Our European Holiday Day 10 - Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber

We had another exciting day exploring Bavaria. We were very glad that we switched up our plans yesterday and came to explore Neuschwanstein a day earlier than we originally planned. The weather yesterday could not have been more perfect. Today when we woke up it was rainy, cloudy, and very foggy. The views of the fog wrapping around the castle looked cool, but we preferred the picture-perfect, warm weather.

We picked up our tickets to tour the castle first thing this morning. We were scheduled for the 9:05 tour. While we waited for our tour we ate breakfast at our hotel. It was quite good. They had a variety of pastries, meats, cheeses, and even pretzels. After breakfast, we decided to wait for the shuttle. While we were waiting we realized it might not come in time for us to be at the castle for our tour and decided to walk up to the castle. It is about a mile hike up a somewhat steep hill. We booked it and made it with a few minutes to spare.

We were not sure what to expect with the tour. Most of the information we read online indicated that most of the castle was unfinished. The tour very much exceeded our expectations. The tour itself is not very long (around 30 minutes) and it goes through the finished/furnished portions of the castle. There is also no photography allowed inside the castle. The architecture and beauty of the finished portion of the castle blew us away. King Ludwig II built his castle in a very idyllic style. He wanted to harken back to an idealized version of medieval times. Throughout the tour, they emphasized that he grew up hearing the stories of knights, such as Percival who found the Holy Grail. King Ludwig decorated much of this castle with murals and motifs of legendary knights and their deeds. The throne room was particularly impressive. It was a golden room decorated with murals of Christ, the apostles, prophets, and sainted kings. We very much enjoyed the opportunity this tour gave us to explore the castle.

King Ludwig II designed his castles in very gothic, medieval styles. His bedroom had lovely gothic furniture with spires all around it. The art was crowded and often gold. The castle itself was built in the mid-19th century, so it’s not very old. However, the art forms he chose to make the castle seem older than it was. He was very much living in an escapist world fantasizing about when Kings had real power as his role was primarily signing papers, a role he despised.

After the tour, we hiked back up to Mary’s bridge. It was much less crowded than yesterday. We took a few minutes to enjoy a few last views of the castle before we headed back down into town. We packed our bags and we were on our way.

We had around a two-and-a-half-hour drive to our next destination – Rothenberg Ob Der Tauber. This is the town in Bavaria we most wanted to visit, but it would not have made sense to visit coming from Salzburg. We really could not have planned this trip the way it turned out. It made much better sense to go to the castle first and then explore Bavaria, but we did not realize that until we got here. The drive itself was not as pretty as some of our other drives. Most of this drive was on the Autobahn. It was more in line with what most people think of when they hear about the autobahn. For the most part, there was no speed limit and people drove as fast as it made sense. We averaged around 160km per hour and topped out between 180-190km per hour. I enjoyed being able to drive fast, but I honestly liked the views on our previous drives more.

We expected Rothenberg to be fairly busy. Everything we read indicated it was a popular tourist destination. It is a fairly well-preserved medieval-style town. They have an old wall and many well-preserved buildings. When we first entered the town we spent the first 5-10 minutes walking through deserted streets. We did not see another soul. It was kind of eerie. We made our way toward the large gothic church in the center of the town and on our way we did run into a few people, but it was much less busy than we expected.

We were very hungry and on the lookout for a place to eat. We stopped at the first restaurant we found. It was a hotel restaurant right near the gothic church. It was such a great experience. The food was delicious and our server was funny and so nice. We shared a unique flatbread dish. It had a creamy sauce, cheese, green onion, and bacon or ham on a very thin flatbread crust. It was so good. Alison went with schnitzel for her main course and I had bratwurst sausages. This ended up being another excellent Bavarian meal.

When we were done eating we began wandering through the town. We made our way to the town square where there was lots of shopping. Alison very much enjoyed walking through the Christmas shops. They had really cool Christmas décor – including some of the most interesting nativities I have seen. Alison found an ornament that she loved. We bought it along with a couple of gifts for the family.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the town. It was a fun place to explore. Some areas had beautiful views of the surrounding countryside, which were particularly stunning because the leaves were beginning to change. We also walked around the old town walls. We would stop in various shops – chocolate shops (where Alison would buy truffles) or little souvenir shops. As we walked around town Alison liked to talk about how she could imagine what it might have been like to have lived in this town in the middle ages. She would point to a barn and talk about how that would have been where they kept animals and hay or how a man would have ridden his horse down the next street.

When we had explored to our heart's content we found a pastry shop and bought some pastries for the road. We got a couple of traditional-style pastries and a couple special pastries that seemed to be very popular in this town. They are a fried ball of crust that is covered in chocolate or other deliciousness. We bought a vanilla flavored one and a nougat one.

We had about a 3.5-hour drive to our destination for the night – Innsbruck. The first couple of hours were on the Autobahn and were similar to our drive to Rothenburg. The last hour of the drive was awesome. We crossed the border back into Austria and we wound our way through the Austrian Alps. The scenery was unbelievable. The mountains are so huge and imposing and they are all covered in green forests. We loved it. We would often spot castles or churches high up on mountaintops. In one area we saw a bridge suspended hundreds of feet overhead leading to the ruins of a castle. We were tempted to stop, but it was late and would be getting dark soon. If we come back to this area we would want to check it out. We have done a lot of driving the past few days and it really has been a very enjoyable part of the trip. We have seen so much beautiful countryside. Driving by little Alpine villages and through the alps has been one of our favorite parts of this trip.

We made it to Innsbruck and returned our rental car. We are only staying here overnight. In the morning we are catching a train out of Austria and onto our next adventure – Switzerland!