Andy & Anita's adventures

Andrew has been talking non-stop about driving along the Romantic Rhine so starting VERY early we jumped in the car and headed to Koblenz – the starting point for the most popular part of the Rhine. Koblenz itself was fascinating and a highlight was Andrew driving through a castle – drawbridge and all. Not sure you are meant to drive there but we have tourist numberplates so we figure we can get away with anything! The views from the top of the Palace were awesome (despite the fog from the morning).

After that it was all lazy driving and excited pointing at every chateau and palace along the Rhine. Anyone who has done ‘the drive’ (or the equivalent boat cruise) knows that there are no words to describe the beauty and wonder of that 90km stretch. Magnificent.

We were in Frankfurt-am-Main by early afternoon but Frankfurt pretty much sucks so we bypassed it after a quick city loop and ended up spending most of the afternoon and evening in Wurzburg; in the heart of Bavaria and the starting point for the famous ‘Romantic Road’.

We really enjoyed Wurzburg. We parked at the Residenz; a mammoth baroque structure which has rightly earned its spot on the UNESCO World Heritage List as one of the most beautiful buildings in Southern Germany. More-so then the building we had a great time strolling the gardens in the bright sunshine. From there we wandered through the town which was buzzing with tourists to the Alte Mainbrucke (Main Bridge) to get views of the Festung Marienberg (Marienberg Fortress); high on the left bank overlooking the city.

Andrew – now adept at driving through ancient structures - gunned it up the hill in our little Citeron and drove as far into the Fortress as we could possibly go, then we walked the rest of the way. It was closed (it was late in the evening but the sun is up til 10pm) so we wandered the ramparts and enjoyed the views.

Finally it was off to Nurnberg (Nuremberg), our resting point for this leg of the journey. We were devastated that we couldn’t drive more of the Romantic Road but we have to make cuts somewhere (we keep reminding ourselves that this is an ‘Eastern Europe’ adventure; not a Germany holiday!) – we will definitely return to visit again.