Road trip, Day 2, Rothenberg, Dinkelsbuhl, and Nordlingen

For our second day on the Romantic Road, we spent the morning exploring Rothenburg, then drove ~45 km due south to Dinkelsbuhl (what a great name for a town...you can imagine what Art calls it), then on to Nordlingen (another 35 km due south). We decided to skip Augsberg, the third largest city in Germany, and drove ~190 km on to Fussen late on Tuesday afternoon.

We spent Monday night in this fabulous boutique hotel, the  Mittermeier, in Rothenburg. It is located just outside the town walls, and it was from here that we literally stumbled onto the Festspeil. To the right, you can see the garden terrace where we had dinner on Monday night, as well as breakfast on Tuesday morning. The cuisine here is rated as one of the best along the Romantic Road, and we agree. We had a fabulous meal; I had grilled baby calamari, while Art had pike perch. (Price of meal was fabulous as well.)

Here is the lobby of the Hotel Mittermeier. The rooms were just as exquisitely furnished as the lobby. 

Breakfast buffet, which included salmon, various meats, cheeses, and breads, along with yogurt and fruit. Yummy!!!!

We walked off our breakfast by climbing this tower and strolling along the ramparts that completely surround the city of Rothenburg. The ramparts were built in the 16th century and include many towers such as this, which are strategically placed around the circumference. 

The most photographed house in Rothenburg! In retrospect, this was the loveliest of the medieval cities we visited today. Around every corner, we saw sights like this. 

A local delicacy, Schneeballen,which are are fried balls of sweet dough  dipped in sugar or chocolate. Of course, we had to try several. Verdict: OK, but not worth the calories. 

The Rathaus, or town hall, was built in the 14th century. The Festspiel was concluded in the square here last night. 

Typical half-timbered houses in the town, circa 14th-15th century. 

Another example of one of the gates protecting the city. 

Every town has a church, and this is the Gothic church of St. Jacob, which was built in 1336. 

So, now we have moved on to Dinkelsbuhl, which is also surrounded by medieval walls and towers. The town is much smaller than Rothenburg, was even better preserved, and had many fewer tourists (namely, fewer Japanese tourists on their tour buses). 

To me, this is the quintessential German marktplatz. Hard to believe that these buildings have survived for 400-500 years. 

We have been in some spectacular churches, but this one was special. Built between 1448-1499, the Munster St. Georg had a magnificent interior and the overhead vaulting was breathtaking. 

We spent an hour or so strolling along the  fortified wall surrounding Dinkelsbuhl. Here is another of the 16 towers along the wall. 

A final look at Dinkelsbuhl and the fortified walls. 

Our third, and last, medieval city surrounded by walls was  Nordlingen. This town sits in a gigantic crater called the Ries, which was created when a large meteorite stuck this area over 15 million years ago (how the heck do people figure this out; it was not obvious from driving through this area! But, apparently the original NASA astronauts used this crater to practice landing on the moon...small world). 

St. Georgkirsch dates from the 15th century. Here is the tower,  called the Daniel, which is over 300 ft. high. I climbed the 350 steps to the top (parts of which were really creepy), to take the pictures an video seen below. The original walls from the 14th century should be clearly visible in the video and pictures. 

A view from the top of the Daniel.

What was so interesting about this wall were the houses that were built onto it. Here you can see examples of homes that were built using the 14th century fortifications as the rear wall of their houses.