SCHWÄBISCH HALL, A LOVELY TOWN ON THE CASTLE ROAD

We have not traveled very much in Germany. We spent a week in Berlin in 2011 and enjoyed it very much, so we put another trip to Germany on our "short list" of destinations. We decided to visit southern Germany and this was our first trip after my recent retirement, so I had plenty of time to plan it.

The German tourist industry has invented a number of "tourist routes" to encourage tourism. There are several "wine routes" (weinstrasse), and several other tourist routes with enticing names and and well worn itineraries. I decided on combining 3 of these tourist routes in southern Germany - as noted above - the Pfalz wine route, the "Castle Road", and the "Romantic Road". Below is a capsule description of these 3 routes and how we combined them.

The Pfalz wine region, also known as the Platinate due to historic reasons, is located on the western bank or the Rhine River and stretches from Bockenheim, a small town 14km west of Worms, and then south to Schweigen-Rechtenbach on the border with France. It is directly north of the Alsace region of France and shares many characteristics with its better known neighbor to the south. They have similar climates, both border the Rhine valley, and both have picturesque villages filled with half-timbered houses. They have both switched back and forth between German and French sovereignty over the centuries and most importantly, they both make great white wines. Both regions are well known for their dry, full bodied Rieslings. Here's a link to the web page of our trip to the Alsace in September, 2012.

The "Castle Road" is a stretch of of towns and villages starting with Mannheim in the west and stretching to Kulmbach in the east. It's full of historic and beautiful villages and, of course, lots of castles. Technically, you can continue east on the route out of Germany and you will reach Prague after about 975 kilometers.

The "Romantic Road" runs from the historic city of Wurzburg in the north and south to Neuschwanstein Castle in the Alps. The main towns on the route are Wurzburg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen, Augsburg and the Neuschwanstein, which is probably the most famous of German King Ludwig's incredible castles, and is one of the  major tourist attractions in Germany. There's nothing which really ties these towns and attractions together, but it turned out to be a successful marketing idea used by the German tourist industry to revive German tourism after the ruin of World War 2.  

As we are wine lovers, when I started planning the trip, the only place I was sure of visiting was the Pfalz. While doing my research, I discovered the Castle road, and then the Romantic Road. Rothenburg is part of both of them, so I built a route that started with the Pfalz, went east on the Castle Road to Rothenburg and then south on the Romantic Road to Munich. This route combined large segments of all 3 routes. We spent the last 4 days in Munich. Here is a link to the route we took. (We drove to Tauberbishofsheim from Bad Wimpfen, but the map refuses to show this leg.)

Below is our general itinerary

BELOW IS A DESCRIPTION OF WHERE WE WENT AND WHAT WE DID.

WINE STATUE
IN WORMS

Worms is one of Germany's oldest cities, (many say it's the oldest) and has existed since before Roman times. It has a long and interesting history, which includes a rich Jewish history as well.  We stayed in the Asgard Hotel, a nice 3 star located just outside the city center. The hotel has sheltered parking, which costs a few Euros per day, but we got lucky and grabbed one of the 2 free outside spots the hotel has, and then never moved the car. It is a simple and straight 10 minute walk to the center. Our room was spacious, breakfast was great, and the staff were most helpful. Our room even had a kitchenette, which was nicely equipped, but since we were there only for one night we didn't really need it.

As I said, we were there for less than 24 hours, but since it is a compact little town with about 90,000 inhabitants, we saw quite a bit of the city. We visited the cathedral, the old city center, the synagogue, and even walked to the Rhine River promenade, where we had a snack at the best known beer hall in town, the "Hagenbrau". We had a couple of beers and their "tapas" plate. There were 6 dishes, which included 2 kinds of chicken wings and 2 kinds of herring. Here's a picture to the right. The Hagenbrau is quite a way from our hotel, so we checked out the taxi service. We discovered the "city-car" taxi service. It's kind of a taxi, but we felt more like my great uncle was giving us a lift home. The barman ordered the car, and the driver came into the restaurant to pick us up. The ride cost 7 Euros.

