I know, I know - cheesy, cliche, but something somewhere in me has been longing to drive the 'Romantic Road' ever since we moved to Germany.
Following our return from Australia, we knew we had both used up a lot of our holiday days, and we were saving the precious remaining few for Christmas/New year, yet the desire to squeeze in one more getaway in between August and December was huge. September marked the start of the school year in Europe and I have certainly had a trying few months getting settled with a new group of kids. Michael had also been working very hard for his company and we were both feeling a bit burnt out.
We took the plunge, and managed to book a day off at the end of October, giving us a long weekend. Thursday evening, straight after work, we picked up our little hire car and jumped on the autobahn headed to Augsburg. This in itself was a very uneventful 1 hour drive, and we were checked into our hotel room by 7:30pm. Of course, by now, we were pretty hungry and looking for dinner.A wander into the town greeted us with beautiful old architecture and a golden lit sleepy city. The market square was full yet dead - because it was half way set up for its Christmas markets. All the huts were partially built wooden structures which obscured the overall view of the square, but in the dark, were not very pretty or interesting. The clock tower and other such illuminated buildings looming over the square however were very nice.
Michael led me down a small side street in search of a particular restaurant, one that was listed as the number 1 in Augsburg. It was called Perlach Acht, and from the front, it looked tiny and nothing special. We quickly changed our minds after glancing over the menu by the front door and headed inside to see if they could find a table for us.
We both selected different main meals which were sublime - I had the red beet ravioli and Michael enjoyed a succulent pork dish with a saffron amaretto risotto and sauce.
At the end, we were both rather full, and yet the dessert list wouldn't stop calling us. In the end, we narrowed down our selection and decided to share what loosely translated as Apple Clouds - a fluffy appley creamy dessert in a glass, very yummy, and just enough for us both to walk away with satisfied food babies in our bellies, and great memories of an amazing meal!
Given that we had arrived so late the previous evening into Augsburg, we thought it deserved a little more time the following morning. After our hotel breakfast, we left our things and went for a power walk/tour of the city. It was much nicer in the daylight.Our first stop was actually just a bakery, but to purchase a special something we had eyed off the night before. A special All Saint's day dessert which was only made for that weekend. It was like an oddly shaped sweet bretzn that had been covered in chocolate, with a marzipanish taste to it. It was then also decorated with Marzipan flowers and some really delicious chocolate truffles. It was amazing!
This little slice of heaven tucked under my arm, we headed through the city in search of the Fuggerei. This is the world's oldest social housing complex still in use today. While it is within the city of Augsburg, it is its own little walled city in itself. It was founded in 1516, and the rent is still the same today as it was back then - 1 Gulden (0.88 euro cents) and three daily prayers.
Given the time period it has lived through, it also contains its own war bunker, something we were able to tour through.
Our walk back to the hotel included another daytime detour past the Rathaus and a few churches, including the Sankt Ulrich und Afra church, which was notable due to it's dominating presence as you walked up the main road towards it.
Finally it was time to start the drive - on the Romantic Road! Although, as it turned out, the road itself was not romantic, nor was it the most direct route. So it would seem that the reason it is named romantic is purely for the fact that you drive for hours on end through scenic backdrops, which in our case, during mid Autumn, included quite a lot of fog!
But it did not stop us from enjoying the trip. We played some music, and just relaxed in each others company, something we had not done in a long time. It was nice to catch up and just chat. We also passed a castle or two, and some interesting signs!
Enough mooshy details - we reached our first pitstop of the day - Nördlingen! This town was quiet and quaint, and also notably, a walled city. It was also, however, known as a slow city, with an official statue of a snail to represent it's link to the international network of Cittaslow - the slow cities. It was rather cute we thought!
This town also happened to have some lovely old buildings, and some not so lovely old buildings. There were a handful that looked like there were about to collapse before our eyes. Thanks to the external architecture, what looked like supporting beams of houses and lines of floors looked to be slumping, as if they were groaning under the pure weight of their life time of service to residents. It really can't be described so in this case, the picture is worth a thousand words.
