Romantik medieval Rothenburg ob der Tauber

1. Nothing beats walking on the town walls - the views are magnificent and you can experience parts on your own if you head up the walls in the late afternoon or early morning.

2. Having a beer and waffle under the linden during summer or Glühwein with sausages and pastries at the Christmas Market during Advent.

3. Visiting the Medieval Crime Museum to see some of the old documents and torture devices.

4. Stay in a romantic small hotel.

5. Enjoy a feast for dinner - many good restaurants are located in the old city, both as part of the numerous upscale hotels and individual establishments.

6. Walk the cobble city streets at night.

7. Visit the "it’s always Christmas" stores of Kaethe Wohlfahrt.

8. Browse through the shops selling stuff ranging from antiques to ultra modern. Advertising is always restrained - even the McDonalds (is nothing sacred?) has to tone it down!

9. Climb to the top of a tower and appreciate the surroundings.

10. Walk the streets by day - preferable before the hordes arrive!

Quick Tips:

Rothenburg was a forgotten town for many centuries but it hasn’t been a hidden secret for the past century or so. It is massively popular and gets very crowded during the day. Fortunately most visitors are day-trippers leaving the town pleasantly quiet towards the late afternoon. Early mornings can also be surprisingly quiet on the walls.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber means Rothenburg above the River Tauber indicating its location on a hill overlooking the river rather than being on its banks. The views over the valley are magnificent and in contrast to most foreign visitors, German tourists often spend a few days here and ramble through the surrounding country side.

The town is small so it is possible to print a very complete map on half a page. Maps are available freely from most hotels and the tourism office at the Market Square and on the web. Useful websites include: the official tourism office site: http://www.rothenburg.de/, the more commercial and useful http://www.rothenburg-online.de and a live Web cam at Market Square: http://www.rotabene.de/webcam

Best Way To Get Around:

Rothenburg is small and walking is the only way to get around except for the trip to and from the station if you arrive by public transportation. Taxis are limited and if you travel light it is less than 20 minutes walk to the old town.

Getting to Rothenburg by car is no problem but public transportation is not equally convenient. During summer it is possible to reach Rothenburg on the Romantic Route Bus from Frankfurt or on the Castle Road bus from Heidelberg or Munich. The routes and schedules for 2002 are new and different from previous years.

By train the journey is more arduous. From Frankfurt take the train to Wurzburg, transfer to Steinach and then about ten minutes more on the local to Rothenburg. From Munich most trains require transfers in Augsburg, Treuchtlingen and Steinach. If you have luggage it is worth trying to take the odd train that goes directly to Steinach. Routes by ICE via Wurzburg could be sensible if you have a rail pass. Journey time from Munich or Frankfurt is about 2.5 hours.

The Romantik Hotel Markusturm is beautifully located in the Altstadt next to the historic St Mark’s Tower, just minutes away from the central Marktplatz (Market Square). It formed part of the town wall when the enwalled town was significantly smaller but is now basically in the middle of what constitutes the current "Old Town". Parts of the hotel date from 1264 and the building was used as an inn or hotel since 1488.

It is a relatively small establishment with only 25 rooms - thankfully all but four are non-smoking. The rooms are relatively large with traditionally painted rustic furniture. Some rooms apparently have antique furniture as well but we were quite charmed with our Bavarian style room. The bathroom was positively massive with modern fittings and all the expected amenities.

Although our room fronted the cobble stone street, it was surprisingly quiet. I recalled a previous stay during summer in a cobble street front room in the very pleasant Hotel Goldener Hirsch that was really noisy at night. This time we went in winter and closed windows all night obviously helped. We were hoping to stay in the Goldener Hirsch again but it was fully booked. However, we didn’t regret the change and would probably prefer the Markusturm again in future.

Breakfast is included in the room rate and served in a cozy wood paneled room on the ground floor. It is a substantial buffet by German standards including cereals, yogurt, eggs, meats, bread, fruit, juice and very good coffee. The Bavarian restaurant is apparently highly rated but we did not dine there ourselves.

