Bishops Residenz - a UNESCO baroque palace. It has a spectacular fresco painting in the entrance,  a room with mirrors and a lot of (probably too much) gold and a very ornate chapel. Taking photos inside isn't allowed inside so here are some I grabbed from the web.

Oh, the snowball (schneeballen). It’s a traditional pastry in Rothenberg - dough that is balled up and fried with sugar on top or fillings inside. We were told they are good for at least 3 months. We tried them. The ones with filling are better than the traditional type. 

A very important name on this sign...