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Published: December 22nd 2006
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Traveling the Middle of the Romantic Road
The Romantic Road…what is it you ask? The Romantic Road is a strip of towns in southern Germany who have joined together their tourist advertising budgets in order to create a powerful force drawing hundreds of thousands of people to the area each year. The “Road,” which is more like a path that uses many roads, starts in south of Frankfurt in Wurzburg and ends south of Munich in Fussen. Between these two points there are many small towns that have that genuine “German” feel. Some of these towns have little to offer more than a few hours walk around town, while others have cathedrals, museums and castles.
Rothenberg, where we were last weekend, is one of the bigger Romantic Road towns and therefore warrants at least a day or two. Some of the other towns on the Road are more appropriate for quick drive through.
Dinky little Dinkelsbuhl Today we left Nurnberg to venture south through the country side for a one night stay in Dinkelsbuhl. A random stop for sure, but one that makes sense if you know some other facts. First, other than
Rothenberg, Dinkelsbuhl is the only town in our Rick Steve’s guide book that has recommended hotels..or more precisely hotel, singular. Also, when I traveled in Europe during high school, a two week trip to perform music in various towns throughout central Europe, I stayed in Dinkelsbuhl. Thus, Dinkelsbuhl now makes logical sense.
We arrived in Dinkelsbuhl about an hour after leaving Nurnberg and immediately checked into our hotel. Then it was off to venture about the town. The first thing we noticed was that the place was empty. No tourists and few locals. Even a few of the stores were closed for the holidays. But, none the less, we walked around town and took in the sights. As I just heard Kel tell her Mom on the phone, “Dinkelsbuhl is wildly picturesque.” Its small pastel colored houses and shops are surrounded by walls that were built in the middle ages and have protected the town from invasion for hundreds of years. It truly is a nice place to walk around and admire…it really is Romantic.
Further South on the Road After having lunch and wandering for an hour or so we really had seen the
whole town so we decided to drive further south on the Romantic Road to see what else we could see. One of the first things we noticed was that we passed through many towns that weren’t on the official list we had bought for 30 cents at the Dinkelsbuhl TI. We wonder what it takes to be official, does it take a certain budget or is it truly that the official towns have more to see than others. Who knows?
We decided our first destination would be Nordlingen because its description made it sound like there was more to do there in some of the closer locations. When we arrived we immediately knew it was bigger than Dinkelsbuhl, more the size of Rothenberg. We parked outside the city walls and walked into town.
We decided to see their Christmas Market so we headed directly for the center of town figuring the market would be close. We each had a cup of Kinderpunsch (non alcoholic gluhwein they make for the kids) and walked around the market. The highlight of the market was a nativity scene with sheep. Really the nativity scene seemed like an excuse to have a small
Dinner in Nurnberg - Goose
Kel's Goose is Cooked...Take a Gander at her Goose petting zoo, but either way it was nice and the sheep were pretty cool.
After about thirty minutes in Nordlingen we set off to head further south. Our destination this time was Donauworth, selected because it sat on the intersection of two rivers which we thought would be very picturesque. On the way we came upon a castle so we decided to stop to see if it was cool. The parking was at the bottom of the castle so we had a little walk up into the castle itself only to discover that it was closed, probably for the holidays. It was kinda creepy to walk around in the castle central plaza with no one around. Kel surmised this might be what it was like at the castle during the bubonic plague. Needless to say, we got back in our car and left after taking a few pictures.
By time we made it to Donauworth the sun had gone down so we drove through town in order to see if there was anything really worth seeing, which it didn’t appear there was. We broke out Tom Tom at this point and let our faithful GPS device chart a
quicker way home and then set off for Dinkelsbuhl.
Dinkelsbuhl Christmas Market: Our 10th Christmas Market Before dinner we went to the local Christmas Market and had a nip of Gluhwein. Dinkelsbuhl’s Christmas market is just as cute as the town itself. If you are ever in the area, I would definitely stop by if you have the time. It might even be better than Rothenberg’s just because of the cuteness.
For dinner we went to a local restaurant that is located in an old wine cellar. The food was pretty good but watching all the drunken Germans was definitely worth it. The only negative that I have to say is that Germans smoke a lot. We’ve been watching and it seems Germans prefer not to smoke outside. They’d rather all go inside during a meal and light up cigarettes only to watch them burn down. In many cases they just hold them up with two fingers and puff every now and then. I know I’m whining, and I apologize, but even the notoriously nonchalant Spanish had the courtesy not to smoke ALL the time! Whew!
Hope everyone is doing well back home. It’s
Doner Kebap in Dinkelsbuhl Xmas Market
For all who have wondered about Doner Kebap almost Christmas. We will be in Munich for the next two days and then Fussen for Christmas. Hope you are as excited about Christmas as I am!!
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