Viking's Grand European River Cruise: Rothenburg, Germany

Viking River Cruise, Day 6:  Rothenburg and Würzburg, Germany (Facebook collage)

(click any collage to enlarge)

Soooooo, Ladies and Gentlemen!  Here's Part 2 of Day 6 when we took the optional excursion to Rothenburg in the morning, before visiting the Würzburg Residence in the afternoon (last post).  Once you see what we saw in "the best-preserved medieval town in Germany," you'll understand why we spent the extra money to go.

From our boat we hopped on coaches to take the "Romantic Road" to Rothenburg.

Okay, so what I caught isn't that romantic.  But wait till you see Rothenburg ob der Tauber,

considered the best-known of all the sights along the way.

 First of all, Rothenburg is a walled city, founded in 1170.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber = Red Fortress above the Tauber (river).

Immediately you see the half-timbered houses everywhere.

You may remember from my Miltenberg post how much I love this architecture!

The Burgtor, or castle gate (c. 1356), was one of the first sites we meandered off to....

...because of the garden area after walking through the gate and the 2 round guard houses...

...and the views afforded from the wall to the valley below.

As we headed back to the city center, we passed these wonderful arches,
like wheels in the middle of the wheel.

 As you know by now, city center (town square) is always the place to which we gravitate in European cities.
It's where all the old stuff is, of course...like city hall, which is in 2 parts.
There's the gothic Imperial Hall, c. 1250-1400, and the 65-meter tower, seen from around the city.

The clock tower, c. 1683, stands to the right of town hall,
keeping track of the day of the month, hour and minute, in case you ever wondered.
Too bad it was getting a face job, right?

 Speaking of town hall, look at its gable stones!

And don't you love when the locals dress up for the tourists!

Now, speaking of gable stones, this city was gable-stone heaven.  OMG!  Are you ready?

 

 

I always feel like I've found money, you know!

 And since we're on a roll, here are the weathervanes I saw....

...the gargoyles...
(okay, that one isn't a gargoyle!)

...and the niches.
(okay, that one isn't a niche!)

How can you not love such a town!

Something for everybody, if you like medieval!

It so happens that a traditional German lunch in a local restaurant was included in this optional excursion...

...a stone's throw from the town square on one of the town's most scenic streets.

Two alleys come together to form the Plönlein Triangular Place, 

with the Siebers Tower gate on the left from 1385 and the Kobolzeller Gate on the right from 1360.
Oh, and, yes, this was the Thursday before Palm Sunday, with Easter decorations going up!

The Gasthof Glocke is a hotel and a restaurant.
Both white and red wines were from the Franconia region, where Rothenburg is.

Jerry and Carol were our delightful table mates who, believe it or not, stayed in the state room next to us.

It was our first time to meet them and are we ever glad we did.

I love the symbolism of towers and spires and...gateways.
Rothenburg is full of all of them!

And as we walked back to the buses, I couldn't help but think how lucky we were to see this well-preserved medieval city, which we'll never forget.

Now you know why I divided Day 6 into two separate posts!  After Rothenburg, we arrived back in Würzburg where our ship was docked...and where we then toured the Residence, etc., as seen in my last post.  

What a day!