Wurzburg & Bamberg - 4 August 2009

Our campsite had been chosen to afford easy access to Wurzburg in the morning and so we had no trouble getting parking directly in front of the Bishop's Residence, a UNESCO World Heritage listed building.

As seemed to be the way with these chaps, the Prince Bishop had indulged himself in a totally over the top Baroque extravaganza. The plaster-work was amazing and it is distressing to realise that it was mostly destroyed in an Allied bombing raid and has had to be lovingly and painstakingly restored to the fabulous state it is in today.

We were particularly impressed with the Green Lacquer Room. This has green lacquer applied over silver foil which gives it a glow. It also has opposing mirrors on all four walls, compared to just two walls in most of the other rooms. Consequently, one can stand in the centre of the room, on an amazing work of inlaid flooring, and see one's reflection disappearing off in all four directions.

You get to see a good number of rooms for the admission fee and by being early seemed to have most of the rooms to ourselves. The gardens are also worth a visit but not quite on the scale of some of the other royal residences and palaces we have visited.

Leaving the Bishop's Residence we wandered around the old town before ending up at the second oldest bridge in Germany, Alte Mainbrucke, which gave great views up to the Fortress Marienburg on the hill.

Back in the car we sped across to Bamberg to look at another UNESCO World Heritage site, this time the entire old town. There are a couple of islands and a number of old bridges to add interest to the walk around the old town centre. The Dom is interesting in that it is double ended, with a Choir at both ends, built some centuries apart in totally different styles.

Having had our fill of Bamberg it was back in the car for another dash along the autobahns to our next campsite near Erfurt.