Southern Germany Bavaria

Günzburg

Marktplatz, Unteres Tor, Marktplatzbrunnen

Günzburg is a small city in Bavaria Southern Germany about 35 Kilometers northeast of Ulm. The Altstadt or old city center is about 10 blocks centered around the Marketplatz or market place with lots of outdoor café/restaurants. At one end of the Marktplatz is a watch tower known as the Unteres Tor or lower tower. In the middle of the plaza is a fountain the Marktplatzbrunnen.

In 2025 I split my coverage of southern Germany into the 2 regions of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Also for Baden-Württemberg as of 2024 I made a seperate page for Stuttgart.

Günzburg restaurants, beer garden

These photos are rather random. One is the Poseidon Trabenkeller a Greek restaurant and beer garden close to the Günburg main train station. The other is a Indian restaurant in the center a bit south of the Marktplatz. We didn’t eat at either place but I liked their architecture and at least as far as food is concerned, even a small town in Bavaria has diversity.

Würzburg, Bavaria – Residenz

Würzburg is a pretty University town on the Main river about 150 KM northeast of Stuttgart. With a population of around 130,000 and a large historical center dating back over 1300 years, it is a laid back and interesting city. The city was heavily bombed in WW II but better restored afterwards than many German cities. One of its main attractions in the UNESCO site known as the Residenz or residence, an extensive baroque palace and accompanying gardens where the local royalty once lived. The building is now a musuem and art gallary. I’ve visted the Residenz on a guided tour but had no camera with me. All of the following photos from Würzburg were taken in early November 2018 while attending the Würzburg Juggling Convention although it was at least my 4th or 5th visit.

Würzburg Cathedral

Some hundreds of meters from the Residenz is the large Würzburg Cathedral known as St. Kilian Dom. It was built starting in 1040 A.D. as the third Catholic cathedral on the spot as the earlier ones built 787 and 855 were mostly destroyed by fire. The main basilica entrance is flanked by twin towers and is in baroque style while the later added side wing known as the Schönborn chapel is late gothic.

Old Main Bridge Würzburg

The Main River (pronounced “mine”) flows through Würzburg. There remains an old bridge on a spot where previous badges had stood going back until at least the 11^th century. They were destroyed by flooding over the centuries and its present stone foundation was erected 1476 to 1488. Between the stone pillars the archways were originally wood but overlaid with stone as well in 1512 until 1703. Into the 18^th century the bridge was occupied with a strong military presence for defense. In the late 1720’s and early 1730s the iconic religious statutes were added, similar in style to the famous Karl’s Bridge in Prague. Both tourists and locals like to hang out on the bridge or stroll along the adjacent river walkways.

Marienberg Fortress Würzburg

There is a long ridge above the Main River in Würzburg known as Marienberg or the Frauen Berg. At an elevation  of around 100 meters is the Marienberg Fortress with a good view over the historical center. On an adjacent hill is the Marienkapelle or Marien Chapel. As an ideal defensible location, this location had some sort of settlement going back into antiquity. The oldest remaining part of the often expanded structure goes back to 704 A. D. From 1253 until 1719 the Marienberg was occupied by the count-bishop of Würzburg although also occupied by the Swedes 1631 – 1648 during the 30 year war. In the 18 hundreds the Prussian army took the Marienberg and turned it over to the Bavarian monarchy. There is a museum in the fortress which can be visited. Unfortunately, the only picture I got of chapel that belongs to the fortress located on the next hill is almost unrecognizable as I was shooting into the sun.

Nuremberg, Bavaria southern Germany

Nuremberg, known as Nürnberg in German, is a good sized city with over 526,000 inhabitants but has the feel of being even larger as it is the center of a metropolis including the nearby cities of Fürth, Erlangen and Schwabach. It was a significant center for the Nazi movement and it was a symbolic move that the Nuremberg trials were thus held there. On the other hand, as a symbol of forgiveness trying to go forward rather than just punish the population, there was a great effort to reconstruct the damages from the war and many historical buildings have been preserved while in similar cases elsewhere building were just razed and built a new.

