The Romantic Road - Nuremberg, Germany

After seeing Rothenburg, Wurzburg and Bamberg, it is time to head south on the Romantic Road to the beautiful city of Nuremberg, Germany. Again, take the A3 autobahn about 100 kilometers straight south and you will drive right into Nuremberg. It is a large city of appoximately 300,000 to 400,000 people. And, yes, it has a castle, which I will get to a little later. But first I have to talk about what is so great and beautiful at Nuremberg and that is what comes at Christmastime. The Christkindlesmarkt in Nuremberg is the largest Christmas festival in the world. It is Christmas lights, stalls of delicious food, and stalls selling Christmas ornaments and goods. I attended this Christkindlesmarkt when I lived in Germany and it has left me with 'visions of sugarplums dancing in my head.'

As I said before, the Germans practically invented Christmas as we celebrate it here in the U.S. today and this Christkindlesmarkt is the best in Germany and the world. Each, city, town and village has its own Christkindlesmarkt every December, but Nuremberg's is the most special by far. The food is delicious, from whole sit down dinners of sauerbraten, potatoes, and sauerkraut, wiener schnitzle and spaeztle, and smoked trout. There are all kinds of bratwursts, weisswursts, sausages, and french fries. And the dessert and pastry stalls are to die for. German stollen, their Christmas bread, which you can find a receipe for on hubpages. All kinds of chocolate candies, peppermints, cinnamons, German cakes and pies. Beverages are wines, beers, hot chocolates (with real whipped cream), coffees and a delicious hot spiced wine called gluwein. A glass of gluwein with a cinnamon stick in it on a cold, snowy December day, right before Christmas, carries you warmly and with a warm glow throughout the entire Christkindlesmarkt. You can shop for hours and hours and never get tired of the handmade German wooden ornaments and German linens.

The Christkindlesmarkt is the only activity that would take precedent for me over seeing a castle, but this is what I came to see in Nuremberg, so I wanted you to see this first also. If you ever have a chance to spend Christmastime in Germany, do it! It really is a magical, fairytale, breathtaking time to experience. I spent Christmas in Germany, and even though I missed my family terribly at that time, it was an experience like no other. It is the "Nutcracker Suite" and "The Night Before Christmas" come alive and all rolled up in one.

Nuremberg, is located in middle Franconia in the state of Bavaria in Germany. It sits directly between Wurzburg and Munich. The city was founded at the turn of the 11th century. From there the city enlarged and rose in importance because of its location on the key trade routes, specifically,the route to Italy. It became one of two great trade centers on this route with Augsburg being the second one. Merchant guilds grew quickly and became strong in Nuremberg, and the cultural flowering in the l5th and 16th centuries centered here in Nuremberg, and it became the center of the German Renaissance. In 1525 Nuremberg accepted the Protestant Reformation and became the center for the Lutheran Church in Bavaria. Today, the city is a thriving business center and cultural center in Bavaria

A rather sad note, but it must be recognized and mentioned here, is that Nuremberg became the center for the Nuremberg War Criminal Trials after WWII. In l945-1946, the Nazi officers and officials involved in the Holocaust were brought before an international tribunal who heard their trials by American military proscecutors for their crimes before and during WWII. This is a sad chapter in Nuremberg's history but a sadder one for all of Germany.

Nuremberg has a great cultural and artistic center, also. Two of history's most important and interesting cultural giants are associated with Nuremberg. Nicholaus Copernicus' main part of his scientific work was published in Nuremberg in 1543. And, Albrecht Durer, probably Germany's most famous painter, was born and lived here in the 15th century. You can visit his birthplace and home while in Nuremberg.