1001 Swabian Nights: Dinkelsbuhl

Last weekend was so fun and we had planned to go to Dinkelsbuhl this weekend and Nuremberg is only a short drive from Dinkelsbuhl so we decided to go back and see more of Nuremberg too! See next post for Nuremberg.

A little history....

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Dinkelsbuhl is a medieval walled town dating back to the 8th century (with the wall built around the 13th century). The town is along the "Romantic Road" or Romantische Strasse, a route based loosely on the old Roman route between the towns. The road travels through medieval towns steeped in history with half-timbered houses and passing castles along the way . The top sites include the three medieval walled towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber (the most famous), Nordlingen (we visited earlier), and Dinkelsbuhl. These are among the few last remaining walled towns in the country. Interesting to learn, the Romantic Road is actually a recent marketing scheme created in 1950 as Germany was desperate to rebuild their post-war tourism industry. The first visitors to the route were friends and families of American soldiers stationed in the large neighboring military bases. It is now a hugely popular tourist route and is said to have as many tour buses as cars travelling along the route.

We stayed at the Flair Hotel Weisses Ross, a half-timbered house inside the town. It was decorated in a very typical Bavarian style which means lots of wood furniture and uncomfortable beds. But the hotel had character and the breakfast room was very charming.

our room

A travel weary Kiwi in her travel crate

streetscape, adorable!

Der Hund and der Junge

We happened to visit Dinkelsbuhl in the off-season, and there weren't many people about. We arrived around 8:00 pm and had not had dinner yet. And as we were walking around, nothing seemed to be open... I was starting to worry as we have learned that small towns in Germany shut down around 6:00 pm and you had better have already eaten or have already purchased the provisions to make your food or you are in tough luck! We had neither and were starving! The first place we tried had closed their kitchen down, so we hurried through our drinks and scrambled out to find somewhere still serving food. After walking around for about 30 minutes, we found it! It was a gem of a cosy and charming little Italian restaurant and packed full of people. We had a wonderful meal. Crisis averted.