I performed multiple times in Nuremberg in the distant past but never explored the city extensively or took pictures until I made these in June 2024. The main train station is very extensive and a majestic construction but unfortunately a meeting place for many junkies and bums and not the place to unnecessarily hang around at. Just across the street from the station one sees the Frauentorturm or womans’s gate tower and fortress known as the Handwerkerhof or handworkers courtyard. Extensive old city walls with a deep dry moat extend from there. Within the Handwerkerhof are cafes and shops where once craftsmen once prevailed. But according to a sign at the main entrance, it was earlier called the Waffenhof or weapons courtyard, which fits to its heavy fortification

Nuremberg, Operhaus, Zeughaus, St. Lorenzkirche, Lorenzplatz

Having seen the Handwerkerhof and following the old city walls west one comes to the Operhaus or opera house.  Heading north through more of a shopping area we passed the Zeughaus which is cornered in front by 2 towers and is now a police station. Earlier it was part of the old city fortifications and used to store weapons. Once flanked by granaries, the rest of the walls in this section are gone.

Continuing north one comes to the Lorenzplalz dominated by the large St. Lorenzkirche (St. Lorenz church)  at the intersection of the 2 most important pedestrian street the Karolinenstrasse and the Königstrasse (Kings street). Diagonal from the NW corner of the Lorenz church is an impressive building known as the Nassauerhaus. This was originally known as the  Schlüsselfelderisches Stiftungshaus when built in the 1300’s but later mistakenly named after a German king Nassau who owned some nearby properties but not this one. It has a sundial on one side and very intricate window on another side.

Nuremberg, Operhaus, Zeughaus, Weißer Turm

From Lorenzplatz we took a U-bahn west train to the nearby by city of Fürth for a quick look-around. Retruning we took teh same line and got out one stop before the Lorenz  stop at the Weißer Turm or white tower that guarded a city gate. On one side of the tower is an elaborate sculpture and fountain. On the other side is an old building housing the Paulus Buchhandlung or (pope) Paul bookstore next door to the St. Elisabeth Catholic Church and across the St. Jacobs protestant church.

Nürnberg; Albrecht Dürer memorial + birth house, Tiergärtnertorturm

North from the Sebaldus church one sees a statue of Albrecht Dürer a renowned German artist and mathematician. A few hundred meters farther is a large plaza where his birth house, now a museum is located. Thre are some impressive other historical buildings here including the Pilatushaus with it’s statue of a knight killing a dragon and across from it a restaurant pub known as the “Zum Albrecht Dürer Haus”. This is all nestled under the view of the Tiergärtnertorturm or animal garden gate tower, part of the city wall fortification that connects here to the Kaiserburg castle.

Nuremberg; Kaiserburg castle, Sinwellturm, Heidenturm

One goes through the Teirgärtnertor gate under the tower and has impressive walls and moats to the north entrance to the Kaiserburg castle complex with great views over the old city center. Within the caslte complex are shops, a museum, a chapel and multiple towers including the Sinwellturm and Heidenturm. Unfortuantely, we had no time to go inside any of these structures.

Nuremberg; Königstrassemauer, Blue K Tor

Heading back to the main train station, by the Frauentorturm we ended our site seeing with a diversion NE down a narrow street called the Königstormauer or King’s gate wall, a continuation of the old city walls including another small tower. On Google maps it is listed as the Blue K tower but I didn’t find any specific information about it.

Munich, Bavaria

Munich is the third largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg and the capital of the southeastern region of Bavaria. I’ve spent a lot of time there over the years, mostly in years past when I was working the streets. I’ve had a some stress with the local conservative Bavarian mentality but it is also very cosmopolitan and a lot to see. I have photos of me juggling in the pedestrian streets in the center but never really took tourist photos of the sites. The photos I am including below were from the European Juggling Convention held in Munich in 2011. It was held at the Olympic Park site which includes various halls and sports facilities which were set up for the Olympics in 1972. The official attendance for the EJC was 7200 making it until now the largest ever gathering of jugglers world-wide.

Although the convention attracted a good number of top juggler there were a number of complaints. It seems the police were often around to make sure everyone was following all of the rules, which turned some people off. The other problem was that the park is so big. We used not just various buildings but there were tents set up and many things happening outdoors. I had a bicycle with me but it was still a long ways between different activities spread out over the site.