Monday, 12/2 was a travel day: England to Germany.
NOTE: Unfortuntely, we lost our camera in transit. Most of the photos we took in Germany (except for the ones on my cell phone) are lost also. I wish we could share some of the wonderful Christmas market photos and other places we visited in Germany. The next few posts show just an overview in photos and in some cases we pulled photos from the internet as a visual)
We drove down to Gatwick Airport to return the rental car – both of us thrilled to be driving no more. From Gatwick, we flew to Nurnberg/ Nuremberg, arriving in the evening, so we could take a train on the next morning to Wurzburg. We enjoyed a quick visit to the Nurnberg Christmas Market as it was closing and then a dinner before turning in. We enjoyed this quick evening in Nurnberg and looked forward to returning to spend more time here in a few days. Frohliche Weinachten (Merry Christmas) from Germany!
Wurzburg: 12/3: We took the morning train from Nurnberg to Wurzburg, located our Hotel Amberger, and then found the Trolley Tour through the old town.. These tours provide a quick and pleasant way to scope out the town and help us decide where we want to explore more fully. On this trolley, we met and chatted with a couple from England, Allison & Nigel.
After the tour, we decided to get some more walking in, so we crossed the river and made our way up to the Mareinberg Fortress which sits up on the hill overlooking acres of vineyards. It was late in the day, so we only had a few hours. The walk involved a good deal of climbing as we walked all around the fortress, up through it and back down the other side.
On the Old Town Trolley tour we heard a lot about the Franconian Wine. While Wurzburg is officially part of Bavaria, they don’t necessarily like being overshadowed by Munich. We discovered that Munich is about beer, but Wurzburg is all about their wines. . . their great Franconian wines, and their unique wine bottles, the “Bocksbeutel,” shaped like the classic Mateus bottles. We were definitely ready to sample Franconian wine from the region. We Googled wine houses (and wine tastings) and discovered the Burgerspital Weinhaus not far from our hotel. The Burgerspital wine estate, one of the oldest and largest in Germany, is located right in the middle of Wurtzburg. When we walked into the Weinhaus, we saw Allison & Nigel, the English couple that we had met on the Tram. So we joined them at their table and visited. Sara and Evan shared a flight to taste the wines before ordering a glass. We tasted the Silvaner, the most popular local wine, a Reisling and two different Gewurtzraminers. We both really enjoyed the medium Gewurztraminer, sweet but not too sweet.
We learned that Allison & Nigel are staying at the same hotel, Hotel Amberger. Nigel actually works at a wine shop in Exeter, so he educated us a bit during the evening. The wines here are primarily whites, very good, and not expensive at all.
We planned to meet Nigel and Allison again in the AM for breakfast before we each took off exploring for the day. They are on a tour – taking them to Nurnberg for the day, while we explore Wurzburg
12/4 On our second day in Wurzburg we took the tour of “The Residence,” a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Apparently the 18th century Germans were OK with no separation between church & state, so this was the palace of the Prince-Bishop of Wurzburg. It’s an opulent Baroque Palace surrounded by beautiful gardens and grounds.
Like so many other German cities, Wurzburg was fire-bombed extensively at the end of WWII (over 90% destroyed), so the town is an interesting mixture of the very old (what survived), the new but looks old (restoration to preserve the historical feel), and the new and modern. The Residence itself was burned out, but miraculously a major portion of the roof survived, protecting an amazing stairway and Baroque ceiling paintings by Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
After our tour of “The Residence” we walked more of the city and then visited the Christmas Markets. We wanted to have wine on the Pedestrian bridge but knew we needed something to eat before drinking wine. Right at the bottom of the bridge were food stands at the edge of the Christmas market. Perfect! Sara had a potato soup while Evan had another wurst on a bun with mustard.
The pedestrian bridge across the River Main links old town Wurtzburg with Marienburg on the opposite bank. It’s history goes back to the 12th century, but was rebuilt from 1473 – 1543. The stone bridge is always lined with folks enjoying wine from the restaurant right on the Wurzburg side of the bridge, so there we went, thinking to just have wine. However, we discovered this wine bar/restaurant also served traditional Franconian dishes. So we actually went inside and ordered a meal to share -the traditional sausages and sauerkraut. These sausages were really good, and the sauerkraut was to die for. Evan asked for the secret, and was told that “it’s a secret” – but they offered a few clues – cook the kraut with a piece of pork, or some fat, and add a little honey. We also loved the wines – Sara tried a “Bacchus” wine and Evan the “Riesling.” We tried to get a reservation for dinner that night to try more Franconian specialty dishes -but they were completely booked until 9pm, which is too late for us to have dinner.
We made plans to get together with Allison and Nigel this night for another wine tasting, but it was really hard to find a place to settle and enjoy wine again. Every place was full. We finally ended up drinking wine and beer at a bar and then went back to the Burgerspital Weinhaus to have a glass of that delicious Gewurztraminer. We really enjoyed visiting again with Allison & Nigel and exchanged numbers so we could keep in touch.