TAPAS AT THE
HAGENBRAU

JEWISH CEMETERY
IN WORMS

The most interesting place we visited in Worms was the old Jewish cemetery. This is considered to be the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe and the earliest graves date back to the 11th century. There are many  gravestones still standing and for reasons unknown (perhaps just good fortune), it wasn't destroyed during World war 2. It is a real lesson in history, and during our visit, there was a class of German schoolchildren touring the cemetery with their teacher. The kids appeared to be 5th or 6th graders. They were surprisingly attentive to the teacher's lecture and only a few wandered off to click away on their cell phones. Here's a picture to the left.

Worms is at the northern end of the Pfalz region, but is not really part of the wine route. When we left Worms, we headed to Grunstadt which is one of the larger towns on the route. We didn't stop there, but just drove through to have a look. We made our first stop in Grosskarlbach, where we had an appointment at the Lingenfelder Winery. Before the winery, we had lunch at a restaurant called "Karlsbacher". It had been recommended by the owner of Lingenfelder Winery who told me that it was the best in town (very small town and not many restaurants) with a chef who has Michelin star ambitions.

KARLSBACHER
RESTAURANT

On every trip there is a restaurant which is a total surprise. On this trip that would be the Karlsbacher. We went there for lunch and were blown away. It was almost full, and the food and service were indeed Michelin quality. Alisa ordered from the general menu while I had the lunch menu for 28 Euros. She had a dish of monkfish with cooked vegetables and a whole grain which I think was groats, and I had the 3 course lunch – chicken carpaccio, classic wiener schnitzel, and fruit ragout with home-made apricot sorbet (picture to the right). Everything was excellent, and even though it was lunch, the meal included a chef’s surprise at the beginning as well as at the end. The meal was probably the best we had on this trip. The chef’s name is Christian Rupert and I hope he gets his Michelin star soon.

DESSERT AT THE
KARLSBACHER

REINER
LINGENFELDER

After lunch, we visited Weingut (winery) Lingenfelder. Lingenfelder is a family winery which has been in the family of the present owner, Rainer Lingenfelder for about 500 years. As all the wineries in the Pfalz, the specialty here is white wine, and particularly, full bodied dry Riesling. We had a great visit with Rainer. We toured the winery, we tasted the wine, we discussed world politics and Rainer explained to us all about wine making in the Pfalz.

At the end of this first day in the Pfalz region, we arrived at Bad Dürkheim, a well known spa town on the Pfalz wine route, where we stayed for 3 nights. Bad Durkheim is famous as the location of the largest empty wine barrel in the world. It's called the Dürkheimer Fass, and not only is it empty, but it never had any wine in it. Actually, it was especially built to be a tourist attraction as described on this site. Also, it's not really empty, as inside there is a restaurant. Here's a picture of it to the right. Bad Dürkheim is also home to what is reputedly the largest wine festival in the world - the Wurstmarkt, which is held every year in September.

BAD DURKHEIM
BARREL

THE HEUSSER
GARTENHOTEL

In Bad Dürkheim we stayed at the Heusser Gartenhotel, a 4 star hotel located on a hill above (but within) the town. The  hotel is modern, and has a spa, a pool, a restaurant and a lovely setting up on the hill. It's located in a very quiet and peaceful residential neighborhood. You can actually walk down the hill to get to the center, but coming back would be a problem because of the steep hill. This is a hotel to visit with a group (and there were several while we were there), or with your own car. The breakfast was fine, and the service was 4 stars. It also has plenty of free parking.
What we didn’t like about the hotel is the way it was laid out. It is sprawling (see attached picture) with several different buildings and you need a compass or a GPS to get around. From our room, it felt like 100 meters to the breakfast room, and more than once, we actually got lost.  Despite this, we did enjoy our 3 night stay here. To the left is the view we had from our balcony.

VON WINNING
WINERY

On our second day in the Pfalz, we visited Neustadt, one of the larger towns in the region, but we were really on our way to Diedesheim where we had another winery (and restaurant) to visit. The winery we visited here was the Von Winning winery and the restaurant was the Leopold, which is actually part of the winery. Our experience at Winning was quite the opposite of our experience at Lingenfelder. This is a large, elaborate winery with a well appointed tasting room, a lavish restaurant (Leopold) and facilities for social events. While we were there, there was a wedding reception going on. It seemed very pretentious. We were treated very nicely by a young woman in the tasting room who didn't speak much English, but gave us plenty of wine to taste. There was no charge for the tasting, and we bought a bottle of an interesting Riesling of which 20% of the wine had been aged in oak.

