On the Road Again: Wurtzburg

We travelled in a different direction today - Wurtzburg is an hour by train north-west of Nuremberg and on the Main River. It was raining all morning but that did not stop us from walking to the Old Town, taking photos of various interesting buildings around the Market Place and visiting the Marienkapelle (St Mary's Chapel).

Marienkapelle

Judgement Day: off to Hell for this lot!

The Falkenhaus

We arrived at the Residenz, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the main attraction in Wurtzburg, in good time for the 11am tour in English, only to find that the Residenz was temporarily closed due to overcrowding. Luckily it was reopened to admit a Japanese tour group just before 11 and we managed to persuade the guard to let us in too for the tour.

We were led by a young university student who is training to be a teacher (history presumably) and who told us that this was good practice for him! He did a very good job and told the quite large group of English-speakers a lot of interesting information about the palace rooms that we visited.

Most of Wurtzburg was destroyed by bombing and fire in 1945, including the majority of the rooms of the Residenz, except the grand staircase and rooms nearby such as the White Hall and the Imperial Hall. This meant that the beautiful ceiling frescos by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1752/53) were saved and also much of the furnishings and the wall panelling, which had been removed to safety. Restoration was completed in 1987 and they have done a wonderful job! Unfortunately no photos were allowed so I have photographed a few postcards that we bought.

We spoke to our young guide about why Wurtzburg was bombed since there was no industry or other obvious target there. It seems that it was just a convenient location for the Allied bombers to release the bombs they had left after bombing a more valuable target. When the Americans took the city towards the end of the war, their commander put a lot of effort into helping the townsfolk protect the historic buildings that had survived and putting temporary roofs over the remaining areas of the Residenz to preserve what was left there.

We had a lovely lunch in the Residenz restaurant (rump steak with melted red onion, bean ragout and crispy fried potato slices for Ian and pike-perch fillets with crisp rosti and asparagus for me) then visited the Residenz Garden. This lovely area is free to the public and lots of people were enjoying the sunny afternoon there.

Time was getting on so we had to make a choice between visiting the Marienberg Fortress high on the hill above the town and the Dom St Kilian (St Kilian's Cathedral). The cathedral won (less effort required!). We admired the white and gold sanctuary and spent some time looking at the numerous statues of prince-bishops through the centuries, which were saved when the cathedral was totally destroyed in 1945.

The Dom is named after St Kilian who was one of three Irish monks who were martyred in Wurtzburg. How amazing is that! Irish monks in Germany!

Before making our way back to the station, we strolled down to the Alte Mainbrucke (Old Main Bridge) where there was a most festive atmosphere. Wine was being sold by the glass from roadside stalls and people were enjoying themselves in the sun. There were statues of Wurtzburg saints and prince-bishops along the bridge and a lovely view across to the vineyards on the hills above the town. We bought icecreams and returned to the station where we caught the train back to Nuremberg, to pack for our move to Augsburg tomorrow.