Tuesday 24th September – Munich to Rothenberg ob der Tauer

We had a much more relaxed start this morning after a number of mornings where we had to be up early. We just made breakfast at 10 and then went back to the room to pack our bag.

We checked out and retrieved the car from the hotel car park. The plan for the day was to pick up the Romantic Road but to do this we needed to travel about an hour West of Munich to Augsberg. The road was good and we arrived in Augsberg and parked up for a quick look around the centre of the city.

Augsberg is quite a large city but we concentrated on the Altdstat (the main square with the rathaus on it) We took the obligatory photos and sat in the square with a coffee.

We had a further short walk to see some of the beautiful buildings, many of which were rebuilt as they had been destroyed in the war.

After this, it was back in the car and changing direction to start heading north. Around 15 minutes later we arrived at Harburger, a really pretty town with a large Schloss perched on the rock above the town itself. We stopped and had a short walk across a lovely stone bridge and around the town.

We now picked up the signs for the romantic road. The road wound it’s way through the countryside and by 2pm we arrived at a small town called Nordlingen. This town has almost complete medieval walls and the obligatory rathaus and large Catholic church. We parked just outside the walls and walked into the centre. The town walls themselves are almost circular.

In the centre we stopped for food at a little Italian sitting outside on the street. Having finished, we had a quick look inside the church which was bright and airy and had grey stonework with slender columns.

We drove on and eventually arrived at Dinkelsbuhl, another pretty town. Conscious of the time we didn’t stop for long as we were keen to get to our stop for the next couple of nights, Rothenberg ob der Tauer.

The journey from Dinkelsbuhl was only around 30 miles and mainly on the motorway so it didn’t take long to get there and we arrived just after 5. Our hotel is within the city walls and the streets are very narrow. After a couple of failed attempts, we eventually found the hotel car park and squeezed our rental car through a narrow entrance and parked up.

Were staying at the hotel Goldener Hirsch. Our room here is very different to the last place as it has large windows and is decorated with more traditional furniture. We headed straight out for a drink before coming back to freshen up before going back out for food.

I found a lovely little restaurant, Zu Holl, just few minutes walk from the hotel and we were lucky to find that there was a table available for us (lots of people were turned away after us!). We both went for the recommended ‘young wine’, currently in season, which came served with a warm onion tart (a bit like a quiche).

For main course we both chose the recommended special which was porcini mushroom sauce (also in season) which came with salad and potato dumpling and a choice of meat. Ed went for the sausage and I had lamb. By the time we were finished we were both stuffed. Surprisingly, they didn’t take credit cards so I had to go out to find a cashpoint!

Having settled up, despite it being only 8.30, we headed back to the hotel for an early night, the weekend still catching up with us, but looking forward to exploring what looks like an amazingly pretty town tomorrow.