Here we are in the foyer of the Hotel Eisenhut, ready to go. Have we got everything?
Come on then, out of the door and turn left, up Herrngasse, one of the oldest streets in town. We’re heading towards the city walls.
There are already a few people out and about, though the sky is overcast and there’s a light breeze this morning. Those clouds look a little threatening but we’re optimistic.
There are the inevitable photographers all over too (though we can’t complain about that, when we are carrying cameras as well).
I think it’d be great to have the time do do this, instead.
Anyway, just come inside this small, old Franciscan church where it’s peaceful and rather lovely. It dates from 1285 and is beautifully maintained.
We’ll turn left here and walk down the side of the old Kloster, following the suggested walking tour route but also drawn to that potential view at the end of the street.
Isn’t it lovely? The Tauber Valley stretches out in front of us and there’s a fine view of the famous Double Bridge down there, too.
Walking along the original city boundary, we look back and are delighted once again by what we see.
The old city sits on a leafy outcrop and those terracotta roof tiles contrast so well with the fresh green trees, don’t you think?
Through the gateway then and into the castle gardens. There’s no castle here any more but this small park leads to another fine viewpoint and the gardens are rather lovely too.
We can see another part of the Tauber Valley with a few more groups of ochre-painted houses down there amongst the trees. This is a beautiful part of the world, for sure.
We’ll turn around and go back through the impressive outer gate of the castle, which is the only part still here. I love the little roof turrets and the curved walls.
Watch out for boiling tar being poured through the mouth of that face though, won’t you? Life in medieval times could be dangerous and there’s no knowing what pranks the folks here get up to these days!
It looks like it’s worth the risk, though, because not only is there an attractive street through there, there seem to be fewer groups of tourists in this part of town too.
There’s a pretty little flower covered hotel in this small street too, with an imaginative base for a dining table. There are so many small lanes and passages, we could spend an age exploring every one.
These small streets usually open up to another, larger thoroughfare which we can recognise, because the city is really quite compact. This time, we find ourselves on the street which leads to the Klingen tower, on the northern edge of the walled part of the city.
We won’t climb up there to the ramparts (we have sore knees and achy backs to consider after all) but will follow them at street level around for a while before turning right and heading back into the city.
I love these street corners and the buildings which sit so comfortably on them. This hotel has an interesting shop at ground level and is painted just the right shade to contrast with the deep green shutters. The red flowers in the window boxes are the perfect finishing touch, don’t you agree?
The speciality of Rothenburg is the Schneeball, made from a baked dough with a sugar coating. Having seen this window display we wonder whether we’ll indulge ourselves here, but thinking about it, decide to leave that till later.
We’ll have a drink instead (my ice coffee is delicious) and now we’re sitting in the biergarten where people are ordering lunch, my hero has decided that he might be able to manage a little something after all.
Another delicious flammkuchen which we can share, of course! We rather like it here in the Reichs-Kuchenmeister inn’s garden, overlooking the St Jakob’s churchyard and book a table for supper tonight. Are you ok with that?
In the meantime, we find the exterior of the Jakobskirche interesting, though we don’t go inside to see the rock crystal which is said to contain a drop of Christ’s blood. Plenty do, though.
Instead, we walk back through the narrow streets towards the White Tower and the Roder Arch.
The watchtower is a popular place to visit and we can see quite a few people watching out from up there. We’ll stay on terra firma, though and follow the wall around just a little further, to the star attraction, the Plonlein and the Siebers Tower.
It’s clear why this is the most popular photograph taken in Rothenburg and I’m amazed that I managed to take this one without more than a handful of people in it! We’ll sit a while and take it all in, shall we?
Looking the other way, towards the market place,
it’s hard to think we drove through there yesterday afternoon, isn’t it? It was especially difficult because our hybrid car doesn’t make any noise when driving slowly, so the pedestrians don’t get much of a warning, either.
Whilst we sit here, let’s go over to Mauro’s ice cream parlour and get some, shall we? Watching the world go by is something we all love to do and here would seem to be the perfect place, especially as a full sized coach has just driven up that street. The driver must have nerves of steel, even if he is a professional!
It’s our last stop before the market place where there’s a small farmer’s market on today. If we turn left here, we have only a few steps to go to our hotel.
There it is, yellow with the blue and white awnings. We have time to put our feet up for a while, to blog, read and draw for a couple of hours before returning to the beer garden for an early supper, because tonight, we’re going to go with the Night Watchman as planned.
All right, yes, you can come too!
