The Adventures of Dave & Cass: Wurzburg

After a full day at the car museums of Stuttgart, we drove to Wurzburg our next stop for a late check in at the cute little Campingplatz Estenfeld. Like camping at your grandma’s house really, with little doilies everywhere and signs to make sure you didn’t do burnouts on the grass with your caravan in tow.

On a tip from our German camp neighbours from Jungfrau we had come to Wurzburg we were exploring the historic city of Wurzburg today.

We had ummed and ahhed over the merits of visiting Wurzburg over Nuremberg, or whether we could get both done in one day. But in the end Nuremberg was just a bit too far away and the car museums in Stuttgart took until after 6pm to finish.

Being a Sunday the streets of Wurzburg were fairly quiet and we found a free carpark for Mulder right near the tourist walking route around the city.

We passed by Wurzburg’s most impressive sight – The Residenz to come back later at 3pm for a tour in English. While we were waiting we carried on our own version of the walking tour past several of the city’s many churches, its university and in towards the main marketplace.

Bell tower at the university

Here there was not 1 but 2 cathedrals – the Neumunster Basilica and the Dom StKillian which suffered extensive damage when Wurzburg was bombed in 1945. Mass was on in both which meant we couldn’t really poke around too much and do the usual tourist thing, so we moved on.

The Neumunster

The Dom St Killian

Inside of the Dom

Posing at the fountain in the main town square

Across the Alte Mainbruke – the main footbridge from the town across the Main River (Mine River) across to the Fortress. The bridge was adorned with the many statues of the saints including of course St Killian, the town’s patron.

Heading across the bridge towards THE FORTRESS

View from the bridge back towards the town centre

View of the Fortress from the bridge

Once across the bridge we climbed up to Wurzburg’s fortress – the Fortress Marienberg. This castle on the hill was the home of the Prince Bishops of Wurzburg from 1253 to 1719. Surrounded by hillside vineyards it was a steep climb on the best of days let alone trying to lay siege on it in full armour. It had a great view of the town of Wurzburg and fortunately came through WWII relatively unscathed – in fact many of Wurzburg’s treasures were placed here for safekeeping during the bombings and fires of 1945 due to the fortress’s protective stone walls.

The Fortress

Dave with the Prison tower

view from the top

After lunch it was time to finally visit the Residenz that we had read so much about (pretty much the whole reason we had come to Wurzburg). This site now UNESCO listed was built and finished in 1744 as the new, much grander home for the Prince Bishops (it was no longer fashionable to live in old castles).

...Oh hello... Welcome... this is my Residence :)

As mentioned earlier many of its treasures and furnishings were keep safe in the fortress on the hill in the 1945 fires, however the Residenz itself was almost completely destroyed with the exception of the grand staircase and the massive self supporting vault (painted by Venetian - Tipolo) which managed to survive as it was fully stone.

Risking life and limb to bring you these illegal pics of the interior

The rooms of the Residenz Palace were absolutely amazing from the white hall – the guardhouse to the guest rooms and with their elaborate tapestries and stuccos culminating in the grand audience room. We were glad we had waited to see this place!

Beautiful stucco decorations

The grand reception room

Best shot I could get of the stone vault paintings

After taking in the splendour indoors we ventured outdoors into the Residenz gardens for more lovely views and beautiful flower gardens – simply stunning!

The gates to the gardens

Me in a field of flowers (and bees might I add)

Beautiful Wurzburg

With Wurzburg ticked off the list we could continue onwards to Mainz – the city right next to Frankfurt on the Main River. We ate a deliciously filling meal – Schnitzel hunter style (mushroom sauce) and another pork roast (shoulder this time) as well as another delicious mushroom soup at the Cafe Schneider run by a lovely couple who seem to cater for airline crews almost exclusively. The end of a lovely day.