Germany - The Romantic Road

Germany has always struck me as a highly efficient and modern country complete with skyscrapers and car factories. I never would have thought of visiting until a good friend told me that it's her favourite place amongst all the other European cities she visited on a grand Europe tour! Truth be told, I had been to Germany a long time ago with my family but I remember nothing of it except for the cuckoo clocks shops and the humongous pork knuckle we were treated to. Did some research and reckon we could have been near the Black Forest?

Spent exactly 2 weeks in various parts of Germany, starting from Frankfurt (1 day) and working my way south along the Romantic Road. I visited the charming towns of Wurzburg (1 day), Rotherburg ob der Tauber (1 day) and Nordlingen (1 day) before arriving in Munich (4 days). From Munich, I worked my way north to Dresden (2 days) and Berlin (4 days).

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The Romantic Road 

Initially, I was in two minds about traversing the Romantic Road because the towns scattered along this route are very small and can be done in a day, which meant a touch-and-go journey which I generally dislike.

The Romantic Road used to be a trade route during the middle ages. However, it still retains much of its medieval character till today. The road winds through forgotten sections of countryside, connecting walled towns and picturesque villages. Typically, one would enter the town through an arched gateway complete with guard towers.

Wurzburg
The Residenz, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The exterior of the palace was rather drab and boring looking. But I was wow-ed the moment I entered the building. It was very elaborate and lavish (think rooms adorned with gold). This is the one and only pic I managed to snap of the interior before I was stopped by the guide -_- The amazing ceiling fresco depicting paintings representing the 4 continents - Europe, America, Asia and Africa, was a sight to behold!

One of my favourite buildings in Wurzburg - Marien Chapel on the left. 

The Alte Mainbrucke bridge reminded me of Charles bridge in Prague and somehow, the pictures I snapped here looked the nicest! This square is possibly where all the action in Wurzburg is, with St Kilian Cathedral in the background.

The statues along the bridge, again, just like Charles bridge :)

View taken from the bridge. This reminded me of the coloured buildings in Portree of Isle of Skye, Scotland.

Once across the bridge, it was a long trek up to the Marienburg Fortress.

No regrets as I was rewarded with an incredible bird's eye view of Wurzburg.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Rothenburg o.d.t is a typical walled medieval town with the cutest buildings I've ever seen. Our hotel was in one of these buildings and it was really cool being on the uppermost floor because of the sloped ceilings and small windows.

Supposedly the most photographed spot - Plonlein. It was tough getting a good pic of this area as it was perpetually crowded with tourists. Best to do it in the evening after the day-trippers have left town.

I enjoyed browsing the shops selling wooden figurines such as these. They were rather pricey but as the patriotic owner proudly declared, all "Made in Germany". I bought the smallest one that I could afford as a souvenir.

One of the free recommended activities was to walk along the wall enclosing the town.

Perhaps the best thing to do in Rothenburg (if staying overnight) is the immensely popular Night Watchman's walking tour. It certainly did not disappoint. Our guide was hilarious and we were entertained with funny stories which made the 1-hour walk seem very short.

 View of Rothenburg o.d.t complete with walls

Dinkelsbuhl
Passed through Dinkelsbuhl with a short lunch stop the next day whilst on our way to Nordlingen. For this leg of the trip, we took the Romantic coach instead of the train as there wasn't any direct train links between these towns.

Dinkelsbuhl is a smaller version of Rothenburg and very touristy, which made me glad that I didn't decide to spend the night here.

Nordlingen
One of the things that struck me in Nordlingen were the many pigs spotted inside or outside the shops.

Legend has it that in 1440 a woman went to get her husband a jug of beer. When she passed by one of the gates she noticed a pig that had lost its way.  Rubbing its hind-quarters against the wooden gate, the pig revealed to the woman that the gate had not been locked properly.  It turned out the guards had not locked the gate properly and they later confessed they had accepted a bribe from Count Hans of Oettingen to leave the gate open.  The Count had plotted to take the town in the night.  Nobody know for sure if the story is true but records show that in 1440 two gate guards were charged with treason and executed.

http://evesteve.blogspot.sg/2011/05/in-mountains.html

More quaint buildings in Nordlingen. Nordlingen felt different from Rothenburg o.d.t and Dinkelsbuhl as it was almost devoid of tourists. Sadly, it was raining when we got here and thus, we only managed to explore the centre and didn't walk the walls.

 Our lovely hotel in Nordlingen...beautiful on the outside (pssst...the inside is not so lovely though...)

Hohenschwangau and the fairytale castles
Possibly one of the highlights of our Romantic Road adventure was a visit to the No. 1 tourist attraction in Germany - the Neuschwantein castle which Disney castle was modeled after.

Visits to the castles can be done only via a guided tour. As we didn't want to rush from one castle to another, we decided to visit only one - obviously Neuschwanstein as it was more well-known -_-

Hohenschwangau castle

Lake Alpsee

Neuschwanstein castle. To be honest, the guided tour was kinda underwhelming, as our guide did not speak well and sounded as if he was reading from a book. We had to queue for at least half an hour to purchase the ticket and adhere to a strict schedule (if you missed your timing, you have to buy a new ticket). Once inside, we were herded like goats and moved from one room to another. The tour lasted only 30 minutes so if one could live with not seeing the interior of the castle, it would be much better to head straight to Mary's bridge for a good picture of the castle. Thank god for a bright, sunny day :)

Fussen

The gateway to Hohenschwangau and the castles. A rather charming town with a mountain backdrop. Spent about an hour here wandering around and eating gelato before taking a train back to Munich.