Rothenburg – Nuremberg – Rothenburg
Today’s options for the tour were either to spend the day in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, or to board the coach for a trip to Nuremberg. Prior to our arrival we were torn about what to do, but given that we had already explored the Christmas markets in Rothenburg the previous evening, and with the amount of tourists already crammed within the small town’s walls, we figured at least if we had to tackle the crowds, Nuremberg might offer a few more options to get away from them.
So after breakfast we made the 5 minute walk to the bus that was waiting in the parking area outside of the walls, but not before I’d had a chance to wander down to the Plonlein, probably one the most photographed spots in all of Germany, for my chance at taking a shot or two of this beautiful location. Luckily when I arrived there were only a couple of people around – I waited while a Japanese couple took a few shots of each other standing in front of the corner, then when they moved off I set up to take a few shots myself. Luckily I’d adjusted all of the settings on my camera beforehand, and I was able to get off a couple of shots, because right at this moment a young couple from a nearby B&B exited their building, walked straight into frame and proceeded to take selfies while standing right in my line of view. Naturally I returned the favour, and started wandering aimlessly between them and the corner like Vincent waiting for Mia in Pulp Fiction.
I stopped to photograph a few more spots along the way back to the hotel, where I soon caught up with the rest of the group, the majority of who had decided to make the trip to Nuremberg as well. Pretty soon we were walking back down past the corner at Plonlein, which was already starting to swell with tourists entering the town, before heading through one of the gates in the wall that led to the bus parking area outside.
The coach we are on is a magnificently appointed vehicle that is under 12 months old, and it has excellent Wi-Fi, comfortable seating and air conditioning. With only 9 people on the tour (plus the tour director Deryck and the driver Yorges), there’s more than ample room. I sat at the front, mainly so that I’d have the best chance at avoiding any motion sickness, but also because it gave me the opportunity to take photographs through the huge windscreen in front of me, rather than contending with the glare from the side windows. Unfortunately, there seems to be a tint on the windscreen that isn’t visible to the naked eye, but shows up in photos as a distinctly blue filter, hence the poor quality of some of the following images.
We’d also brought Rowdy the GSP along for the ride, as we’ve decided it might be a fun thing to try and photograph him in front of some of the famous landmarks we’re due to visit on our trip. The drive to Nuremberg was around one and a half hours, and from Rothenburg we headed out through the rolling hills of first the Romantic Road (Romantische Straße), and then the Castle Road (Burgenstraße), passing quaint villages and the occasional hillside fortress. Deryck explained the difference between a Berg (hill) and a Burg (castle or fortress), although he pointed out that most Burgs are in fact situated on Bergs. To add to the confusion, Rothenburg (Red Fortress), doesn’t have a castle (it was destroyed in the 12th Century), but is still named “burg”, whereas Nuremberg or Nürnberg in German (Rocky Mountain), also has a castle atop the city.
Pretty soon though we were heading through the gates of the walls at Nuremberg to a point where we were able to disembark from the coach just a couple of streets away from the old town. As we made our way onto the main street, the crowds were already starting to build, and there were several large organised tour groups from Asia and the US heading down that way, so we decided to get the markets over and done with before it became unbearable.
The Nuremberg Christmas Markets are apparently the largest in Germany – they’re actually made up of a series of interconnected markets across several of the large market squares in the old town, and include a children’s Christmas market and a “Partner’s Market” that consists of a number of stalls from various countries around the world. No Aussie stalls unfortunately, but it was interesting to note that the Palestinian stand was located almost directly opposite the Israeli stand. No sign of any conflicts that we could see though.
There were actually some really excellent stalls within the markets, and we stopped to buy a few souvenirs here and there, as well as some of the local Lebkuchen, honey-sweetened spiced pastries that are often described as “gingerbread’s adult cousin”. As the crowds continued to swell, we made our last round of the market stalls, stopping to give Rowdy his photo opportunity for the day, before heading off into the almost deserted non-market streets of the old town.
Nuremberg is a beautiful city, situated on the picturesque Regnitz River. Around 90% of the old town was destroyed in the later stages of World War II, but much of it was rebuilt in the traditional style, using original blueprints and materials wherever possible, so it retains much of its mediaeval charm. We spent some time wandering around the shops in the old town, before finding a restaurant by the river where we could enjoy a spot of lunch. Vanessa had a delicious salami pizza that was absolutely huge, while I opted for an extremely tasty steak tartare – not exactly traditional German fare, but a welcome break from smoked meats and cabbage nonetheless.
After lunch, we took our time wandering back to the bus stop, where we caught up with the rest of the group and swapped stories while waiting for the bus to appear. The drive back to Rothenburg was a little quicker this time as we stuck mainly to the autobahns, and as we made our way back inside the town walls we were met with a heaving mass of humanity that made us thankful we’d spent our Sunday elsewhere. Of course it did make finding somewhere for dinner a lot more difficult than it should have been, but as luck would have it, we did manage to find an Italian restaurant that could squeeze us in, where we sat down to a delicious meal of gnocchi primavera (me) and spaghetti carbonara (Vanessa). Suitably sustained, we made our way back through the freezing night air to the toasty comfort of the Altes Brauhaus once again.
