The Romantic Road part 2.
Leaving Wurzburg we found our way onto the Romantic road route, stopping at first at an Audi supermarket to get some supplies and then an Obi hardware shop to get some pipe to fix our bathroom basin outlet that had come apart. It was an important fix it job and after a bit of messing around we had it sorted and Ewout soon had it mended. Minor repair made we followed the signs along the route and had a nice drive through the countryside. We observed the fields looking lush and green, wild flowers blooming along the roads and blossom on the trees making it a pretty picture as we drove.
We arrived late in Rothenburg ob der Taube after our Tom Tom took us on the scenic short cut through some small villages, but it was a lovely drive and we saw some really nice scenery on the way. Driving towards the castle from the smaller road we had a fantastic view up the hill towards the town and found our way barred on the narrow road by a large flock of sheep being moved to higher ground. We soon got past the sheep and took a windy road up the steep hill to the carpark/camperstop that was our destination for the night. We parked up and paid for our night’s ticket and as it was early we decided to go for a walk into the town. It was lovely and quiet as most of the tourists had left for the day so we enjoyed exploring the town’s streets, looking in at the window displays before finding our way to the town wall and walking back along it to the tower which was our exit to the carpark.
The next morning we again walked the short distance into town, a small market was set up in the square but didn’t have much to interest us so we walked further to the other side of the town. We then decided it was time for coffee and to try the local sweet treat; the snowball, (rolled up pastry, fried and coated with various sweet toppings). A visit then to the Euro shop for some batteries and then back to the camper to move on for the next drive.
Our next stop was Nordlingen a smaller town located in the centre of a huge meteorite crater. It has an almost complete medieval townscape and is the only town in Germany that still has walls and battlements that can be walked on all the way around. The stop for the night was located in a carpark outside the town next to the train line, but although the train was quiet we did have some locals being quite noisy during the night walking back from their evening’s entertainment.
Next day we headed back on the Romantic road to Augsberg, one of Germany’s oldest cities and founded by the Roman Emperor Augustus more than 2,000 years ago. It was a major trading and banking centre, bombed heavily in WW2 and boasts the first public housing estate in the world due to the philanthropy of the Fugger family. The city centre is dominated by the Renaissance and Baroque facades of the palaces and patrician houses and we enjoyed wandering the streets finally found our way to the Fuggeri, the housing estate set up to cater for the city’s poor who paid a very small rent and in return had to do prayers three times a day for the Fuggers. We spent 6 hours in Augberg, ending with a delicious meal in an atmospheric restaurant before walking back to the camper through the darkened streets.
To be continued…..
