Via Romea Germanica Day 38: Sechselbach - Rothenburg ob der Tauber

There is one path in the world that none can walk but you. Where does it lead? Don’t ask, walk!

- Friedrich Nietsche 

My host at the Sechselbacher Spatzennest went by the name of Herr Schlecht, which made me giggle because I do know enough German to realise that his name means "Mr. Awful". In fact it's a word I use a lot, in order to say "my German is awful"! But Mr. Awful was actually awfully nice; he not only invited me to breakfast but gave me two hard-boiled eggs to take with me for lunch! And he gave me a pilgrim discount on the apartment, which is already a really good deal, even at the tourist rate - considering that it's newly renovated and in perfect condition! The woodwork and wooden furnishings are all really solid, and all built in the same style; I wanted to ask him if he had made them himself, but my German was too awful! 😄

When I finally got on the road, I was amazed at how quickly the landscape changes. Two days ago, I walked among vineyards over the valley of a broad, slow river; yesterday I walked up and down gently rolling hills, planted with wheat and sugar beet; today, after crossing over a few more of these fields, I descended into the Tauberthal: the valley of the Tauber, a quick-flowing stream.

I walked through the village at the bottom of the valley, Tauberzell, over a bridge and along a cycling path heading upstream through the Tauber valley. 

I spotted a picnic table by the stream and  decided to stop for an early lunch, but was thwarted by a family of cyclists coming along from the opposite direction and occupying the entire table 😄. Seeing as I couldn't give in to the temptation to take an early break, I determined to carry on for another two kilometres, to the Spielplatz or playground in Bettwar, which I could see on my map. Playgrounds always have benches, and sometimes even picnic tables! But when I got there, some very noisy work was going on nearby.  So I chose another bench, in the centre of the village, and stopped there for a long lunch break; I had only five or six kilometres further to go, and I couldn't check into the youth hostel until 5 pm.

When I did get moving again, I only walked another couple of kilometres before I found another excuse to stop. The Lutheran church of St. Peter und Paul in Detwang is home to a beautiful crucifixion reredos by Tilman Riemenschneider, dated 1505 - 1508. If, like me, you don't know what a reredos is, it's a large altarpiece, screen or decoration behind the altar in a church. I had to wait a while to get a look at this one, because there was a christening taking place in the church when I arrived. But I wasn't in a hurry, and it was well worth waiting a while on the bench outside!

Another kilometre or two, and I was passing through the Klingentor gate in the walls of Rothenburg!

Rothenburg ob der Tauber 

Rothenburg is one of only three towns in Germany still completely encircled by medieval walls. The other two are Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen, also on the Via Romea Germanica! This makes it a super-touristy town, and before I had even passed through the city walls I could hear several languages being spoken. I headed, as usual, for the cathedral first, and here I got the royal treatment! They practically laid out the red carpet for me! It costs €3.50 to see the cathedral, and when I made up my mind to pay and stood in the line, the cashier spotted me and interrupted what he was doing: Oh, a pilgrim! Excuse me - he said to the man he had been serving - but there's a pilgrim here. I motioned to him that he could continue serving the man ahead of me, and he did so.  When it was my turn, he welcomed me to the cathedral, let me in for free, offered to look after my backpack while I visited the church, and gave me a pilgrim stamp, a postcard, a brochure about the church, a bottle of mineral water, and a blessing for the remainder of my pilgrimage! 

There is an explanation for this: Rothenburg is also on the Jakobsweg, the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, which, here as elsewhere, is better known than the pilgrimage routes to Rome. And the cathedral is in fact dedicated to St. James, patron saint of pilgrims. The construction of Rothenburg cathedral began in the 14th century, at the time of greatest popularity of the pilgrimage to Santiago - I have read that there were, at this time, three times as many pilgrims to Santiago every year as there are now, which means about a million pilgrims annually - two million on the road every year, if you take into account that in the 14th century, they also walked home again, and didn't fly or take the train home as they do now, so the foot traffic moved in both directions!

Scenes from the life of St. James, on the back of the High Altar 

The front of the High Altar (1466)

The Altar of the Holy Blood (1505), in the west gallery

With St. James 

The name Rothenburg ob der Tauber means red castle over the Tauber, and in fact the town originated as a castle built on a plateau high above the Tauber river in 1070. By 1170 it had grown into a city, fortified with the construction of walls and towers in the 13th century. 

One of the town's chief entertainments is walking the perimeter of the walls, on the ramparts, enjoying the views on either side. And within these walls is a treasure trove of colourful old half-timbered buildings.  The quintessential German town, Rothenburg is a popular destination for tourists from all over the world, and so it abounds in hotels and guesthouses, restaurants, cafés, Eiscafés and Konditorei selling the local specialty, the Schneeball or snowball, a concoction of fried dough rolled into a ball and dipped in icing sugar. The town is also renowned for its Christmas market, and has a shop that sells Christmas decorations year-round. 

Fortunately I had already been to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, once, during Christmas market season, and I had already walked around the walls, eaten a Schneeball and been through the Christmas decorations shop - in the appropriate season! So this time I could, after the obligatory visit to the cathedral of St. James, simply relax, wander aimlessly about the streets, watch the tourists, and sip a glass of Silvaner from the vineyards of Randersacker (where I was two days ago) while waiting for check-in time at the youth hostel.

Healthy dinner

Not so healthy dessert

After checking into the hostel, I returned, via the city walls, to the bar where I had sipped my glass of wine, because on the way out I had noticed they also had food, and it was all vegetarian! I ordered the "bowl", which was basically chips and salad and some kind of meat substitute in a tasty sauce, and a shandy (Radler in Germany). Then I walked back to the central square and up a side street to an Italian ice cream place. The family who run it are from Bassano and have been ice cream makers since 1913! In the winter they close up shop and go home to Italy, leaving everyone in Rothenburg to enjoy Glühwein at the Christmas market rather than ice cream - as I did, the first time I was here!

The youth hostel in Rothenburg must be one of the world's characteristic and historic! I am not actually in the main building, shown above, but in the annex, which was built in 1624 and has always been a hostel, judging from the name of the building, Spital, related to the Italian word spedale and to the English words hospital and hostel. Here I have an upper bunk in a room shared with three young women - one Austrian and two Canadians. The Austrian has gone on some sort of spooky night-time city walking tour involving ghost stories, while the Canadians and I have already turned out the lights and are lying listening to the organist practicing in the church next door.

Sechselbach - Rothenburg ob der Tauber 23 km