Almost fantasy

Walk with a night watchman to see lovely medieval Rothenburg

Despite its fairy-tale Bavarian perfection and its great number of visitors, the walled medieval city of Rothenburg is a real treat. This lovely German town avoided being bombed in World War II, and most of what is seen today is real, not restored.

Its full name, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, translates as “Red castle over the Tauber,” a reference to its red roofs and location on a plateau above the Tauber River. The Nazis considered it Germany’s hometown, at least partly because it expelled its Jewish population in 1938. But its beauty was also well known to the allies, who offered to spare the town further bombing if German forces would surrender it. The two sides agreed, and Rothenburg was largely spared even though the war went on around it.

When our small motorcoach approached Rothenburg, our driver had to park in an outlying lot and wait for a pilot to guide him through its narrow streets hung with ornate and picturesque signs, not unlike the way ships are guided into port.

We were spending the night ,and our luggage needed to be dropped off at the Hotel Eisenhut, a delightful place created from a quartet of 16th-century mansions on the main shopping street just a block from the Market Square. After that, the bus was banished to the outskirts along with other motorcoaches.

Thankfully, Rothenburg is largely a pedestrian city, and its turrets, half-timbered houses, leaded-glass bay windows and Renaissance housefronts are best seen on foot. Walk its stone walls, studded with 42 towers,

gaze out over the valley then stroll cobblestone streets lined by homes with tall gable roofs and flowers tumbling from windowboxes.

But spending the night lets a visitor savor its almost fantasy setting when the crowds clear out and only a few sets of footsteps can be heard..

Since the Middle Ages, the old town has transformed itself into the winter Reiterlesmrkt, a Christmas market that this year runs from Nov. 27 to Dec. 23.

A highlight of any visit to Rothenburg is the 8 p.m. walk with the Night Watchman, an hourlong tour in which the watchman, robed in a black cape and wearing a broad brimmed hat, carries a lantern to illuminate sights. His tales of the Thirty Years’ War, the shopping street Hernngasse and the Plague also illuminates the past. Before the walk is done, visitors have learned a lot about life in medieval times and seen things that may have eluded them on their own explorations. The Watchman, for instance, points to a hole in the ramparts above one of the gates where hot oil could be poured to deter invaders of the city. The twilight walk ends in the blooming castle gardens just as night is falling over the valley below. The castle dates to 1388, as do its gardens.

The sense of having stepped into a fantasy is continued in the many festivals celebrated year-round in Rothenburg, including the Imperial City Festival each September in which medieval days return with costumed knights, soldiers and peasants and a fairy-tale festival for a week each November.

Well worth a visit, if a bit too gruesome for young children, is the Medieval Crime and Justice Museum, housed in the former Commandery of the Knights of St. John. It covers 1,000 years of the history of law in Europe, all supported by official documents of the time. Instruments of torture and tools for capital punishment are fascinating along with explanations of public humiliation. Illuminated manuscripts illustrate concepts such as excommunication, divorce, the feudal system and court proceedings.

If Rothenburg looks vaguely familiar, you may recognize it from films and even video games. It was the inspiration for the 1940 Disney film “Pinocchio,” a location in the movie “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.” Filming was done there for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” movies and Rothenburg was the basis for Lebersbaum in the Shadow of Memories video game.

Total immersion in the Middle Ages without the crowds comes with an overnight or two at the Hotel Eisenhut with the arched doorways and windows, upholstered headboards and antique furnishings. Each of its 70 rooms is different and found along crooked narrow hallways, up short flights or stairs and around corners. Most have views either over the valley or the town.

Rothenburg’s countryside surroundings are the location for dozens of hikes, celebrated spring and fall with festivals and pursuits such as wine tasting and hot air ballooning. At 2 p.m. every Wednesday it’s possible to join a two-hour guided hiking tour complete with refreshments and singing that’s free for all.

Climb the 222 steps to the cupola of the town hall to reach a vantage point ideal for long views and idyllic photos. Find out about concerts performed year round in both St. Jacobs and the Franciscan Church from the tourist office which can arrange bicycle tours and dozens of other activities accompanied by English speaking guides.

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