We had such a nice time during our three nights in Bamberg. Neither of us had ever heard of it before, but its Old Town is a World Heritage Site and a very popular destination for German tourists. As I mentioned in the last post, it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable cities we've visited in Germany - highly recommended!
We got a bit lost upon our arrival Saturday afternoon, as a bridge was closed that our satellite navigation didn't know about. But we found our hotel before too long - by parking the car and wandering around on foot with David holding our sat nav unit!
While driving around lost, we saw some fellow Americans.
And later, I spotted this bumper sticker on a motor home. There are lots of U.S. Army bases in this part of Germany.
We stayed at the Hotel Wohnbar, where we got a nice little apartment for the same price as our other hotels. The rooms are themed by colors and we were in the Orange Room. It was stylish and different and we were happy there.
It even has a little kitchen! But we only used the fridge.
The owner was a very nice man named Dimitri, who did all the decorating and the cooking and spoke fantastic English. The only downside to the apartment was the two flights of stairs with no lift, which made unloading the car a little less fun. But it wasn't that bad.
By the time we were settled in it was dark, but much warmer than it had been. So we walked into the medieval center of town and absolutely fell in love with the place. I hadn't researched this town much, so didn't have a picture of it in my mind beforehand. This made our wander through the cobblestone streets one nice surprise after another.
There were cozy little brewery restaurants, shops with very interesting window displays, and the abbey and cathedral were all lit up on their hills above the town. An old arched bridge led across a rushing river and through the lovely Old Town Hall, all painted on the sides (a characteristic of Bavaria). Sadly, we didn't bring any cameras with us so I can only share our photos from the following day.
Bridge to the Old Town Hall in the middle of the river. This was a fantastic sight, especially at night.
Closer look at the Old Town Hall
On the bridge
The night we arrived we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, hooray! It's called Habaneros and is in an old building on the slope just below the cathedral. It was absolutely fantastic. Although the streets were pretty quiet, the place was abuzz and we barely got a table, not having reservations. It was very stylishly decorated and hip and mostly filled with young people.
The restaurant is on the second floor (bar on the ground floor) and the staircase was a grand one with banisters like at an old theatre. We were seated on black leather chairs in the spacious stairwell, which suited us well because we got to watch everyone as they came up the stairs. Our waiter looked like the guy from R.E.M. and was very soft-spoken and nice. Most importantly, the food was fantastic. We split an order of "Rocking Taquitos" (delish), David had tacos (delish), and I had a black bean tostada (to die for).
The culinary delights continued the next day. For lunch we tried a traditional German restaurant, also located just below the cathedral. It was probably the best German food we've had since we've been here. Our friendly waiter wore lederhosen and spoke English and our neighbors on both sides wished us a hearty "Guten appetit" when our food arrived. It was such a good time. And this time I did bring a camera!
Our restaurant is in the shade on the left.
This carnivore's delight consists of Nuremburger wurst (the little ones), Bamberger wurst (the big one), warm sauerkraut and fried potatoes. I don't normally love sausage, but I have been pretty happy with all my German wursts and these particular ones were absolutely fantastic.
After the resounding success of lunch, we just had to see what they would do with an apple strudel. As we suspected, it was spectacular. David had the apfelkuchla, which is apple slices battered and fried. We've tried a similar thing at a Christmas market and weren't impressed, but these were SO GOOD. Needless to say, dinner was unnecessary that evening. Good thing Bamberg is full of hills and we did lots of hiking!
We went back again for lunch the next day and had basically the same thing, except no dessert and I tried a potato dumpling (shown above), which was quite nice. It was sticky and chewy and had four little cubes of soft bread in the middle.
Bamberg is famed for its beer and still has numerous breweries and varieties. One local specialty is rauchbier: smoke beer. By most accounts it tastes terrible. But between all the eating and walking, we never got around to trying any.
"Find nice books here." One of my favorite things about Bamberg was the wonderful little shops in the Old Town. There were indeed lots of pretty books, along with antique jewelry, sleek and modern office supplies, mini Bavarian villages, interesting toys, and of course bakeries and brewery-restaurants galore.
Unfortunately for such a nice town, we didn't have very good luck with the weather during our two days there. It was cloudy and rainy most of the time. But we did get a brief sunbreak Sunday evening while we were at the cathedral. And this morning before we left (of course) there was consistently brilliant blue sky - though it had snowed during the night and was no longer warm! But David went out for a long early walk to all the sights while I slept in, and got some really nice photos in the morning light. My hero!
Here a few highlights from the main cloudy days and David's sunny walk this morning:
Little birdies along the river
Bamberg Cathedral from below
Very steep stairs from the Old Town to the cathedral (another option is a steep cobblestone road).
West end of the cathedral
Interior
An archbishop who clearly could have used some more Bamberger wurst.
Lovely building across the square from the cathedral, which I believe was once the archbishop's residence.
St. Michael's Abbey on the highest of Bamberg's hills
Back of St. Michael's Abbey
Same view on the sunny morning
View of Bamberg from the abbey
After Palm Sunday service at the abbey church
Twinkly altar in the abbey church
A pretty building somewhere in Bamberg.
We are now in Regensburg, which is in southeast Germany near the Czech border. We are here just for two nights, comfortably installed in a standard Ibis chain hotel. More soon.
