But my day trip yesterday allowed me to discover a wonderful and charming city. However, there were some negative points and I would like to report them just now, before starting with the good memories. First of all, in the train from Frankfurt it was quite difficult to find a seat, since most of them were already reserved. I had to walk forward and backward the whole train and just in my second “lap”, I was able to find an empty seat for me. The other negative point is that I could not watch two of the three main churches in Würzburg: St. Killian’s Cathedral and Hofkirche. The first one is being renovated and it is closed until 2009 and there was a wedding at Hofkirche at the time I wanted to visit it.
The city centre of Würzburg is very nice and enjoyable if walking. I recommend a short wander which must finish at the Neumünster (New Cathedral) and at the St. Killian’s Cathedral. The small garden called Lusam Gärtlein, backwards both cathedrals, is worth a visit. I went there twice, since my Lonely Planet guide strongly recommended it. At noon, first attempt, I could not stay long because a couple was having a moment of passion and I could not help feeling to be interrupting something. On my second attempt, in the afternoon, there was an exhibition there and I had to pay 6 euros to get in.From there, just take the Domstrasse towards the old bridge over the river Main. River Main keeps me fascinated because of its huge dimensions: it is incredibly wide at Frankfurt and it is still at Würzburg, more than 100 kilometres upstream. The bridge is quite nice, with all the statues of these saints which bear so old-fashioned and weird names.
Once on the other side of the river, your natural destination is the Fortress, which according to my Lonely Planet guide, has only been taken once: by Swedish soldiers. Yeah, the same question comes immediately to my mind: what the hell were doing some Swedish in Franconia? It seems they were taking part in the 30 Years War, but in any case I still think it is too far away from Sweden. Ok, let’s focus on the Fortress itself. After an amazing walk, I understood why it is so invincible: it has so many walls and doors and towers and… Nowadays there is a beautiful walk uphill among the vineyards but it has not ever been like this.
Würzburg is a World Heritage Site due to the Residenz, the dwelling of its bishops in Middle Age. Not only in Spain did bishops enjoy high quality of life. I must admit I felt a bit disappointed by it, as I was expecting much more after the amazing day in the town. The staircase is worldwide famous and it is also a bit disappointing. But the most remarkable of all are the gardens the bishop needed in his meditation.
According to my Lonely Planet guide, again, Hermann Hesse once said that he would have liked to be born in Würzburg. Dirk Nowitzki even dared to do it. And I think I could perfectly agree with both of them, since Würzburg is really a lovely place, one of the very top ones.Last but not least, I just wanted to remark a geographical issue. In the 50 days that I have been living in Frankfurt, I have visited four regional lands so far: Hesse (Frankfurt), Rhein-Pfalz (Mainz), Baden-Wurttenberg (Heidelberg) and Bayern (Würzburg). And Nordrhein-Westphalen (Cologne) will join soon. Do not panic, this will not continue at the same pace.
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