It’s a long afternoon on firstly the E51 then onto the E48. We keep to the right hand lane at about 100 kph. The fast movers are never one out, they seem to travel in 2’s or 3’s. I suspect its a bit of a race to see who can scare the other one into backing off. In my younger days I would be one of them. The sun is out, it’s finally t’shirt weather, thank goodness summer has arrived finally.
So we roll into Würzburg with our usual meticulous planning. Stradling the River Main, Würzburg is a bit complex when you have been driving for a few hours. We have the co-ordinates for a campsite on the river, but a fellow who looked surprising like Santa, but with much less charisma, chattered quite rudely ‘full, full’ but I suspect it was 6.15 pm and he just didn’t want to open the gate ! I was happy to let it go but Pam made some unkind remarks about dancer and prancer as we reversed out off the driveway.
On the upside we spotted a couple of campers in the carpark adjoining the soccer field next door. Apparently there were other victims of Santa. So rather than pay €14 to stay in Santa’s place we took the free option.
Our free spot, next door to Santa’s campsite, we have paid more for less.
We cycle along the path for about 500 metres before crossing the river into the centrum. Once again Pam is easy to spot being the only person in Würzburg wearing a helmet. Thanks to my Sister’s Facebook post regarding the high mortality rate of senior’s riding electric bicycles, there is no chance of Pam riding without a helmet.
I need to be truthful, Würzburg may be one of the most beautiful places we have visited in Germany. This picture looking up the river, a couple of river cruise ships on the right. The Alte Mainbrücke (bridge) in the distance and the grapevines on the hill in the distance.
Looking away from the centrum to the Festung (fortress) Marienberg on the escarpment. This was the home of the Prince-Bishop’s of Würzburg until the 1750.
This is Würzburg Residenz and Court Gardens. This is one of the most visited places in Germany. It is an amazing place to spend a few hours. The home of the Prince-Bishops from 1750.
The front of the Residenz doesn’t look as impressive due to the 5 acres of cars parked there. The entrance fee seems reasonable and there is a free english speaking tour at 11am.
The Court Chapel is within the eastern wing of the Residenz, but not included in the tour so we duck in there first for a quick look. This should provide a glimpse of what the rest of the place is like.
There is a very strict no photo rule within the Residenz but I managed to get a couple of photos before getting in trouble.
Last photo. So we do the tour which was very informative and provided the background to the various features.
Anyway our tour complete we walk up into town to have a look around.
Dom Saint Kilian is in the centre of the old town. Built from 1040 (with lots of additions).
Looking up the aisle to the main alter in the Dom.
Walking up town along the Domstr which appears to be the main shopping strip. The place is a buzz. The German elections are on tomorrow and everyone is out enjoying the sunshine.
The Neumunster Church in Würzburg, but we have seen enough churches and chapels for today.
We ride our bikes back to our free carpark and start packing up. We are planning to drive Germany’s ‘Romantische Straße’ for the next few days so we better get going.