The hotel is run by the Berger family and we found all personnel that we dealt with very friendly and helpful. Useful brochures and maps of Rothenburg are placed in guestrooms and available in various languages from the front desk. Parking is available for free and the hotel is located just outside the traffic free zone. It is about five minutes by taxi to the station.

The only post office inside the old town is in Milchmarkt, behind the hotel.

We paid around DM 200 for a large double room in December 2000, significantly less than the Euro 190 available currently through the same booking service that we used.

The Medieval Crime Museum is a pretty serious museum and apparently the only law museum in Europe. That said many people refer to it as the Torture Museum as it has a large display of torture devices and these invariably get more attention than the old juridical scripts.

The museum is housed in a building dating from 1395 although it was redone in 1718 as the only building in Rothenburg in the Baroque style. Although it is spread out over four floors many people seem to rush through in half an hour focusing on the aforementioned torture instruments.

Personally I found the old documents and illustrated legal guides of even more interest and to study them to any extend you should set aside at least an hour and a half to two hours. All displays are explained in both English and German. Of particular interest is the illustrated Sachsenspiegel, the oldest and most influential German code of law of the middle ages. It was compiled from 1220 to 1235 and records the customary law of the Saxons including court proceedings, property transfers, punishments, due dates and liability. Also of interest are the woodcuts explaining penalties of shame and honor, including facemasks of shame, neck violins for feuding people and the baker’s baptism.

The highlight for many is the display with torture and punishment instruments including leg irons, stocks, spiked-chairs, finger screws, chastity belts and neck-violins. There is also a "drunk barrel" that was to be worn by drunkards and an iron maiden for women of ill repute. Execution seems to have been a particular favorite of medieval justice and torture was thrown in for good measure too. Even on the way to the gallows hot pincers could be applied to the body of the condemned. Degrading public punishments such as being tied up with a facemask of a pig or dragon or in neck violins for quarrelsome people also seem to have played an important role in keeping the peace and order in medieval society.

The museum can get very busy, especially with school groups although they tend to rush through at great speed except for the gruesome exhibits. I would strongly recommend getting there as close as possible to opening time.

Outside the museum is a set of stocks with queues of patrons lining up to have their photos taken. You can access these stocks at all times so you can come back outside museum hours to take a picture without having to jostle for position. Also outside is a baker’s baptism, a cage used to dunk bakers into the river if they were found to bake underweight bread. Similar systems for bakers were used in many countries and is the origin of a baker’s dozen being 13, just to be safe.

Entrance is Euro 3,20. The museum is open daily but during November, January to March only in the afternoon.

Rothenburg is completely encircled by a town wall 3400 m long. Almost 2,5 km of this wall can be walked under a tile roof for wonderful vistas of both the old town and through the firing slits of the beautiful surrounding countryside as well. The town wall is probably the main attraction for many of the visitors to this remarkable medieval town.

Access to the wall is free and possible at various points in the town. A popular point to start a wall walk is from the Kobozeller Tor, close to the Plönlein. From here you can walk on the wall towards Spital Bastion at the south end of the town while appreciating the views of the Tauber valley. Spital Bastion is the strongest fortification with two outer courtyards and seven gates. In medieval times the steep slopes towards the river was always bare for defensive purposes and helps explain why Rothenburg is called "above" the Tauber and not "on" the river as most other river front cities are in Germany. Exit the old town at Spital Bastion to appreciate the fortifications as potential invaders would have done.

From Spital Bastion it is possible to walk almost 2 km along the wall towards Klingebastei in the north. The names of people who donated money for the repair of Rothenburg after the Second World War are written on stone bricks along this section. Some of the views towards the newer part of town are less inspiring than those towards the Tauber valley.

About halfway is the Roedertor. This tower gate date from the late fourteenth century and can at times be ascended for magnificent views. A little further on is the Galgentor (Gallows Gate), which is the only entry point for cars during traffic restriction times. The part of the wall that can be walked ends at Klingentor in the northwest of the town. The view from outside the gate towards the Tauber Valley is magnificent and emphasizes why Rothenburg is "above" the Tauber even more than the view from Spital Bastion does.

