Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
• Step through the gate and outside the wall. Look around and imagine being locked out in
the year 1400. This was a wooden drawbridge (see the chain slits above). Notice the “pitch
nose” mask—designed to pour boiling Nutella on anyone attacking. High above is the town
coat of arms: a red castle
(roten Burg).
The garden before you was once that red castle (destroyed in the 14th century). Today, it's
a picnic-friendly park. The chapel (50 yards into the park on the left) is the only bit of the
originalcastletosurvive.It'snowamemorialtolocalJewskilledina1298slaughter.Afew
steps beyond that is a grapevine trellis that provides a fine picnic spot. If you walk all the
wayouttothegarden'sfarend,you'llfindagreatviewpoint(wellpastthetourists,andcon-
sidered the best place to kiss by romantic local teenagers). But the views of the lush Tauber
River Valley below are just as good from the top end of the park. Facing the town, on the
left, a path leads down to the village of Detwang (you can see the church spire below)—a
town even older than Rothenburg (for a walk to Detwang, see “A Walk in the Countryside,”
here
).Tothe right is a fine view ofthe fortified Rothenburgand the “Tauber Riviera” below.
• Return to the tower, cross carefully under the pitch nose, and hike back up Herrngasse to
your starting point.
Many towns have a Herrngasse, where the richest patricians and merchants (the
Herren
)
lived. Predictably, it's your best chance to see the town's finest old mansions. Strolling back
to Market Square, you'll pass the old-time puppet theater (German only, on left) and the
Franciscan church (from 1285, oldest in town, on right). The house at #18 is the biggest pa-
tricianhouseonthestreet.Thefamily,whichhaslivedhereforthreecenturies,disconnected
the four old-time doorbells. Their door—big enough to allow a carriage in (with a human-
sized door cut into it)—is typical of the age. The Hotel Eisenhut, with its recommended res-
taurant, is Rothenburg's fanciest hotel and worth a peek inside. The Käthe Wohlfahrt Christ-
masshops(atHerrngasse1and2;describedlater,under“ShoppinginRothenburg”)areyour
last, and perhaps greatest, temptations before reaching your starting and ending point: Mar-
ket Square.