DEIDESHEIM
CENTER

As for the Leopold restaurant, it was beautiful, pretentious and disappointing. The food was good, but far from great, and the service was indifferent and unresponsive. They were dealing with the wedding party and us and another table or 2, but they still didn't have enough time to deal with us properly. It wasn't even a big wedding party - maybe 20 people. We had asparagus soup (this is asparagus season in central Europe and you find it in every restaurant), redfish with spring onions, celery and tomato risotto, and salmon filet roasted on its skin with white asparagus (of course) new potatoes, and saffron sauce. It sounds elegant, but it was unimaginative and average. The most memorable part of the meal was the “bellini” aperitif which Alisa had to start with. It was a glass of sparkling Riesling with white peach juice and was quite tasty.  

LEOPOLD
RESTAURANT

On our 3rd day in the Pfalz, we visited Landau, St. Martin, and Wachenheim. Landau is one of the larger towns in the region, and didn't interest us much, but St. Martin is one of the smallest and  cutest towns we visited. We spent several hours in St. Martin and had lunch there at the Martinusstube, where we had flammkuchen (also known as tarte flambée), the tomato-less pizza popular both here and in Alsace. Here's a picture to the right. We also drove through Edenkoben, but didn't stop.

FLAMMKUCHEN

AT VILLA WOLFE
WINERY
WITH SUMI

Our main objective for this day was a visit to Wachenheim and the winery of "Villa Wolfe". Wachenheim is another tiny charming little town with many wineries. Villa Wolfe is one of the leading wineries in the Pfalz. We were not disappointed here. We were greeted by Sumi, our lovely host for the tasting who explained all we wanted to know about the winery, its history, and its wines. To the left is a picture of Sumi and Alisa.

THE GROUNDS
AT VILLA WOLFE

As for evening dining, we had 3 totally different experiences in Bad Dürkheim. The first evening, we went "downtown" and found just about everything closed except for a few restaurants. We picked a very simple Italian restaurant where we had pizza (with real mozzarella) and pasta. The second evening, we dined on our balcony with cheese, some snacks, and one of the bottles of wine we had bought at Lingenfelder (picture to the right), but on the 3rd evening, we found a really good and surprising restaurant.

DINNER
ON THE BALCONY

THE WINE
REFUGIUM

The restaurant's name is the "Wine Refugium". (The web site is only in German, but the owner and staff speak excellent English.) We really enjoyed this restaurant. The selection was good, and the dishes were excellent. We had a nice green salad, spaghetti with seafood, a delightful warm octopus salad, and a nice fish dish (nobody could name the fish in English) with bacon, potato and a Riesling sauce. Everything was excellent. Pictures to the left and right.

AT THE WINE
REFUGIUM

THE SALINE
IN BAD DURKHEIM

In Bad Dürkheim, we came across a most unusual structure, pictured to the left. We couldn't figure out what it was and we had to ask 2 school girls who were in the vicinity to find out what it was. It is called the "Saline", and it is a structure designed to produce a salty atmosphere in its immediate vicinity, much like at the seashore in order to provide  health benefits similar to those from spending time at the seashore. Here's a picture to the left, and here is a YouTube video which explains very clearly its principles of operations as well as its history. 

NECKARSTEINACH

When we left Bad Dürkheim we headed east on the Castle Road. We drove straight through Heidelberg, which is the start of the Castle Road. We didn't stop there because we had spent a whole day there in 2009 on our cruise on the Rhine. The first town we visited was Neckarsteinach, known as the town with 4 castles. This town is on the Neckar River, as are many of the towns on this route. The Neckar River Valley is a lovely valley little known outside of Germany. The biggest and best known town on the river is Heidelberg. We strolled along the river, and had a cup of coffee and a tasty apple strudel at one of the cafes perched above the river. We quickly spotted 3 of the castles, but couldn't find the 4th. The next town we hit was Mossbach, which is a pleasant little town, but since it was Sunday, it was absolutely dead and shut down and we drove on.

