This town is probably the most interesting place to visit in Europe, if you have just a couple of days to spend somewhere. Even though I have several others above Rothenberg (on the Tauber River) on my list, they are probably just personal preferences rather than better general sites to visit.
This is a scene from inside the city wall looking out over a portion of the rest of the town. The wall itself can be seen running along most of the top of the picture until obscured by the trees in the upper right corner. This is probably the best example of a walled city on the European Continent, even rivaling Conwy, Wales. The population is approximately 11,100 and the walled city appears to be larger than Conwy, but I have been unable to find exact references on this.
The reason the reference to “Ob der Tauber” is necessary is there are at least two other German towns named Rothenberg and you will more than likely get one of the others on a Google map search, without being definitive.
The real attraction here is the town itself, as well as a very interesting Criminal Museum, focusing on methods of torture and a ton of really neat year-round Christmas shops. The following picture shows a chair used to punish people in medievil times. And those spikes are sharper than they look in the picture.
Some of the shops are amazingly colorful. While this is typical of German towns, it is done to perfection here.
As you can see, there was snow while we were there. It was mid-March 2018. It was a clear day and the sky is untouched.
Our hotel was remarkable. It was built in in the 1400’s as the Mayor’s Residence. It has been operated as an inn for over 150 years. The rooms are very comfortable but be warned – they are not air-conditioned. The restaurant was excellent and breakfast was hearty and included. The name is the “Hotel-Gastof Goldener Greifen”.
Some of the Christmas shops were extremely interesting. The nutcracker pictured was about six feet tall.
We stayed two nights and the Night Watchman’s Tour was an added bonus. A rather unique look at the town in the dark led by the “night watchman of long ago” gives a good bit of the history of the town.
Just walking around the wall gives some interesting views of the town as well as the neighboring areas.
Finally,the town hall is an amazing old building, located on the town square.
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