Twin town

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Twenty years ago (!), on my first visit to Germany with my parents, we stopped in Wuerzburg and discovered by sheer coincidence that it was the twin town of Dundee, 15 miles from my home town. OK, so it's got several twin towns, which seems a tad greedy, but Dundee's the one that counts for me. Several school exchange and student visits followed, leaving me with a soft spot for the city. When the train schedule threw up the option of Wurzburg or several bland sounding towns in the former east Germany, the decision was a no brainer.

Thanks to a late night out and the heavy morning rain in Nurenberg, we got going later than planned, so only really had time for a nice walk around the old town, where I spotted the hotel from 20 years ago. Probably still sells the same massive bread and cheese platters I remember from before.

We took the walking route up to the Marienhof, the immense castle and former bishop's residence overlooking the river and town with great views from the top. The route back down took us through vineyards, slap bang in the centre of town, with several odd statues dotting the way. You can't help but love a place where the wine is grown inside the town!





The main tourist site is the Residenz, another bishop's former dwelling place, but we decided to save it for another trip, not really having time to do it justice. The town is lovely, full of attractive historic buildings and the Alte Mainbrucke is reminiscent of the more well known bridge in Prague. The city even has Celtic connections (not in the football sense of the word), being originally used as a fortification by the local Celtic tribes. There is an impressive cathedral, named after St Killian, one of three monks who came here to christianize the locals and were beheaded for their troubles in 689. We two Celts however were content just wandering around the town and watching the locals shopping at the fruit and veg stalls in the central market area. A quiet night in was in order before the next rounds of the football commenced.

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