Tour de Tauber

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg ob der Tauber stands on a hill above the River Tauber, hence its unusual name "Rothenburg above the Tauber", and is perhaps Germany's most-loved Medieval city (and hence all the tourists). Saved from destruction in World War II, it boasts magnificent city walls, towers and gatehouses, an abundance of wells (very important as fire protection in the Middle Ages), several churches, and much more besides. More information on Rothenburg at Wikipedia.

Seen from a distance	Seen from the River Tauber	View of Spital area
The Klingen Gate seen from outside the city walls	The Klingen Gate seen from inside the city walls	Fortified church that forms part of the city walls
Doorway of fortified church	The Castle Gate	The Roeder Arch
Fountain	The White Tower	Sieber's Tower
View from city walls	"Ploenlein", the Little Square Sieber's Tower on the left, Kobolzeller Gate on the right	View up to Kobolzeller Gate
A sweet local delicacy in shop window	Oriel window	Stone carvings over shop entrance
Oriel window. The scallop shell motif is a reference to the start of a St. James' Pligrims Route	House with tree	Executioner's mask as seen in the Crime Museum

	Creglingen
Chemist's shop	Half-timbered building	Lindlein Tower

Romschloessele - View from our room in guest-house

River Tauber

	Röttingen
The local bank	Sign for the local butcher!	Which is also a guest-house
Tower	Tower	Tower
The Sundial Town: It has 25 sundials!	But no sun as I took this photo!	Or this one!
At last - now I know the time	Spot on - this one even shows daylight saving time as well	Time is the path to eternity, says Chronos, the Greek god of time

	Tauberrettersheim
Beautiful stone bridge	Figure on the bridge (Johannes Nepomuk - the patron saint of bridges)	River Tauber

	Weikersheim
Tower at entrance to Weikersheim town centre	Other side of same tower	Fountain in town square
Church in Weikersheim	Entrance to Weikersheim castle	Town hall in Markelsheim about 3 km from Weikersheim

	Bad Mergentheim
Our accommodation for the night	Right opposite this modest edifice: The "Ordensschloss"	The town hall (lovely bit of gable)

	Lauda
Modern decoration	Madonna	Town Library

	Tauberbischofsheim
Tower	Crooked bakery	Bank building
River Tauber at Dittigheim, ca. 2 km before Tauberbischofsheim	Post-box	River Tauber at Dittigheim

Wayside shrines

Wayside shrines are to be found in large numbers in Franconia - it's very much a Catholic-dominated part of the country. They often mark out pilgrimage routes, commemorate tragedies, or are used as a means of praying for things to turn out well - and especially for a good crop in the vineyards. Also common are images of the Madonna, which often adorn the front of houses. The region was likewise home to Tilman Riemenschneider, perhaps the most famous of Medieval woodcarvers and who created some incredible altars for the churches in Rothenburg, Detwang and Creglingen.

Near Creglingen	Detail
In Dittigheim	Detail
Near Gamburg	Detail
Near Lauda, marks an accident in which 3 boys drowned in 1700	Detail
In Röttingen	Detail
Near Detwang	In Dittigheim
Madonna shrine in Dittigheim	In Röttingen

Section of altar in Detwang Church

Külsheim

Fountain

Bronnbach

Poppies in field

Bronnbach Monastery