On our way around the town in search of an appropriate lunch stop, we couldn't help but admire the lovely sculptures around the town.
Lunch was a rather dull affair, with both of us being incredibly excited by the menu in this little pub, but rather disappointed with the meals that arrived. Michael's käsespätzle was just a large puddle of bland lumps on his plate with some soggy fried onions scattered on top. The onions were the tastiest bit. Mine on the other hand was better but nothing to shout about.Not terribly disheartened, we were at least fed and able to continue our journey. But not without some frivolity on the way out...
Back out through the town gates, and back on to the romantic road it was. Our next destination was to be our stop for the night. Another walled city, but this one with a lot more interesting history and beauty. A place I was pretty keen to see. Rothenberg ob der Tauber.
This city was beautiful to approach and even more enchanting once we drove inside. We found our hotel after navigating the car through the narrow cobbled streets and handed the keys to the hotel staff as we would not need her again until we left the city's confines. Being a walled city meant two things: it was a small town and much easier navigated on foot than by car, and secondly, the gates closed at 6pm meaning we couldn't have driven out if we wanted to!
We entered the city shortly before dusk so by the time we got out to explore, it was dark. However, that did not stop us from wandering and admiring the quaint city. It had many nooks and crannies, one way streets that ended at a wall and some interesting shops, including 2 Christmas shops, 2 teddy bear shops, and several Schneeball shops. Not necessarily an odd thing on their own, but considering we saw more Christmas decorations, teddy bears and Schneebällchen than grocery stores was slightly odd.
Now, Schneebällchen - I feel the need to explain this. Michael has tried one of these before, when we visited Heidelberg (back in 2012). I have not. So seeing as this was the region famous for them, we decided to take 2 for our dessert later that night. Given the extensive selection list of flavoured pastry Schneebällchen, we decided on a plain traditional one (pastry ball covered in powdered sugar) and a more modern twist with a hazelnut mouse filling, covered in chocolate. These were well kept as we made our way to dinner.
Dinner ended up being a bit of a swish event, and more than made up for lunch. Without meaning to, we found a lovely restaurant that was a bit fancy with a not so fancy price list to match! We both indulged in the free breads and dip, the amuse buche and an ever so delicious main each. At the end, Michael even finished with a hot chocolate and praline.
** By sheer chance, we found out that this restaurant happened to also be the number 1 for this town.... two nights running, could we make it a third?
By the time we left the restaurant however, we were running. We had attempted to time our dinner to finish in time for the 'Nightwatchman tour'. As it was, I think we missed the first minute and were still able to join. We were not the last ones either as a few more stragglers attached to the group as we started to move on.
This bizarre man, with his heavy dark cloak, triangle hat and lantern, was an interesting tour guide to say the least. He gave some insights into some more gruesome and icky times in the history of this walled city. He included tales of why the walls are still up, how they were at times attacked and why the city had remained so intact in such a modern day and age. But he also took great pleasure in creeping the tourists out a little bit too. He had a very funny nature about him and his voice pattern made him all the more perfect for the role of Nightwatchman.
Our night ended with us retiring to our hotel, where we had been upgraded to a really nice room. This for me was the moment when I believed we were on the 'Romantic Road' as the whole room gave a romantic feel - even the keys! And yes, we ate the Schneebällchen!
We woke the next morning in serenity and took our time to get ready before consuming a buffet breakfast downstairs in the hotel. As I mentioned, we had arrived the previous evening quite late and the sun set very shortly after arriving. So this morning was our chance to properly see the town.
We made a beeline straight back to the bottom edge of the city and through the giant gates into the high set walled gardens that were attached to the city. While they were only small walls and there were access points, you could see that these gardens still belonged to the city within and that it was once used as a great vantage point to observe approaching enemies. Thankfully today it is nothing more that a peaceful park to wander through and enjoy the rolling vineyard hills beyond.
From here we were also able to see a small bridge that, low and behold, was famous. Now from where we stood I could not say for sure, but we were told that it was the bridge from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It appears in a scene when the car flies over it, as well as Neuschwanstein Castle (which happens to be the starting point of the Romantic Road). Here we spent a bit of time just admiring the scenery and playing in the leaves...
