Monday 4th September 2023
We began the day with more exploring of Rothenburg, finding our way up to a section of the astonishing wall walk with views across the rooftops and then trekking all the way down to the bridge in the verdant wooded valley beneath the town for views back up to the walls and turrets high above. At 9am in the morning we found almost no-one else exploring with us. Rothenburg may be a very manicured town but it is an absolute delight from head to toe.
Once back on the road we drove through dozens of little Bavarian villages, all quite similar, straight to Bamberg and our next hotel. This was Hotel Messerschmitt, a charming old building that has been converted into a smart, modern little hotel.
Bamberg is exceedingly pretty and absolutely stuffed with interesting architecture. The colourful old rathaus that acts like the oversized central pier of a pair of bridges, splitting the river, with its medieval timber-framed backside overhanging the water. The steeply sloping domplatz with a great two-spired cathedral on one side and a huge many-windowed palace on the other. A huge medieval courtyard with wooden galleries planted with tumbling cascades of bright red flowers. A tree-lined canal and river with a confusion of bridges, bringing the countryside right into the city centre. Narrow cobbled streets with a smoky beer hall around every corner.
Just to balance all the loveliness I will note that our lunch was plagued with wasps and we ended up in the blazing sun (having picked a table without predicting the passage of the shade!), and also that the cathedral sounded interesting to explore but was closed for exactly two days: the ones we were here on.
Based on a recommendation from some Munich-based cyclists in Italy (long story!), we went to the Schlenkerla brewery beer hall for dinner. For here we could accompany our meal with the local speciality: smoked beer. Their informative menu tried to suggest that once-upon-a-time all beer would have tasted of smoke, as barley would have been dried over open fires. Hmm. Maybe. Anyway, I utterly approve of dark smoked beer.
The beer hall itself was exactly how you would picture a medieval German beer hall. Our hostess was a very tall no-nonsense lady who seemed able to serve ten tables at once and set down pints of beer with a very determined THUMP. She fit the setting very well, as did the food. I had a pork knuckle with lovely crispy outside, a pile of excellent (but farty) sauerkraut and a load of potatoes. The others went for onions stuffed with herby pork stuffing. We even convinced ourselves we had room for pudding, which turned out to be the best thing: chopped up pancakes with sultanas and icing sugar, with a big bowl of spiced plum sauce to dip them in. Mmmm!
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