After Mossbach we visited Heilbronn, which is a larger town, and despite the fact that it was Sunday and most everything was closed, Alisa saw the shopping potential, and when we had a couple of hours the next day, we returned and enjoyed the town very much. We did some shopping (mainly shoes) and we had lunch at the number 1 restaurant in town, the Ratskeller.  This restaurant is lovely and is in a historic building. The food is classic Bavarian with an upscale touch. Alisa had a very nice seafood soup (clearly not very Bavarian), and I had Swabian ravioli, known in German as Schwäbische Maultaschen (very Bavarian). The restaurant was lovely and the food was tasty .

THE RATSKELLER
IN HEILBRONN

BAD WIMPFEN

On the other hand, what was lacking was a refrigerator and a safe. Wolf confided that there was no safe in the entire hotel, but assured us that in this quiet little town, there was no need for a safe. As for a refrigerator, he was happy to store any food we had in the hotel fridge. We enjoyed our stay and thanked Wolf for his kind hospitality and properly cooked eggs. Apparently the hotel does not have its own web site, and I made our reservation through booking.com. Here is the link.
As for Bad Wimpfen itself, it was a delightful town and we enjoyed it very much. We strolled about quite a bit and I took lots of pictures. Here are 2, one to the left above, and one directly to the right.

BAD WIMPFEN

Our favorite restaurant in Bad Wimpfen turned out to be another Italian restaurant, although this one called itself a steak restaurant and had a wider menu than just pasta and pizza. It is called Picasso, and we liked it so much, we came back for a second visit. The staff was super friendly and Alisa was able to chat with them in Italian. As for the food, we had a variety of dishes and they had a very nice wine list. I tried the steaks, and Alisa had the pasta. She particularly liked her dish of fresh fettuccini with fresh porcini mushrooms. I had 2 different meat dishes which I enjoyed .

FRESH PASTA
AT PICASSO

SWABISCH
HALL

SWABISCH
HALL

We visited several small towns in the area. Bad Wimpfen was great, but the most outstanding one was Schwäbisch Hall. This town was one of the highlights of this visit. It's a beautiful town and a delight to stroll in. Here are some pictures to the left and right, and here's a great YouTube video showing the town from the air.

SWABISCH
HALL

We left Bad Wimpfen and drove in the direction of Wurzburg, the most northern point on the Romantic Road. On the way, we stopped at Tauberbischoffsheim. This town is one of several along the Tauber River. It's a pretty little town and we strolled for an hour or so.

WURZBURG

WURZBURG

MARIENBERG
FORTRESS

We parked at the Residenz parking lot and walked into and down the center of the old city. This parking lot is the only we found on the entire trip (outside of Munich) where the parking was paid, but not limited in time. That made it very convenient. We had lunch in another Italian restaurant, and really enjoyed strolling in Wurzburg. It is a beautiful city and well worth a longer visit. Check out the pictures on either side.

LUNCHTIME IN
WURZBURG

After Wurzburg, we headed to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, our base for 2 nights. This little town is a real gem and stood out as one of the highlights of our trip. I had planned some excursions, but the town is so pretty, and there is so much to see that we never moved the car. We took lots of pictures, but just to stress the point, here is a link to a Google page to lots more images of the town. There are lots of tourists, but as May is still not high season, it wasn't overcrowded. Also, if you stay in a town overnight, you get to see it without the tourists. We noticed that is very popular with Japanese (and probably Chinese) tourist groups.

GOLDENER
HIRSCH

BREAKFAST
ROOM AT THE
GOLDENER
HIRSCH

We stayed at a hotel called The Goldener Hirsch (the golden deer). This hotel is literally attached (but within) the city walls and is like a museum. It’s pretty big with several public sitting rooms filled with old stuffed furniture, including a billiard table with broken cue sticks. The elevator is straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock thriller from the 50's. On the plus side, our room was huge, and it is one of the few hotels within the city walls which has its own parking. The parking is about a 100 meter walk from the hotel, but it is simple to get there and back. It's also no problem to park right in front of the hotel with your car to load and unload luggage. WiFi cost a Euro a day but was strong enough to justify the cost.

