On our sixth day we visited Wurzburg which is small city of 120,000 people in central Germany. The primary attraction in this city is the Residenz which was built 400 years ago by the prince. This building had some similarities to the magnificent Hermitage in St Petersburg in a much smaller scale. The emperor would stay at the Residenz when he was traveling in the area. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside the building but we were allowed to take pictures in the gardens outside the building. These gardens were very impressive both for the flowers and the finely trimmed shrubbery and trees. In the back gardens it was amazing to see some of the vines (almost trees) that had trunks which had grown around the metal archways used to support the vines. It was a very large and impressive garden.
The city was also very nice to walk around. It had some beautiful churches and other medieval buildings. There were open markets selling fresh vegetables and sandwiches (bratwurst) for lunch. There were several bridges over the river in the town and one of them was a main gathering place for the town people who drank wine on the bridge while talking to each other. This was also a very different bridge because there was a lock on the one side to allow the ships to get up to a higher level on the river while the center of the bridge was dammed off preventing any boats from going directly under the bridge. There was a natural dam on the one side where the lock was, which created a series of small water falls for the overflow of water on the higher portion of the river to the lower portion.
Across the river on a hill was the Marienburg Fortress. This was a massive structure built over 800 years ago. We walked up to this fortress and were rewarded with some great views of the vineyards on the hillside of the fortress and the river/city below. We could also see our ship right below the fortress and was able to get some good pictures of it. The fortress itself was very impressive with the many towers and buildings contained within the walls. The walls around the fortress extended well beyond the buildings and encompassed a large area of the entire hill it was built upon. The view from the fortress to the river was amazing and the city looked so colorful down below. We were fortunate that the sun peaked out from the clouds allowing us a great opportunity to take some good pictures. While it took us over an hour to climb up to the fortress and walk around some of the walls to get inside, it took us only 20 minutes to go down a different side and come straight down to the river. It was a great walk in really good weather to end our visit of Wurzburg.
Sharon and Greg
The city was also very nice to walk around. It had some beautiful churches and other medieval buildings. There were open markets selling fresh vegetables and sandwiches (bratwurst) for lunch. There were several bridges over the river in the town and one of them was a main gathering place for the town people who drank wine on the bridge while talking to each other. This was also a very different bridge because there was a lock on the one side to allow the ships to get up to a higher level on the river while the center of the bridge was dammed off preventing any boats from going directly under the bridge. There was a natural dam on the one side where the lock was, which created a series of small water falls for the overflow of water on the higher portion of the river to the lower portion.
Across the river on a hill was the Marienburg Fortress. This was a massive structure built over 800 years ago. We walked up to this fortress and were rewarded with some great views of the vineyards on the hillside of the fortress and the river/city below. We could also see our ship right below the fortress and was able to get some good pictures of it. The fortress itself was very impressive with the many towers and buildings contained within the walls. The walls around the fortress extended well beyond the buildings and encompassed a large area of the entire hill it was built upon. The view from the fortress to the river was amazing and the city looked so colorful down below. We were fortunate that the sun peaked out from the clouds allowing us a great opportunity to take some good pictures. While it took us over an hour to climb up to the fortress and walk around some of the walls to get inside, it took us only 20 minutes to go down a different side and come straight down to the river. It was a great walk in really good weather to end our visit of Wurzburg.
Sharon and Greg
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