The Romantic Road - Dinkelsbühl
The Romantic Road was a slower drive than the highway, but we still managed to move along at decent speeds. The little Skoda was handling it fine, and it wasn’t long before we arrived at the town of Dinkelsbühl. I was excited for this part, as I’ve marked this off well in advance as a must-stop place. It’s a medieval town that is much like Rothenburg, with similar architecture and medieval feel, but Dinkelsbühl is significantly smaller. We parked outside the walls on a small island in the river and entered the town through the Wörnitztor. There was a little Christmas Market set up right inside the gate that was surprisingly open. We wandered through the market and passed through to the square where we were surrounded by bright colored buildings with the steeple of Münster St. Georg towering overhead.
We walked along narrow streets lined with the traditional houses split with more modern ones in between. Old or new, they were all so colorful here. We were keeping watch on the time as we still had a bit to drive, and being December we were working with short days, but as we wandered through the town we found we just wanted to stay longer. We knew from the planning stages on this part of the trip that we were only able to drop in for quick visits in these smaller towns, but we found Dinkelsbühl to be one where we wanted to stay and really get to know. Like Nuremberg, this place has that comfy home-feel to it. I was still feeling pretty sick, and we were still full from our quick lunch earlier… but all those cafés looked so good! I just want to sit in them, relax, take in the town, and then mosey on down to the next one. If only there was more time…
Down by the Segringer Tor there was a funky little church called the Kapuzinerkirche. Closed of course, but the outside was interesting the way it sat on the corner of the street with the alley around the walls. Beth climbed up the stairs of the Tor and I got some pics… I have a thing for shooting stairways, doorways, and pathways- and the tower gave me all three! There was a gap between the wall and the hills just to the outside of town where there was a trail running along the center of the gap. A couple was walking along and pushing a stroller, the walls standing alongside and the towers rising around them. How cool would it be to just casually stroll through a medieval city that you call your home? We’d love to try it sometime, and Dinkelsbühl seems like it would be a perfect place to have at it.
Back on the little island where we parked the car, we walked along the river and longingly looked along the town walls and the narrow bridges that crossed through them. Time here was short as planned, but when you are captivated by a place like this you mark it down as somewhere you will return. Someday…
The Romantic Road took us further to the south toward Fussen. We looped around Nordlingen instead of stopping. The city was on the list as a maybe, along with shooting down to the castle at Harburg, but it was getting much too late in the day to see either. We had spent more time than expected in Rothenburg and Dinkelsbühl than planned, but that was totally worth it. This is why we plan “must see” places as well as “if we can” places. We’ve done our must see stops for today, but now we have to hurry and that means passing by a few things. We started heading west along the 466 toward the 7 highway that would get us quickly into Fussen, but we did make a quick stop for the ruins at Niederhaus
We followed a small road through a little town to a smaller road through the country, and then an even smaller road that felt like we were heading to someone’s farmhouse. As we slowly drove along behind the house we found a pull-off for the castle. We climbed the hill as the sun touched the horizon, and in the dimming light we reached the ancient ruins. Across the narrow bridge was the castle’s tower, and at this point of the evening it was pitch black inside. From the tower we found the remains of the main hall. This place was huge once, and we looked around the old walls trying to imagine the rooms it once held. The entire castle had an eerie glow in the twilight, like in a fantasy story right before the skeletons in ancient armor crawled up from the ground. A marker of some sort was on the wall with a date from the 1200s. That's old! The ruins kept going back further along the hill, and going further into disrepair as they went. The sunlight had all but disappeared as we reached the back of the site. It was an amazing place. As we made our trek back to the car, we needed to carefully find our footing in these dark ancient ruins.
Fussen is a pretty little town right next to the border with Austria at the foot of the mountains. The town’s claim to fame is its proximity to Neuschwanstein Castle, which of course is why we are here. We checked into the hotel which was also a doctor’s office… it was a strange feeling for sure as it actually had the atmosphere of both, but it was ultimately a nice place! Unfortunately the doctor wasn’t in this time of night as I was still feeling pretty sick. We went out in town to try to find some medicine but everything was closed. I actually had a bit of a nap when I parked the car before our walk around town. It’s horrible being sick on a trip!
When in Rome, you do as the Romans do. When in Fussen, you… also do as the Romans do! We grabbed some pizza and a dish of pasta from an Italian place in town before we headed back to bed.
Tomorrow we see some castles! Hopefully I’ll feel better…
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