ROTHENBURG

Our main complaint was the height of the bath tub, which is where the shower was. The bathroom was modern and recently renovated, but the bath tub was apparently designed for very tall people. Alisa isn't very tall and it was difficult for her to get in and out of the tub without a ladder in order to take a shower. I’m average height and it was high for me, too. The staff were all very helpful (not regarding the bath tub), and breakfast was adequate, although it was the weakest of the hotel breakfasts we had during this trip in Germany. (We stayed in 4 other hotels.) Breakfast did include good strong coffee and decoratively painted hard boiled eggs. Some had Japanese (or Chinese) symbols on them, apparently to entertain the many tour groups from those countries. The view from the breakfast room was stunning. 

ROTHENBURG
BEER STEIN

CERAMICS IN
ROTHENBURG

As I wrote above, Rothenburg is a lovely town and it was a pleasure to stroll about. The town is full of stores, some with the usual tourist trash, but many with very interesting artwork and handicrafts. One particular thing which was displayed in several stores and particularly impressed us was beautiful ceramic art. To the left is a picture of one of these stores which specialized in beautiful ceramic houses. To the right above is more ceramics, with the main item being a giant beer stein.

DINING IN
ROTHENBURG

We ate at several restaurants in Rothenburg. The best was supposed to be the restaurant at the Eisenhut Hotel. Unfortunately, it was a big disappointment. The place is lovely and dining was out on the outdoor veranda with a lovely view into the valley. When we arrived, we found a dish on the table with our name on it indicating that the table was reserved for us. From there, it went downhill. The service was very slow because there was a large tourist group dining inside, and the food was good but nothing special. The worst dish was my main dish which was described as "roasted poulard breast on wild garlic foam with breaded cauliflower and basmati rice". The chicken was totally dried out. There wasn't much else on the menu that I wanted, so I had a few bites and then complained to the waitress about the chicken. The diner at the next table, who overheard me, supported my complaint. They gave us a sorbet for dessert "on the house" as compensation, but didn't remove the chicken dish from the bill.

LOVELY PARK IN
ROTHENBURG

JEWISH MEMORIAL
GARDEN IN
ROTHENBURG

We also ate at a tiny Italian restaurant called "Taverna da Calda". They served wonderful fresh pasta. For lunch on the full day we spent in Rothenburg, we ate at "Zum Schwann", a very typical German beer garden with very typical Bavarian food. It's part of a hotel of the same name. That's where I had my regional specialty of bratwurst and sauerkraut (picture to the right).

BRATWURST AND
SAUERKRAUT

DINKELSBUHL
CENTER

After leaving Rothenburg, we visited Dinkelsbühl on the Romantic Road on the way to Munich. Dinkelsbühl is a very attractive town, and in fact is very much like Rothenburg, but without all the tourists. Dinkelsbühl seems more like a "normal" town, with normal stores, but with beautiful buildings as in Rothenburg. What it lacks is all the tourist shops. We enjoyed our short visit here.  The most interesting thing we saw there were the stones people had paved into the sidewalk right in front of St. George's Church in the center of town. The stones are intended to commemorate some event, or memorialize someone. To the right is a picture of a couple of the stones. This church is very impressive and apparently (we didn't check) you can climb up the church tower for a great view of the town.  Here is a nice travel blog with some great pictures of Dinkelsbühl and St. George's Church. It starts with a lovely interior picture of the beautiful wide aisled nave.

DINKELSBUHL
GROUND STONES

The southernmost attraction on the Romantic Road is Neuschwanstein Castle, which is located about 100 KM south of Munich. This castle was built by King Ludwig II, and is a real fairy tale castle in an incredible location in the Alps. We did not visit here, mainly because a visit here is logistically complicated and uses up at least one full day. If you do a tour of any sort from Munich, it is a full day trip, and If you drive there yourself, it's best to stay overnight in the area. Here is Fodor's advice on how to visit. Another attraction on the Romantic Road which we didn't visit is Augsburg, a city of 270,000 population, noted as the birthplace of Mozart. From what I've read, it's worth a visit, but we were in a hurry and wanted to get to Munich on the only day we could have visited.

