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| Beautiful autumn colours driving from France into Germany |
Driving our motorhome, Vanni, we left France and crossed over the border into Germany on roads full of glorious autumn colours.
Then we drove onto the autobahn, which was really busy with big
trucks travelling in convoys. We had a close call with one entering the autobahn
and cutting us off. No harm done though.
We were headed east, aiming for Germany’s ‘Romantic Road’.
Our next stop was ,
where we stayed the night at a rural camping ground. It got very cold there and
we woke to a chilly morning with heavy dew - brrrr!!!
After breakfast, we rode our bicycles into Saarbrücken to
view the sights.
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| Saarbrücken Town Hall, Germany |
is the capital city of
Germany’s smallest state, Saarland. It has a few tourist sights that we thought impressive, such as the at 18th century Baroque Ludwigskirche (Ludwig’s
church).
It sits in a large square, bordered by eight mansions, architecturally designed
to complement the church. It is the symbol of the city and is apparently, one
of the most important Protestant churches in Germany.
We also saw the Saar Castle, and the interesting Gothic Town Hall.
Saarbrücken means Saar Bridges, as there are about a dozen bridges crossing
the Saar River. We managed to see three.
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| Leigh and Vanni at the Neckar River campsite, Germany |
Then we drove to the Heidelberg area and found a lovely campground at
Neckargemund, a bus ride away from Heidelberg. We camped on the green grassy
banks of the Neckar River and looked across the River to hills covered in
autumn coloured trees.
Autumn has presented us with some beautiful sights and we are
constantly reminded of the magnificence of Europe’s ‘natural’ assets.
By the river, we had big but graceful barges going right past us.
Awesome!
Apart from the gentle chug-chug of passing barges, the campsite was
very quiet and peaceful. But we had another very chilly night, waking to a
frosty morning.
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| Leigh in Neckargemund village, Germany |
The next day, we walked the short distance into Neckargemund to
discover it is a quaint and attractive old village consisting of houses from
the 16th century onwards - so old and well preserved.
Many were half-timbered houses that had interesting histories.
One
house on the river bank, had marks showing all the major floods, the year, and
the level to which the water rose in that year. We were glad we had not been
there in 1882 when it reached the top of the house front door!
The most recent was 1994 when the water level rose to about the middle
of the front door.
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| Marg at the old stone bridge and spired gate, Heidelberg, Germany |
A couple of days later, we caught the bus into Heidelberg. The bus
dropped us at the lovely spired gates at the end of an historic bridge
crossing the Neckar River.
The gates also lead into the historic town centre which is quite
lovely, with cobbled streets and many Baroque buildings.
We soon found the Marktplatz where we saw the Gothic Heiliggeistkirche
church, which dominates the square. We also visited the university which we believe, helps explain the high number of cafés and
restaurants in the area. It was very vibrant.
During our walk around, we found several other squares, all surrounded
by quite grand buildings.
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| Marg in Kornmarkt Square, Heidelberg, Germany |
From Kornmarkt Square, we could see the red-sandstone ruins of the 13th
century Renaissance Heidelberg Castle, above the old town on
Königstuhl hill. The red hues looked lovely in the setting sun.
We walked about quite a bit more, then headed back to Vanni.
While the weather was fine, the overall temperature was
not high and when the evening drew in, the temperature dropped very quickly,
reminding us that winter is approaching! Time to move on.
Leaving Heidelberg, we found ‘The Romantic Road’. This
road contains a number if picturesque towns and castles which were once on a
trade route linking the north and south of Germany.
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| Marg in in Dinkelsbuhl on the Romantic Road, Germany |
One of the loveliest towns on this route is Dinkelsbuhl, a
very quaint and beautifully maintained medieval town. We walked its cobbled
streets, admiring the impressive 15th and 16th century merchants’ houses, many
decorated with colourful flower-boxes.
The town is known for its fortified wall and towers. The towers provide
access to the city, and we walked through one of them and around part of the
wall, getting great views over the narrow streets, red roofs and squares.
Feeling the cold, we headed back to Vanni then moved on. Our next stop along the Romantic Road, was Rothenberg on the Taber.
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| Marg at Rothenberg Town Hall on the Romantic Road, Germany |
Rothenberg is considered one of the best-preserved and authentic
medieval towns in Germany. We found parking then made our way to the large
marktplatz, where we saw many grand buildings, including the impressive Renaissance
era town hall.
Also surrounded by medieval merchants’ houses, this marktplatz was the
scene of local events, including executions in the middle ages!
Beside the town hall is the white Ratstrinkstube or Councillors Tavern,
which has a clock that chimes charmingly every hour on the hour.
We visited many of the historic buildings and squares around the old
town, and walked along the ancient city wall and through its gated towers.
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| Leigh in in Plönlein Square, Rothenburg, Germany |
There were some special places in Rothenberg, that we just loved, like
the Plönlein, a picturesque little square surrounded by lovely houses and two
towers of the old city wall.
The cobbled streets meander through narrow alleyways, bound with
ancient buildings that are all nicely maintained; and like Dinkelsbuhl, it is
bursting with colour from flower-boxes.
That night, we stopped at a little camping ground in Detwang, a very
small attractive village. We walked around it before having an enjoyable meal
at the local gasthaus, along with several German tourists, in a very friendly
and cheerful atmosphere.
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| Residenz Palace (UNESCO), Würzburg, Germany |
We moved on the next day, heading for Würzburg, another town on the Romantic Road. It is known
for its Baroque and Rococo architecture, with the 18th century Residenz Palace
being the star of the show. The Palace is believed to be one of the most
significant Baroque Palaces in Europe, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Walking around, we admired the town’s architecture and saw
many other interesting sights.
After lovely Würzburg, we drove on the autobahn, alongside
hundreds of trucks, up to Bielefeld in northern Germany where we bought Vanni. We were going back for some running repairs.
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| Kongresshalle, Nazi Party Rally Grounds, Nuremberg, Germany |
Repairs sorted, and after a sleepless night in the
workshop carpark, we headed south to Nuremberg and found a nice campsite there for
the night. When walking to the supermarket that evening, we passed an interesting building. It was Kongresshalle, or Congress Hall, the place
where the Nazis held their big rallies in the 30’s and 40’s – still a daunting
looking place!
The Rally Grounds that it sits on, are about 11 square kilometres in size and contain a
number of open spaces and buildings, with the Kongresshalle being one of the most prominent.
The next morning, with less than a week before we fly home to New
Zealand, we crossed the border back into Czechia. We were headed there to
return Vanni to her winter resting place.
This blog describes part of our 6-month
campervan trip around western Europe, which began in Prague in April.