We'd like to drive on the WEST side of the Rhine as we head south. Anyone with any recommended stopping points including pretty small villages, Cathedrals (we know there is one in Speyer) or castles? Appreciate your input....thanks. ken
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
The German Wine route will give you several options for scenic towns, however, if you want to see castles, there are far more on the EAST side of the river between Darmstadt and Heidelberg. On the west side, I know Neustadt has a castle, of sorts, that has a close association with the German democracy movement of the 19th century. Bad Dürkheim is a very pleasant spa resort without all the bling boutiques that you see in Baden-Baden. I've only driven by, and you would need to take a slight detour to see it, but Burg Trifels near Annweiler looked like an interesting castle. Speyer, in my opinion, is the most interesting large town on the west bank of the river south of Mainz. Worms also has a very old cathedral, but most of the remainder of the town was rebuilt in a fairly modern style after the war.
Posted by
Columbus, USA
332 posts
We really enjoyed Soufflenheim in France. Not too far from the Rhein and just north of Strasbourg. It has some of the most amazing pottery I have ever seen. I wish there was enough room in the suitcase to bring all that I wanted home.
We also really liked Worms. The Jewish Cemetery there is crazy old and we found it really interesting. It was raining before we got there and then the sun poked through the clouds and the effect was really creepy cool!
Posted by
OP
107 posts
Good stuff, thank you both, these are exactly the type of insights we were looking for. Our interests lie mainly with the smaller villages but certainly we are not opposed to visiting the larger cities...thanks again, folks...ken
Posted by
OP
107 posts
Susan, also you can see more went on there than pottery sales. And I am not making light of their pottery whatsoever. My WW2 interest led me to this little blurb....
At 0500, 11 December, 2nd BN, coming out of reserve, swept around to the right. By 0825, they were at the tracks due north - close enough to see A/Co and the 3rd BN crossing the deep tracks. Miraculously, the Germans had withdrawn sometime during the night. The units closed in on Haguenau, and had road blocks in place north and east by 1400. The townspeople were gracious and surprisingly pro-Allied. The engineers set about repairing the bridges so the armor and the other vehicles could cross.
The next stop was to be Soufflenheim, eight miles east through the Foret de Haguenau. The 313th was already there facing a fierce fight. On 12 December, a scouting party from the 1st BN was sent out to determine the route. They discovered the bridge west of Soufflenheim mined, but whole. The demolition engineers cleared the explosives, and the 314th reached town at 0830, and ordered to hold in place and support the 313th Regiment.