Wandering on from the park, we found an entrance to the city walls, along which you can walk. In order to keep the city alive at one point, it became important to receive some funding. They did this by selling parts of the wall. People from all over the world have purchased segments (length dependent on price paid) which is honored by a plaque with name and such on it. It is quite tastefully done, but more than that, we enjoyed the view back over the city and the glorious morning autumn sun.
However, it was now time to acknowledge the time, and start making our way to our next destination. It was quite honestly a rude shock driving back out of Rothenberg. We were both hit by the feeling as soon as we passed through the gates back into the real world. It is almost indescribable but we felt somewhat saddened by the world that stared back at us, as if all the magic we had felt inside the walls was gone. The real world was modern, dirty, busy and ugly, unlike Rothenberg which had shown us a Romantic, Gothic and beautiful hideaway.
It wasn't long though until we were back on the more picturesque style of the Romantic Road, through vineyards and stunning autumn trees. This time we were heading for Würzburg.
Once we arrived in Würzburg, we had officially reached the end of the Romantic Road. We took more than a little while to make it to our hotel because of road closures that none of the mapping devices we had on us told us about. Finally in the hotel, we gladly took a rest period, grateful to be out of the car for a little while.
Eventually though, hunger and inquisitiveness got the better of us and we jumped back into the car so that we could get some sight seeing in before dusk. Across the Main River, we drove up to Festung Marienberg - the Marienberg Fortress. It is a large castle with many areas open for viewing. However, with the sun glowing so beautifully in the late afternoon, we decided not to buy tickets to go inside the castle, but rather just enjoy a nice stroll around the grounds.
Somewhere along the Romantic Road, we had also driven into the area known as Franconia, an area famous for its wine. The wine made here is so special to the people that it has a very special shaped bottle for some of the varieties. It is a patented shape that can only be used to bottle particular varieties and can only be used in this region.I mention the wine because the very next thing we did after the Fortress was to drive out to a place recommended to us for a wine tasting. It was not a vineyard, but rather a restaurant and processing winery but still, the wine tasted great, and I bought many bottles!
From here, we returned to the hotel, only to get changed and take ourselves into town for dinner. We left the car and walked so as to give ourselves the chance to stretch our legs. We were hopeful to see some interesting things in town, but almost everything was already closing for the night. It was a Saturday night so we were a bit disappointed. Luckily, we found a very highly recommended restaurant and went inside.
We were offered a table that was booked for a party at 9pm, so we had a bit over an hour to enjoy our meal. At first we felt rushed, but the food ended up coming fast and was delicious. Quite possibly the most German food we've eaten in a long time, but also the most unusual. I ordered something called the Fränkishes Hochzeitsessen - the wedding food plate. This was veal fillets, served in a horseradish sauce with wide noodles and cranberry sauce. I cannot explain how delicious it was. I quite enjoy horseradish these days as it is one of the few ways I can get a spicy kick from food without suffering from allergies. But I still like it in moderation. This sauce was loaded! And yet, it was creamy and tasty, and the cranberry sauce cut through it beautifully. I could have licked the plate had the establishment not been so pretty!
Michael enjoyed the Stachel Pfännle - a roasting pan full of pork medalions, rostbratwurst, speck, fried potatoes (bratkartoffeln) and a mushroom cream sauce. This too was delicious, although I didn't get to try much of Michael's. He was almost licking his own plate at the end too.
Of course all of this was washed down with local wine and beer!
Rugged back up in our coats, we walked further in towards the centre of town where we found a few more things actually happening, more things open. Including an ice cream bar. We didn't care that it was about 3 degrees. We were in the mood for Gelati.
Ice cream in hand, it was a short walk up to the bridge that crossed the Main River. This turned out to be a popular spot, with an open air bar right at the entrance, and hundreds of people enjoying a drink while watching the water run below. We walked through the crowd and along the bridge where we played a round of our favourite past time - Caption that Statue! Because of course, the Mainbrücke was dotted all the way along on both sides by some very beautiful stone carved statues.
