WURZBURG – FRANCONIA 'S CROWN JEWEL
By Ray Chatelin
(For Travel Writers' Tales)

About an hour's drive east of Frankfurt, are three of the most historical and attractive cities in central Europe - Wurzburg, Bamburg, Nuremberg. They form a rough triangle within northern Bavaria, in the heart of Germany.

Separating them is a land of rolling hills, vineyards, ancient castles, and picturesque villages in a region called Franconia.

The City of Bamburg, one of the three major destinations in Germany's Franconia region-Photo by Toshi

None are promoted heavily as major destinations, yet these ancient cities are among the brightest jewels in the European experience.

Bamburg is a University City and is known as the Rome of Franconia because of its seven hills. Its fine medieval buildings and ancient street plan remain intact, carefully preserved by city politicians and planners. It has the largest preserved old town in Germany and was declared a national monument in 1981 .

East, lies Bayreuth , home of the yearly Wagnerian festival. And Wagnerians, of course, know Nuremberg from Tannhauser and the Guild of The Meistersinger. Albert Durer, one of Germany's greatest portrait painters lived there and his house still stands, near the Tier Gartner Gate, and open to tourists.

But it's in Wurzburg, 100 kilometers from Frankfurt, that one finds the architectural and historical heart of the region. It held enormous power 200 years ago when the region was ruled by Princes who were elected through the See of Wurzburg, after the area was Christianized in the late Seventh Century.

Wurzburg's Marienberg Fortress dominates the city landscape-Photo by Toshi

Today, it's a much less powerful city that lies on both sides of the river Main. Yet it still draws on its past and derives several advantages from it - the valley, the castle atop the hillside, and the framework of nearby vineyards just outside the downtown area. Especially the vineyards.

It also rests at the head of the Romantic Road , the old highway south that winds past the ancient walled city of Rothenburg , past Augsburg and to the Bavarian Alps ending at Fussen, near where King Ludwig II built his fairy-tale castle, Neuschwanstein.

Two places in the city of 128,000 citizens reflect its heart and the soul, the Residence, and the Hof zum Stachel . The Residence - the former home of the prince-bishops of Wurzburg - is a tribute to German Baroque architecture and has been declared an international monument by the United Nations.

The Weinhaus zum Stachel - a part of the , is the oldest surviving part of the Hof zum Stachel building – with the inner courtyard and terrace dating built in 1675

A place of tradition and art, Wurzburg also owes its character to the surrounding hills dotted with vineyards. For this is a city that revels in its wine - Franconian wine that is easily recognized by its "Bocksbeutel" bottle, shaped like a fat pear with a short neck.

From downtown, on the right bank of the Main , you can look in almost any direction and see the vineyards flowing up and over the surrounding hillsides.

The three largest estates - Staatlicher Hofkeller (state court cellar), the Buergerspital zum Heiligen Geist (the citizen's hospital of the Holy Spirit founded in 1319 ), and the Juliusspital (founded in 1516 ). All have cellars and historic vaults that can be toured – and tasted.

Everywhere you walk in Wurzburg, the past haunts you with its ongoing presence. But, unlike Vienna or Paris, it does not impose its will upon its current residents. It's very much a city of today, a place where conventions are big business.

And dominating it all - the many churches, museums, old buildings, and small, winding streets - is the fortress of Marienberg to which you can either walk or drive.

The history of this hilltop stronghold can be traced back 3000 years and in the inner courtyard you find one of Germany's oldest church buildings, one dedicated to Mary.

While the Marienberg dominates the town from its hilltop location, the town hall, university, art gallery with its wonderful collection of local artists of the past 150 years; and the market square with its web-like alleyways leading off like little fingers from the center, are all within easy distances.

At the point where Theaterstasse meets Semmelstrasse stands the Burgerspital zum Heiligen Geist founded in 1319 by the patrician von Steren family of Wurzburg . Today it still houses several foundations and is known throughout the region for its large vineyards. And below the buildings are a wine stube and a restaurant, holding 100 and 410 customers, respectively.

It's the wine stubes (wine bars) that are the most easy places to explore in this city and that bring yesterday into contemporary context - old wine restaurants like the Hof zum Stachel that dates from 1413 ; or the Maulaffenback Stube on Moulhardgasse that allows you to bring your own food. But try its typical Franconian dishes such as Schäuferla (slow roasted pork shoulder).

Today, students and working people sit at the same places that others did centuries ago, and they salute the same wines with the same salutations.