Germany's Romantic Rhine and Rothenburg: Travel Details
This is a quick and handy source for details on the sights, hotels, tour guides and restaurants featured in the "Germany's Romantic Rhine and Rothenburg" show. For much more (and updates), see this year's edition of Rick Steves' Germany & Austria guidebook.
Herr Jung
Get acquainted with Bacharach by taking a walking tour. Charming Herr Rolf Jung, retired headmaster of the Bacharach school, is a superb English-speaking guide who loves sharing his town's story with Americans (€30, 90 min, call to reserve, tel. 06743/1519).
The Heidrich Family
For a fun, family-run wine shop and Stube in the town center, visit Weingut Karl Heidrich (at Oberstrasse 16, directly in front of Hotel Kranenturm), where Markus proudly shares his family's wine while passionately explaining its fine points to travelers. They offer a variety of wine carousels with six wines (€10), which are ideal for the more sophisticated wine-taster.
Burg Eltz
My favorite castle in all of Europe lurks in a mysterious forest. It's been left intact for 700 years and is furnished throughout as it was 500 years ago. Thanks to smart diplomacy and clever marriages, Burg Eltz was never destroyed. (It survived one 5-year siege.) It's been in the Eltz family for 820 years (€6 castle entry, plus €2.50 for treasury, April-Oct daily from 9:30, last tour departs at 17:30, closed Nov-March, tel. 02672/950-500,
www.burg-eltz.de).
Haus Lipmann
Hotel Haus Lipmann is your chance to live in a medieval mansion with hot showers and TVs. A prizewinner for atmosphere, it's been in the Lipmann family for 200 years. The creaky wooden staircase and the elegant dining hall, with long wooden tables surrounded by antlers, chandeliers, and feudal weapons, will get you in the mood for your castle sightseeing, but the riverside terrace may mace your momentum (Sb-€75-85, Db-€85-95, cash only, 5 rooms, closed Nov-April, Marktplatz 3, tel. 02673/1573, fax 02673/1521, www.hotel-haus-lipmann.com, hotel.haus.lipmann@t-online.de). The entire Lipmann family — Marion and Jonas, their hardworking son David, and his wife Anja — hustles for its guests.
Night Watchman
This tour is flat-out the most entertaining hour of medieval wonder anywhere in Germany. The Night Watchman (a.k.a. Hans Georg Baumgartner) jokes like a medieval Jerry Seinfeld as he lights his lamp and takes tourists on his one-hour rounds, telling slice-of-gritty-life tales of medieval Rothenburg (€6, free for kids, mid-March-Dec nightly at 20:00, in English, meet at Market Square, www.nightwatchman.de). This is the best evening activity in town.