A five days tour in Baviera visiting old towns, castles, churches and monuments along the touristic path called “Romantic Road”.
The national meeting of the Alpini in Bassano allows Enrica to have a few days off. We plan to take the Romantic Road or Romantic Strasse in German, a famous tourist route in southern Germany: from Wurzburg to Fussen. Path that winds through the beautiful hills / mountains of Bavaria through characteristic villages. Given the shortness of the trip, we prefer to book rooms in advance to stay overnight, so that we can arrive at the last moment without wasting time searching.
The “Romantic Strasse” is as tidy, clean and well maintained as the rest of Bavaria in general. The itinerary is easy to follow and well signposted. All the people met have always been available, kind and helpful in giving information and directions. Not knowing German and using English we had no problems in making ourselves understood.
Thursday 8 May 2008 (Vicenza – Fussen 409Km)
I leave Vicenza around noon, in Bassano I find Enrica who has worked in the morning. We take the Valsugana and have a packed lunch on the shores of Lake Caldonazzo on a beautiful sunny day. We enter the A22 motorway in Trento north and in Innsbruck we turn into the A12 towards Bregenz. We leave the motorway and with the 179 we arrive in Fussen at 18.00. We easily find the B&B Jorde: nice, clean with large rooms. It is located 10 minutes walk from the center. The breakfast is plentiful.
We visit the historic center of Fussen . Several streets and pedestrian squares with outdoor bars, colorful houses and many flowers.
We have dinner at Franziskaner Stuberl, in Kempter Strasse, based on shank, dumplings, ravioli and vegetables. Not without the inevitable and splendid Bavarian beer!
Bed and Breakfast Marianne Jorde (56 € for two with breakfast)
Welfenstraße 35
87629 Füssen
Tel. +49 (0) 8362 38660 – +49 (0) 170 431 7903
Fax +49 (0) 8362 509624
e-mail: christian @ jorde -fussen.de
http://www.jorde-fussen.de
Friday 9 May 2008 (Fussen – Augsburg 146Km)
The day is splendid with a crisp air and a clear sky. We observe the two castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau in the distance , without stopping because we have already visited them previously. We visit the St. Coloman sanctuary in Schwangau and the splendid Wieskirche externally . In Steingaden we see the monastery. Continuing we find Rottenbuch and Schongau. In the afternoon we see Landsberg am Lech and we arrive in the late afternoon in Augsburg (Augusta), the largest city of the whole Romantic Road. We have a room at the IBIS on Koenigplatz near the historic center: the hotel is like all the others of the same chain: anonymous but clean and cheap. We begin the visit to the lively and cosmopolitan city. Curious is the Fuggerei, the first social housing complex in the world; the inhabitants still pay a symbolic rent of 1 € per year. The Lonely Planet rarely fails in recommending clubs and restaurants and in fact at Konig von Bayern in Johannisgasse we have a very good dinner.
Hotel Ibis Augsburg Beim Koenigsplatz (55 € for two without breakfast)
Hermanstrasse 25
86150 Augsburg
Tel. +49 (0) 821 503 10
Fax +49 (0) 821 503 1300
http://www.ibishotel.com
Saturday 10 May 2008 (Augsburg – Rothenburg odT 179Km)
After having finished the visit to the city we resume our tour. Let’s see Donauworth , Harburg Castle and Nordlingen and Dinkelsbühl in the afternoon . Along the way there are also other countries that we do not visit, it would take several days to be able to see everything. We booked a room in Steinsfeld, a small hamlet 5km from Rothenburg ob der Tauber , in the Zur Neuen Welt guesthouse, a very quiet, clean and spacious accommodation.
We have dinner in the center of Rothenburg odT at the Baumeisterhaus , a tourist but characteristic restaurant with hunting trophies and frescoed walls.
Gasthaus – Pension “Zur Neuen Welt” (45 € for two with breakfast)
Fam. Weininger
Rothenburger Straße 17
91628 Steinsfeld
Tel. +49 (0) 9861 3224
Fax +49 (0) 9861 934 639
e-mail: info @ zur- neuen-welt.de
http://www.zur-neuen-welt.de
Sunday 11 May 2008 (Rothenburg odT – Nurnberg 242Km)
In Rothenburg odT a historical event evokes a legend about the city. Everywhere there are characters in period costume: villagers, knights, soldiers, nobles … The town is very beautiful, retains a medieval aspect and there is not a “comma out of place”. We continue to Weikersheim and Tauberbischofsheim to get to Wurzburg one of the most important cities of the itinerary as well as the last. For the Germans, the classic direction of the Romantic strasse is the opposite of ours, so for them Wurzburg is the first stop.
From here we move to Nuremberg ; it has nothing to do with the Romantic strasse but it is a splendid city and it is worth including it in our holiday. We spend the night at the Garden Hotel, simple and clean in a central position (inside the walls). We have dinner in one of the many typical restaurants based on the mythical Nuremberg sausages (nurnberg bratwurst).
Garden Hotel (59 € for two with breakfast)
Vordere Ledergasse 12
90403 Nürnberg
Tel. +49 (0) 911 20 50 60
Fax +49 (0) 911 2 05 06 60
e-mail garden-hotel@altstadthotels.com
http: / /www.altstadthotels-nuernberg.de/
Monday 12 May 2008 (Nurnberg 632Km)
Unfortunately it is the feast of Pentecost and the shops are closed. The atmosphere of the city, always very lively, is compromised. However, the tourists present are sufficient not to make the beautiful city center deserted. In addition to the beautiful old town we visit the Reichsparteitagsgelände , a complex of structures for parades, training and military demonstrations wanted by the Fuhrer.
In the middle of the day we head to Italy to go home.
Useful information:
Motorways in Germany are free of charge, there are no toll booths. Normally there is no speed limit except for dangerous points, junctions, entrances; where there is a limit to be strictly observed.
In Austria the motorways do not have toll booths but it is necessary to purchase the vignette: a sticker to be applied on the windscreen (€ 7.60 for 10 days – May 2008). If you enter Austria via the Brenner pass (Brenner pass) and exit at Innsbruck it is not necessary, but if you continue even one exit it is. The vignette can be purchased in the rest area of the Brenner Pass. Shortly before Innsbruck there is the bridge of Europe also for a fee (8 € each way – May 2008)
Total kilometers traveled: 1608 Km in 5 days with Ford Focus SW
Maps, guides & useful bibliography:
Falk – Strassenatlas – Deutschland, Osterreich, Schweiz 1: 300.000 – 2008/2009 Michelin n. 730 – AUSTRIA – 1: 400.000
Italian Touring Club – Road Atlas of Europe – 1: 900.000
Maps and brochures of the cities visited distributed free of charge by the tourist offices
Lonely Planet – EDT – GERMANY – 3rd Italian edition, September 2004
Kraichgau Verlag – Tourist Guide – Romantic Road from the River Main to the Alps – Italian Edition.
Official site of the Romantischestrasse www.romantischestrasse.de great for finding accommodation and various information. Various
traveler sites
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