Würzburg

I had never so much as heard of this city before, but it is a beautiful place, a kind of jewel box :-). It sits on the banks of the Main, right in the middle of a large wine region, and its old town is very pretty, while it also has a huge palace called the Residenz, which was built for the archbishop, Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn. Unfortunately, we got there too late to view this enormous palace from the inside, but we wandered a little through the grounds, and I saw some of the cutest topiary trees in the world there.

We ended our day in Würzburg with a wine tasting, where we sampled eight wines. Although beer is the first thing that comes to mind about Germany, this area, the region of the Rhine and Main (Franconia, as it’s known) has long been a predominantly wine-producing region. The slopes of the surrounding mountains, the sunshine, and the climate are very favorable to the grapes, and the white wines of the area are especially outstanding.

The wine tasting was held in a place called the Bürgerspital - Zum Heiligen Geist (to the Holy Ghost), whose establishment dates back to 1316. A Christian couple created a home here where the poor and elderly could live, but in return, they had to behave in a Christian manner and help them with their work. They regularly received wine for their work, but if they did not behave properly, it would be diluted with water, or even taken away entirely :-).”

Destination in brief

Population (in 2021): about 124,000