The Old Towns of Germany

Dinkelsbuhl, Germany

Rothenburg City Wall Framing the Village

Germany. We loved our time traveling in this lovely country. Especially once off the autobahn. Just South of Frankfurt is the old road that weaves its way through the countryside going from one old medieval town to the next (28 towns in total). 

I can see why it is called the Romantische Strasse (Romantic Road) as the towns are ridiculously cute. All I wanted to do was park the car and stroll from shop window to shop window. 

Rothenburg City Gate

The towns are of course full of history. The concept of the Romantic Road was actually coined in the 1950s as a public-relations piece to encourage a return to tourism after WWII. But the history of the area dates way, way back to a road built by the Romans some 2,000 years ago. The road crosses centuries-old battlefields. In fact, the 30-years' War in the 17th Century destroyed the economic base and depleted the resources of the people in the area. As devastating as that is, today it gives us a look into medieval German. That is because the people lacked the economic means to modernize the area. Lucky us that we can now take a beautiful walk through history as you explore these time-capsule towns. They are a living museum. People still live in the houses, run local shops and the restaurants serve classic German dishes.

By far my favorite town was Rothenburg. It is full of history and charm and surrounded by the original city wall. You still need to enter the city through one of the original stone gates complete with a look out tower. Seriously cool. We spent 2 nights here, and could easily have spent a week getting lost along the side streets, little shops and beer houses in every direction. We took lots of pictures of the Romantic Road, so if you want to see more just click over to our collection of photos over on Pinterest.