Saturday 16 May 2015

E37: Rottweil and Villingen 14th May

 The second leg on our way into the Black Forest was through the two small country towns of Rottweil and Villingen, and here are some of the highlights.

Rottweil is Baden-Württemburgs oldest town founded by the Romans in AD 73.  It is also home to the Rottweiler, a breed developed here as a hardy butchers dog but now usually utilised as an aggressive guard dog (even the bronze statues can give a nasty nip!)….

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The main historic centre is at the end of a very, very long and straight ‘Roman’ road….

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Many of the houses have elaborately decorated ‘bay windows’….

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except for the Hübscen Winkel house, with its 45 degree kink, squeezed in next to the town gate house….

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the above discovery (and certain remarks by one of our ‘readers’.. hehe) prompted a gatehouse phoon…. 

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Scattered throughout Rottweil are pieces of modern art, including this attention grabbing 1930 piece by Erich Hauser….

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and finally……. we happened across a display of modern production Indian motorcycles 

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(and Grahame quite fancies one …….only €23000 (!) ….. but where would we sleep?)

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Now onto Villingen, a late medieval town well known for its red sandstone Münster with disparate spires, one of coloured tiles, the other spikey and festooned with gargoyles….

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alongside the church is Klaus Ringwald’s Münsterbrunnen, a cheeky bronze fountain…. 

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depicting local characters that shaped Villingens history….

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The historic centre of Villingen is formed around a crossroad, each arm culminating in a gatehouse.  On this particular day (Public holiday) it was crammed full and heaving with market stalls and visitors….

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We finished the day at the pleasantly rural Stellplatze in Nusbach near Triberg in readiness for a visit to the famous waterfalls and some ‘healthy' consumption of authentic Black Forest Gateau, (watch out for E38!)

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1 comment:

  1. Wonder who would come off worst - a Rottweiler or Grahame?

    ReplyDelete