Wurzburg and RotenburgSep 23, 2009
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kids at the pool
street artist freiburg
From Bacharach we headed to Wurzburg. I had heard it was a great city to explore and we weren’t disappointed. The youth hostel was in an old estate below the city castle. We hiked up to the castle and I found two things especially interesting there. First of all, the well was dug down to the level of the river 100 METERS below the castle and is still in existence. We dropped a rock down and it was a long time before we heard the splash deep down below. I would not have wanted the job of official well digger back in the middle ages in Wurzburg . The second thing was the castle tour itself. The first floor had rooms decorated with period pieces and explained everything with English translations… interesting enough, but since the castle had been 75% destroyed in WWII, a lot of it had been recently rebuilt. The whole second floor was devoted to Wurzburg history and how the Allies had destroyed the city and most of the surrounding countryside during the war with lots of post-war pictures and a full 3-D model replica of the area destroyed as it was in 1945. No English translations on the 2nd floor. We did enjoy the beautiful city, which reminded me of mini-Prague.
From Wurzburg we headed South to Rothenburg, the famous postcard perfect, medieval walled city on the Romantic Road. We spent the first night in a four car town outside the city limits called Detwang. Not the tourist area and all the more charming for it. The next night, we stayed across from the train station in Rothenburg for ease of travel. The night watchman tour was the highlight of our stay here.
