The forecast today wasn’t great but despite that we set off to explore Nuremberg before we move to Rothenberg ob der Tauber this evening. We had a few cups of coffee and packed everything up then went downstairs to check out and leave our cases with reception before heading off to explore. Once a mighty medieval city, Nuremberg was 90% ruined by bombing during WWII but has been rebuilt and on the whole looks quite authentic. Divided in half by the Pegnitz River, the Old town is filled with half timbered homes and a lot of churches. The village of Nuremberg saw rapid expansion in the Middle Ages and grew quite powerful thanks to the wonderful network of defensive walls, towers and moats. These defences meant that Nuremberg was not taken by military force for over 1,000 years, this only changed a the end of WWII when the Allied forces took over the town. Detailed pre-war photographs have meant that 80% of the 3 mile wall is still standing. By 1452 the moat which was 40 foot deep, 65 feet wide had been completed. We walked along the wall towards the main station, the wall and towers here have been fully restored, and you can walk both inside and outside the walls as well as along the dry moat and entered by Blue Q gate, the gates were all colour coded and given a letter to help in case of attack or fire. The Royal Craftmens courtyard is just inside the gate, this is actually a modern addition built for a year in 1971 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of local artist Albrecht Durer’s birthday but it proved so successful it has remained ever since! At the end of this area is the Tower of our Lady which was one of 160 watchtowers in town, this tower served as the gateway and toll stop for all visitors from the south. Just further down the road is the Church of St Klara, this was part of the St Klara Covent which operated from 1230 to 1574 when it was closed due to the reformation. The convent sat just outside of the original wall which meant it prospered, unfortunately at this point it started to rain so we quickly dived undercover to put on our mac’s and make sure we could keep the camera dry. Just up the road from the convent is the Granary and Toll Hall, this was a medieval warehouse that was built around 1500 to store grain for the citizens of Nuremberg in times of crisis. It is 275 feet long, 65 feet wide and 95 feet tall and was one of the largest of the 12 granaries built in the city. From 1571 the city’s customs house and municipal scales were located on the ground floor of the granary building, incoming goods from all over the world were checked and weighed to ensure they met regulations, this is why the hall got the name of Toll Hall. Opposite is St Lawrence church which is one of three important churches in Nuremberg. The western facing front has two bell towers which stand at 80 and 81 feet, they are said to have been modelled after Bamberg Cathedral, the oldest of the 16 church bells were cast in the1300’s, to the side of the church is Lawrence Square, this square is where the last remaining medieval tower houses in Nuremberg are, these tower houses littered Medieval villages as they provided both a defensive vertical retreat during invasions and also acted as a status symbol for wealthy merchants. Continuing down the hill we got to the Museum Bridge, which was the first permanent crossing over the Pegnitz River and was built in 1200. It was originally called the barefoot bridge as it connected the Franciscan monastery with the city, it gives great views of the former Holy Ghost Hospital, the hospital was built in 1332 through donations from money lender Konrad Gross who was the richest man in town and hoped to buy his way into heaven and salvation through generous charity! The hospital is famous for being where the Imperial Jewels and crown of the Holy Roman Emperor were stored from 1424 to 1796 before being moved to Vienna. This bridge leads into the Main Square, but unfortunately it was raining quite heavily by this time so we looked around for somewhere to stop and have a coffee and dry out a bit, in the end we found a very nice little coffee bar that sold hot chocolate so we stopped there hopping the rain would ease up a little. Fortified by the Hot Chocolate we continued on our way looking at the Church of Our Lady on the square and the Beautiful Fountain which is shaped like a gothic spire and is 62 foot tall, it was built between 1385 – 1396 and has 40 brightly coloured figures representing the world view of the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages. While the fountain has been recast many times over the centuries the current limestone version dates from 1902 and somehow survived the bombing of WWII. As you leave the square the next building of note is the Old Town Hall and opposite this is the Fembo House which houses the city museum. This is the only surviving merchants house from the late Renaissance, it sits half way up the hill to the Castle and was built by a wealthy silk merchant, we decided to go in as we thought that all of the rooms were complete and furnished but it turned out that only a few of them were, all the same the carvings on the woodwork and the decorations and what furniture there was were all very impressive. Interestingly the kitchen was on the second floor next to the dining room, but this seems a little high risk in a brick and wood built house, they obviously didn’t think so and it cant have burnt down as the house is still here. By the time we finished walking round the museum, the rain had eased off a bit so it was time for the final push to the top of the hill and the castle. There is evidence of a settlement on this site since before 1000 AD, the current castle was started in 1050 and served as the main seat of power for the Holy Roman Empire from 1051 to 1571. We didn’t bother going in as you can see most of the buildings from the outside, and inside is fully reconstructed as it was also badly damaged in the war. We were quite wet by this stage so we decided we would start heading back but stopped for some lunch before completing the walk. The speciality of Nuremberg is the sausage, Bratwurst sausages are served with spicy mustard and have their own tradition, on a plate sausages are always served in even numbers, 6 or 12 (although the restaurant we went in also served 9!) but in a bun there are always 3 sausages. We stopped in what looked like one of the traditional breweries come sausage houses and had a very pleasant meal, I had my sausages with potatoes salad and Chris had his with sauerkraut but they were both very nice. Fully refreshed and warm we set off for the final part of the walk to white tanners lane, this is a continuous section of half timber homes which contains 20 houses that somehow managed to survive WWII, it sounded very impressive but when you look at the size of the city 20 houses are not very many but quite a nice way to finish our walk round Nuremberg. It wasn’t far from here to the hotel to pick up our bags, then as there was still a bit of rain in the air we decided to take the metro to central station and start our journey to Rothenberg ob der Tauber although this is only just over an hour away we have to take 3 trains to get there! Although this sounded complicated it was actually very easy, each of the connections went very smoothly and we arrived in the town and walked the 15 minutes to our hotel. Luckily Chris’ case survived the experience so as long as it makes it back we should be ok. We are staying right in the middle of the old town and we have a fantastic room overlooking the Main Street so it will be very nice for the next couple of nights, there seem to be some sort of Roundhead and Caviler type march from the building opposite us but we didn’t manage to look out the window in time, this wasn’t a problem as when we went down for a drink they all seemed to be sitting in the bar!, hopefully this is something they do each evening and we will see it tomorrow. I am not sure what we will do this evening as we are both quite tired but it will probably involve getting some food and drink not very far away and an early night!
