Back Roads Germany (Dk Eyewitness Travel Back Roads)

135

Left Baroque Dom housing the tomb of

St. Boniface, Fulda

Above Stately façade of the Stadtschloss

in Fulda

EAT AND DRINK

MELSUNGEN

Rathaus Café inexpensive

The Rathaus Cafe is known for dishing

up excel lent German staples.

Am Markt 22, 34212; 05661 60 25

Ratskeller inexpensive

Located in Melsungen’s marketplace,

the Ratskeller serves whole some,

homemade fare.

Am Markt 1, 34212; 05661 928 96 89;

open Mon, Wed–Sun

BAD HERSFELD

L’Etable expensive

Zum Stern’s gourmet restaurant

features creative modern European

cooking, with everything from savory

or sweet tapas to a trio of foie gras ser-

ved roasted, poached, and as ice cream.

Linggplatz 11, 36251; 06621 18 90;

http://www.zumsternhersfeld.de;

closed Mon & Tue

FULDA

Restaurant zum Ritter moderate

Seasonal produce sets the tone at

Zum Ritter’s traditional dining room,

where there is a big selection of

Schnitzels (pork fillet) and steaks.

Kanalstrasse 18-20, 36037; 0661 25

08 00; http://www.hotel-ritter.de

Goldener Karpfen

moderate–expensive

This restaurant’s menu changes

seasonally and it serves dishes such as

duck liver parfait with truffles and

black walnuts, followed by venison

with juniper sauce and cranberries.

Simpliziusbrunnen 1, 36037; 0661 868

00; http://www.hotel-goldener-karpfen.de

DRIVE 12: In the Land of the Brothers Grimm

DAY TRIP OPTIONS

This region can also be enjoyed

as a series of day trips with either

Limburg an der Lahn or Bad

Wildungen as a base.

Castles and historic towns

Explore Limburg an der Lahn 2

before driving to the two castles

near Runkel 3. Stop by the castle

in Weilburg 4 and the medieval

Schloss Braunfels 5 before heading

to see Wetzlar’s 6 hilly Altstadt.

Follow signs from Limburg an der Lahn

to Runkel and then to Weilburg. Then

follow the route through Schloss

Braunfels to Wetzlar.

Unspoiled natural beauty

With Bad Wildungen 0 as a base,

drive to the Edersee and take a boat

cruise on the lake q, one of

Germany’s largest reservoirs, then visit

Schloss Waldeck w, perched high

above the Edersee. Continue to Fritzlar

e with its half-timbered houses.

Follow the route from Bad Wildungen

to Edersee and then to Schloss

Waldeck. Then take Bahnhofstrasse,

turn right on to the B485, and follow

signs to Fritzlar.

o Steinau an der Strasse
Hesse; 36396
The childhood home of the Brothers
Grimm certainly looks the part, with
a stern-looking castle presiding over

The Brothers Grimm

Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, in

1785 and 1786, Jacob and Wilhelm

Grimm achieved fame thanks to

their collection and popularization

of traditional folk tales, nurturing

the image of a make-believe

Germany that has much in common

with their Hessian homeland. They

grew up in Steinau an der Strasse

and studied law at Marburg

University before working as lib-

rarians at the elector’s court in

Kassel. However, political disfavor

forced them to move to Göttingen

and they finally settled in Berlin.

Though best known for stories such

as Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin,

and Snow White, the brothers were

serious academics who also wrote a

German dictionary together.

Eat and Drink: inexpensive, under €20; moderate, €20–€40; expensive, over €40

i Fulda
Hesse; 36037
Fulda was once an independent
prince-bishopric, and its 18th-cen tury
Barockviertel, or Baroque Quarter,
retains the air of a capital city. Its
grand, twin-towered Dom was
designed by Bavarian architect Johann

Dientzenhofer. The cathedral contains
the tomb of St. Boniface, the Anglo-
Saxon apostle of the Germans. The
neigh bor ing Dommuseum (closed
Mon) displays Boniface’s ghoul ish
skull reli quary. The Stadtschloss (open
Sat–Fri), former residence of Fulda’s
bishops, has a cabi net of mirrors.
ª Leave Fulda’s Aldstadt along the
B254/Frankfurter Strasse, joining the
B27 to the B40. This runs parallel to
the Auto bahn as far as Flieden; there-
after, the road has been declassified
and is no longer marked as a trunk

road, but continues via Schlüchtern to
Steinau an der Strasse.

a quaint, half-timbered Altstadt,

untouched by time. The Renaissance

Amtshaus in which the family lived is

one of the most impressive houses in

the town; it is now a museum, the

Brüder Grimm-Haus (open daily). The

Amtshaus’s former barn now hosts

the Museum Steinau (open daily), a

well-laid-out local history museum.