We are in Europe for 6 months driving our motorhome Vanni, and have just been to Czechia’s western Bohemia. Then we drove over the border into Bavaria, in the south-east of Germany, where our first stop was Nuremburg. This ancient city sits on the River Pegnitz and as we crossed one of its many bridges, we had a lovely view of some charming riverside buildings.
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| Marg in Nuremburg, Germany |
The weather had been wet and cold for several days. But as we walked around Nuremburg, the sun suddenly emerged so we drove quickly to our campsite to do some clothes washing. Trying to work out how to operate a washing machine with instructions written in German was a challenge. We finally got it sorted when we realized we hadn’t shut its door properly!
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| Marg with town walls and castle of Nuremburg, Germany |
We had a short walk the next morning to catch the Ubahn from the camp back into Nuremburg city where we enjoyed wandering around the old town. We saw Nuremburg Castle, the town walls, and the ancient Castle Quarter with its amazing churches and monuments.
Later we stopped at a restaurant and had a traditional Bavarian lunch of liver ball soup (very yummy) and bratwurst sausages with cabbage. Not long after, we headed back to camp having seen other parts of Nuremburg last year.
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| Marg in Bayreuth, Germany |
The next day, we drove to Bayreuth. We stopped to explore the old town, and had lunch at a quaint café in a tiny side street. It was nice to get out of a very cold wind and have some warm food. The café was full of happy, chatty locals out for Saturday lunch, and very buzzy.
Bayreuth is known for the composer, Richard Wagner. It is a lovely Bavarian city with baroque and rococo architecture that is well preserved in a compact city centre. We managed to see many of its famous sites including the Margravial Opera House, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the attractive market square.
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| Leigh in the Klein-Venedig area of Bamberg (UNESCO), Germany |
Our next stop was Bamberg in northern Bavaria. This town dates back to the 9th century and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Wrapped up for the cold, we walked around the old city to the Klein-Venedig area that is built right on the river. Some of the old buildings were on an alarming lean, but very attractive and well preserved.
We also visited the 14th century town hall built in the middle of the river, the 13th century cathedral, Michaelsberg Abbey, the amazingly intact City Wall, and more. After a long day, we drove to a nearby campsite right on the Danube River for two quiet nights.
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| Truck-jam on autobahn near Kassel, Germany |
Leaving Bamberg, we used the autobahn to travel north. Unfortunately, we hit a major traffic jam and the traffic was blocked further than we could see. The inside lane was just truck after truck, and we counted 30 from where we had stopped! After sitting in the traffic for almost an hour, it suddenly cleared.
We decided that this was a very good reason to keep off the autobahns and travel on the minor roads. So, when we finally arrived at our next town of Kassel, we programmed our GPS “A-rrival” to NOT take autobahns.
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| Leigh and the Brothers Grimm in Kassel, Germany |
Kassel is a pretty town that dates back to 913. It’s known as the birth place of the Brothers’ Grimm. They wrote most of their fairy tales here and Leigh wanted to see their house (now a museum). However, it was closed so we made do with their statue instead.
Kassel is also known for the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a huge park that hosts an amazing Baroque structure upon which is mounted a monument to Hercules. We visited the Bergpark, the Lions Castle which is a replica of a medieval castle, and enjoyed a walk around the old town.
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| Houses in the old centre of Bielefeld, Germany |
Then we drove north to Bielefeld to get a few things for Vanni. We’ve been to Bielefeld before as it’s where we purchased Vanni in 2011. It has a big industrial area, with an historic centre that we enjoyed visiting. Given the high amount of industry in this northern part of Germany, it was great to see the history retained.
After getting Vanni sorted, we rested for a few days then carried on northwards. Meanwhile, our GPS now having been re programmed to take the smaller roads, confounded us by taking the smallest of roads. But it was worth it, as we passed through some pretty towns such as Herford.
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| Historic Herford, Germany |
Herford is an historic town that was founded by Charlemagne in 789. Its history can be seen in its mixed architecture that includes Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque styles. We wandered along the narrow streets in delight, enjoying both the architecture and the ambience of this town, seeing many half-timbered houses, burgher houses, and impressive brick churches.
We then drove about 30-minutes north of Herford, into Lübbecke, a pretty town that dates back to 775. Now-days, it is a bustling place of around 26,000 people, containing interesting historic architecture.
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| A trio of architectural delights in Lübbecke, Germany |
Being relatively undamaged by war over the years, the original pre-medieval buildings can still be seen, and we enjoyed spotting some. Lübbecke also contains a beer fountain that spouts free beer for 1-day in August of every year, and has done so since 1954. Unfortunately, it was not free-beer-day when we were there!
So far, it had taken us most of the day to drive a relatively short distance. While the route took us through lots of attractive little villages, the winding roads and considerably lower speed limit meant that we took forever to get to our next destination, which was Bremen.
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| Leigh at the campsite in Bremen, Germany |
We arrived in Bremen in the late afternoon, followed the camping car signs, and found our way to a great little privately owned Stellplatz (overnight parking for camping cars). It was right near the river and quiet, so we settled down for the night. We’ll have a look at Bremen city tomorrow, but that’s in the next blog.
This blog describes part of our 6-month motorhome trip around northern and eastern Europe, that began in Prague.