Munich was a pleasant surprise for both of us. It was our first real visit together. I had been there many (many, many) years ago when a friend and I went there to attend the Octoberfest without a hotel reservation. Needless to say, it was an unforgettable experience. This time we were more organized, and we stayed at the Hotel Kriemhild, a family owned and run hotel located in the Nymphenburg neighborhood. It’s a 10 minute tram ride to the center, and there are 2 different tram stops, both about a 2-3 minute walk from the hotel. There are 2 major attractions within walking distance of the hotel, and they are the Nymphenburg Palace, which is one of the leading tourist attractions in Munich, and the other is the Hirsch Beer Garden (Hirschgarten), which is the largest beer garden in all of Europe. The hotel is well run and well maintained. The staff and the family that owns it are all most helpful and friendly. Breakfast was good, and the room was spacious and comfortable.

The entrance to the Hirschgarten is about 100 meters from the hotel. Eating here is a real experience. It is huge, with an inside restaurant, a large dining area outside, and a huge park where the locals have picnics and spend the whole day. You have the choice of sitting at a table with service, or serving yourself at any of several serving stations, and sitting down anywhere in the free seating area.  One good thing here is that the menu has more on it than the standard beer garden fare. There's pasta, as well as chicken and duck. To the left above is a general view, and below it is a picture which should give you an idea of the scale of the operation - it shows an electric cart which collects the beer mugs from the entire area. To the right above is a delicious roasted duck that I had.

The other attraction which is literally right around the corner (5 minute walk) is the Nymphenburg Palace which includes a grand palace, several smaller buildings, and beautiful Gardens. It's an impressive place. The grounds are open to the public and the locals use it for biking and walking, while entrance to the palace itself is by admission fee and is very impressive. Pictures to the right and left.

We spent 3 full days and part of a fourth in Munich. We spent most of that time strolling in the town center. To the left is a picture of the Marienplatz, the main square of Munich, and to the right is the popular glockenspiel of city hall.  the building in the center of the picture on the is the new town hall, and all the people milling about are waiting to see the glockenspiel play. It plays every day at 11 AM, as well as 12 noon and 5 PM in summer. It's great fun, and I assume the pickpockets really love it.

While in Munch, we also visited the Deutsches Museum, one of best science and technology museums in the world, and attended an organ concert at an incredible church called the Asamkirche. The real name of the church is the "Church of St. Johann Nepomuk, and both inside and out is quite incredible, but if you have a bad back, don't attend a concert here. The seats are the most uncomfortable I have ever encountered.

Although most of the city walls of medieval Munich have been destroyed, 3 of the original 4 gates still stand, Karlstor, Isartor, and Sendlinger Tor. Each one has a tram stop nearby and we entered and left the old city by one of these gates each day. I guess the most interesting was Sendlinger Tor, as the entire area leading up to the gate has been taken over (during daylight hours) by an Italian food market. Picture to the left. To the right is a picture of the town center on the very sunny and beautiful Saturday we were there. The center was inundated by strollers and shoppers on Saturday, when all the stores are open. On Sunday it was another beautiful day and despite the stores being closed, there were lots of strollers, although not nearly as much as on Saturday. The town center was full of street entertainers, music, mimes, dancers - and it was great fun.

As for meals and restaurants, we had lots of fun in Munich. To the right is a picture of the Hofbrau House, more a tourist attraction than a restaurant, with a traditional "oompa-pa" band playing, and waitresses scurrying around with several liter beer steins in each hand. We didn't eat here - we just stopped in to have a look. We did eat at several other beer halls, so we know what the food and beer is like. The beer is great - fresh and cold and tasty, and the food is mostly dumplings, sausages and pork knuckles, with 1 or 2 fish dishes, usually "zander" fish, a member of the perch family, which was generally overcooked or heavily breaded.

IN THE
VIKTUALIENMARKT

Probably due to the proximity of the Nymphenburg Palace, there were several restaurants near our hotel (besides the Hirschgarten). One of them was "Il Golfo", another of those ubiquitous Italian restaurants in Germany. This one had great fresh pasta, and  to the left is a picture of the "orechiette", (Puglian style pasta) , which Alisa had. To the right is the Riva Bar, which makes the best pizza in Munich. It's located in the center, near Isartor, and it's far more than a pizzeria. Every evening, this place is packed with revelers drinking and eating pizza.

To the right is the new synagogue, Ohel Jakob, which opened in 2007. It is now the main synagogue of the Munich Jewish community. Right next door to it (not shown in the picture) is a Jewish history museum. I assume that this is the only synagogue in the city today, as all the others were destroyed during World War 2.