Back to the Via Romea Germanica!

 Wir sind alle Pilger, die wir Italien suchen

(We are all pilgrims who seek Italy)

-   Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Epigrams (Venice, 1790)

On April 18, 2024 I took my first steps on the Via Romea Germanica, setting out from the town of Stade, 40 kilometres to the west of Hamburg in northern Germany. For 44 days and a total of 930 kilometres, I walked in the footsteps of Albert of Stade, the 13th-century abbot who walked to Rome and back again in the year 1236, recording the stages of his route for posterity in his Annales Stadensis. His return, by the shortest route, is what Albert referred to as the Melior Via - the best route to Rome. Ordered from north to south, the principal cities on his route were: Stade, Celle, Rietze, Braunschweig, Hornburg, Wernigerode, Hasselfelde, Nordhausen, Bad Langensalza, Gotha, Schmalkalden, Meiningen, Bad Neustadt, Münnerstadt, Schweinfurt, Würzburg, Ochsenfurt, Aub, Rothenburg, Dinkelsbühl, Marktoffingen, Donauwörth, Augsburg, Igling, Schongau, Oberammergau, Partenkirchen, Mittenwald, Innsbruck, Brixen, Bozen, Trento, Padua, Venice, Ravenna, Forli, Arezzo, Orvieto, Viterbo, Rome. 

Last year I walked as far as Donauwörth, on the River Danube in Bavaria; so that is where I am starting again this year! It is marked with a red pin on the interactive map of the entire Via Romea Germanica route appearing above.   

To get back to Donauwörth and start walking where I left off last year, I took an Intercity train to Milan and from there, the Eurocity 150 direct train, final destination Frankfurt. I had an hour to wait between trains at Milano Centrale, where, I discovered, there is a station chapel beside the last (highest-numbered) platform. And inside the quiet little chapel, where a number of passengers prayed, meditated, or, perhaps, slumbered in silence, is a shrine to "Santa Maria del Cammino"! 

Next door to the chapel is a café called Pan Brioche, frequented primarily by employees of the railway and the station. I joined the queue at the cash register, feeling well-guarded standing behind three police officers and ahead of a group of railway service employees. Before the latter group, immediately behind me in the line, was a young American woman who, noticing the patches on my backpack, asked "Are you on the Camino right now?" It was almost my turn to order so I quickly explained that I was on my way to Germany to pick up my walking route there. "Buon Cammino!" responded the young woman, who has presumably walked a pilgrimage trail herself at some time. I would have liked to chat with her some more about it, but we were separated by the tide of travellers and railway workers placing orders for coffee and sandwiches.

Following my midmorning snack at Pan Brioche, I located the track where my Eurocity train was expected. The Swiss train rolled into the station with legendary Swiss punctuality, and I walked what seemed like half a day's stage from car 30 at the head of the platform to car 6, where my seat was located - right beside the restaurant car!

The train soon rolled out of the station and through the northern suburbs of Milan, leaving behind the flat plains of the Po Valley and heading toward Lake Como, swathed in mist on this cloudy day, pausing briefly at the border for a change of staff before heading into Switzerland. 

The train journey across Switzerland is faster these days but no longer as panoramic as it used to be, thanks to the construction of new tunnels. After crossing Canton Ticino with stops in Chiasso, Lugano and Bellinzona, we plunged into darkness for half an hour and emerged on the other side of the Gotthard Pass, where the weather was equally dreary and all the best views seemed to be on the other side of the train!

Change of crew - and toilet paper - at the Swiss border in Chiasso

Emerging from the mountains into the foothills north of the Alps, the clouds dispelled somewhat and the sun attempted to shine. I ate my packed lunch and finished my book, then when we crossed the border again shortly after Basel Bad Bahnhof, I moved into the adjacent restaurant car to celebrate my return to Germany with a beer! 

It was a Swiss beer, this being a Swiss train, and the prices in the restaurant car were also very Swiss, so I limited myself to a beverage and a packet of crisps. With a white tablecloth and a waiter providing table service: much classier than the vending machines that have replaced the restaurant cars on Italian trains!

I stayed in the restaurant car until my stop, Karlsruhe. Disembarking the train and exiting the station, I found myself at the entrance to the city zoo! Walking along the sidewalk toward my hostess's home, I could peek through the fence at the animals inside. I soon came to Katja's apartment building. Servas member Katja stayed overnight at my place on the way home from a trip to Sicily in 2021, and offered to return the favour, pointing out that she lived very near the train station, if I ever needed to change trains in Karlsruhe. At the time that seemed unlikely, but here I am! As the Austrian overnight train from Italy to Munich is not currently running, due to a construction project in a tunnel somewhere between Austria and Munich, the most convenient way for me to get to Donauwörth is to take the Eurocity to Karlsruhe and then a combination of three local trains from here to Donauwörth. 

After an evening walk around the neighbourhood with my hostess Katja, with a stop at a local brewery, I slept well on my mattress in the yoga room and woke up ready to continue my journey.  

Three trains later, just as the train finally pulled into Donauwörth station, it began to rain! But it was only right: I stopped walking and left the Via Romea Germanica at Donauwörth in the rain on May 31 of last year, and I am returning to the town and starting to walk again this year in the rain!