Nuremberg – Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Today's Route




This morning we left the campsite (passing the fascinating looking "Cowboys and Indians Club") and went to the Kongresshalle – the uncompleted building commissioned by Hitler to be part of the complex where his massive rallies of power were held.

A fascinating place to visit, although not really for the building itself (had it been finished it would have been amazing, but to be honest, the best view of it is from outside where it is incredibly imposing and just gigantic) but for the tour that takes you through the history of how the Third Reich came about and what happened before, during and after the war.

Really interesting - and pretty chilling as well - it's done as an audio tour, with lots of videos of survivors and participants in the war and lots of exhibits and the like , and you do get to see inside the Kongresshalle – which is interesting. More interesting is that the current building is 39m high – it was planned to be another 30m higher! I don't think the photos do it justice either – it is very, very large!

We were there for about 3 hours anyway – well worth €5 each, and a big recommendation for a trip if you are passing.

After that – with plenty of food for thought and lots to discuss – we set off for a campsite we found in the book – somewhere near Rothenburg – apparently a big tourist attraction. We ended up in Rothenburg (that wasn't actually part of the plan) and discovered a motorhome car park where we could stay for the night for a bargain €6 – so we did that – us and about 30 other vans, although ours really stood out as not being one of the 'standard' white motorhomes! We were dwarfed for sure.

The big bonus was that we were really close to town – and we were saving money – which meant that we could cycle into the town centre, have a stroll and – with the money we were 'saving' from not staying on a campsite, we could eat out :) What a bonus.

The town was lovely – really nice.

We cycled around a bit and then ditched the bikes and went on the walk around the city walls.

Apparently there are 24 towers around the walls – the oldest being from the early 14^th century, the rest from a bit later on I suppose. Still, there were all different and all lovely – and the views from some of the locations, especially the gardens of the oldest tower were spectacular and suprising – deep wooded valleys!

We hadn't noticed that coming in from the other side of town, there it had been quite flat! Well worth a stroll though.

After that we had worked up quite an appetite – well, Jon had, and he gets quite grumpy when he gets hungry, so action was required. We ended up in a chinese restaurant (when in Rome... ha ha) and that was just perfect :)

On our final stroll – back to collect the bikes – we noticed a number of shops selling what we assumed must be the local speciality – Schneeballen, definitely a sweet thing, but what and how we weren't sure. Certainly there was a wide variety – and definitely some were coming our way.

Tomorrow!