If your time or energy is limited concentrate on the Spital Bastion and the Roedertor.

Rothenburg gets very busy during the day and the walls get crowded as well. In the late afternoon or early morning, however, it is possible to enjoy large sections of the wall almost on your own with just the occasional fellow traveler passing by.

One of my fondest memories of my first visit to Rothenburg during summer was eating an enormous hot freshly made waffle with sour cherries and cream accompanied by an excellent cold pilsner under the linden trees on a terrace close to the St Jakobskirche. It was late afternoon, the day-trippers were leaving town and there were still at least four hours of daylight left to explore the town and walls in peace.

The most recent visit came the week before Christmas and al fresco dining was not foremost on my mind. However, the Christmas market was in full swing and we could not but enjoy in the open air some of the fine Glühwein, non-alcoholic Kinderpunsch and sausages on offer. Having spent the previous couple of days in Munich it was interesting to compare the fare on offer. In Rothenburg there were several different kinds of sausages including long thin ones that tasted absolutely divine. As the "mad cow" scare broke in Germany shortly before our visit most stands had signs either declaring the sausages beef free or claiming to use only organic produce. After a few mugs of Glühwein these guarantees seemed of lesser importance.

Snow balls - Schneeballe - is a local specialty and is a round doughy pastry with lots of fine sugar on it. Truth be told it is hard to eat without making a mess and some of the other less famous but still local pastries we tried tasted a lot better without leaving white icing sugar all over our coats.

The Christmas Market was as could be expected much smaller than what we found in Munich and Frankfurt but still had a wide selection of food and drink and trinkets on sale. The main focus is the huge Christmas tree in the Market Square and along some of the narrow alleys towards the square in front of St Jakob’s Church.

As at other Christmas Markets in Germany you pay a deposit on the Gluhwein mug and can claim your deposit or Pfand back only at a special counter. As anyone who has worked in a bar or catered at a big party would know, this is a good idea to ensure the mug actually getting washed before being reused. We had some trouble finding the Pfand counter and by the time we did find it hidden in a narrow covered alley behind the Rathaus, we had already refilled and decided to keep the mugs as souvenirs anyway.

The proliferation of Käthe Wohlfahrt’s Christmas shops guarantees a year round Christmas atmosphere in much of Rothenburg and the Christmas Market was a nice opportunity to have the real thing complement the shops.

Käthe Wohlfahrt is an enterprise selling Christmas decorations year round. It currently has six shops in Rothenburg and several more in other locations in Germany and abroad.

In Rothenburg it is a dominating presence and you can experience Christmas even on the hottest summer day by entering any of the six shops. The largest and most interesting is the massive Weihnachtsdorf or Christmas Village just off Market Square in Herrngasse. This shop claims to have the largest collection of German Christmas decorations in the world and this claim would be hard to dispute. Displays range from large nutcrackers to huge Christmas trees and snow covered toy houses. Most items are made of wood and a far cry from modern mass-produced plastic decorations. Prices are of course not low but the items are of a high quality and make nice souvenirs. There is also a Christmas Decoration Museum but it seems hardly worth the money and effort after having seen the display in the main shop.

Each of the six stores has a different emphasis, but the Christmas Village is definitely the most interesting for mere browsing. The Clock Shop has a large variety of clocks from cuckoo to grandpa standing clocks. The Magic Mushroom sells mainly toys, in contrast to its Tokyo namesake, which specializes in hallucination inducing stuff. The Rosenpavillion has home decorations including a separate Meissen porcelain section. At the Bavarian Gift Shop you can pick up those Lederhosen that no closet is complete without as well as other traditional Bavarian attire.

The Käthe Wohlfahrt shops are concentrated around the Market Square area, which give them good exposure. Rothenburg can feel like one big Christmas shop until you wandered off a bit and regain some medieval calm and tranquility in the narrow back alleys.

The website has an interesting bit on how the store developed out of American interest in German Christmas decorations and toys after the Second World War.