The rest of our night pretty much consisted of our uneventful walk back to the hotel. Only thing of note was a really cute picture of a squirrel on the pavement....
Awake the following morning, it was Sunday and it was also the day to head home. But we were not about to just drive straight home. First thing we wanted to do was see a bit more of Würzburg in daylight. Walking back into town, we found the Residenzplatz. The Residenz is a palace that sits in the centre of Würzburg that was completed in 1744. A beautiful majestic building with large landscaped gardens, we wandered in the back gates and found our way around to the front. While standing there we noticed a sign.
This sign was for a wine tour that takes place in the basement of the Residenz. Michael and I were contemplating if we had enough time to go inside the Residenz to see the exhibitions and the rooms when we spotted this sign, and added that into the equation. In the end, we both decided that the wine tour would be a little quicker and possibly a little more interesting. Michael doesn't even really like wine that much.... but we could not have made a better choice.
When the older gentleman came upstairs to the fountain in the foreground of the palace 5 minutes before 11, we were the only two people standing and waiting for the tour. The man was momentarily disappointed at the turn out, until he discovered that we were Australians who could converse in German. He instantly announced that it was to be a private tour of the cellars and scurried away with us in tow.
At the unmarked entrance, we paid the 7 euros entry fee for each of us and followed the man downstairs into a dark passageway. From here the tour wandered around tunnels and passages, each as dark as the next, every single one lit by only candles. Each and every room was filled with beautiful old decorated wine barrels and the damp smell that hung in the air was quite intoxicating. The surface of the ceiling was crumbling, an unfortunate side effect of age of the rooms and the inability to keep up the treatment required for the surface. It is also why this area is no longer used for the processing and bottling of the wine. But it doesn't stop them from using the tunnels and rooms for events and wine tasting tours!
The man was very informative about the wine, the barrels, the grapes and the rooms themselves. He even told us about events held down there, including the release of the last Harry Potter book. As a die hard fan, I instantly imagined how cool it would have been to enter a room that somewhat emulated the great hall lit with candles with long bench tables.... and receive my copy of the last book. It would have been amazing!
That aside, the whole experience was great, for Michael as well. We learnt a lot about the process of the wine and the barrels, including the cleaning process the barrels go through. At the end of the tour, we shared a glass of wine with the man and were given the chance to buy some of the wine..... which of course I did!
After that, we wandered back through town, taking in the last few sights including a strange little crane on the waterfront that Michael wanted to see. Then it was time to say goodbye to Würzburg, collect the car and make our way home.Via Bamberg!
Bamberg was a quiet little town with some classic old style Romanesque architecture. We had heard about it many times so we thought it would make a nice little late lunch spot to finish our trip. Unfortunately, due to traffic from an accident on the highway, our late lunch got later and later. I think we at lunch at about 4pm....
But we did make it in to Bamberg and found a car park. We went for a walk up through the township and saw some of the beautiful old buildings, but our tummies were grumbling. Bamberg as it turned out was famous for a particular style of beer which Michael was keen to sample. But rather than stand in the packed pub (the home of the famous beer) we chose a restaurant nearby where we could eat and sample simultaneously.
Strangely enough, we both selected items off the menu that were classically German but contained the beer in the sauce. It added a new layer of flavour to dishes we already loved. But Michael did get to sample the beer - a smoked beer. I took a sip or two of his beer as well, and I have to say it was nice. I could have drunk a bit more I think.Michael enjoyed it so much that we bought him a 6 pack of local beers to take home, from a very quirky boutique beer shop. Why not - I had over 10 bottles of wine in the boot.... Michael deserved some spoils from the holiday too!
Our last hour of the holiday was spent admiring the beautiful Altes Rathaus (City Hall) which sits over the water, while enjoying an ice cream. Once again, we cared not about the weather, but rather enjoyed our tasty creamy dessert treats while watching the sun start its descent against the decorated sides of the Rathaus. Then it was time to get back into the car.
It turned out not to be our day traffic wise, once again stuck in bumper to bumper traffic all the way back to Munich. But we made it home, with all our goodies. We had had a lovely little getaway! 
No comments:
Post a Comment