Two more brief reports from the world "Beyond the Blue Books". Both of these towns are found in the historical Nassau region of Hessen.
I was watching a Dutch TV historical drama series from the 1980s on the life of Willem the Silent (if you need a quick primer, he's like the George Washington of the Netherlands), so my curioristy was piqued to visit his birthplace and main residence in Dillenburg. I was pretty certain his original castle no longer stands (correct, except from some ruins), but I heard there was a monument worth visiting. Not just a monument, it turns out, but a 19th century Romantic tower on the site of his castle, overlooking the town below. Judging by the date of construction, and because Dillenberg sits in what was Prussia's Hessen-Nassau province, I'm guessing the tower was part of Bismark's Kulturkampf of memorializing Protestant heroes. The tower contains a museum dedicated to Willem, but unfortunately, it's closed in the winter, so I wasn't able to visit. But I got a nice picture of the statue of Willem with his favorite dog... if you're a dog-lover, the story of his special friendship with this dog is quite touching.
Dillenburg has a suprisingly large Altstadt filled with the sort of Fachwerk typical of the region. Not much in the way of "sites" (other than the Willem de Zwijger monument), but you could easily spend a good hour or two just strolling and gazing.
PS- Although both are worth visiting, don't confuse Dillenburg with Dilsberg, which is a cute little castle town overlooking the Neckar River upstream of Heidelberg.
Now, onto Braunfels. There's one main reason to visit this small town above the Lahn river... the huge castle that sits prominently on a hill above the town. It's visible from the surrounding countryside for miles. I wasn't sure if this was an incredibly well-preserved castle à la Marksburg or an historically-informed Romantic era rebuild. Turns out, more of the latter. But who cares, unless you've really seen a lot of these, you'd think it was straight out of the High Middle Ages. On the exterior, only some of the adornments on the towers are a little fanciful. The tour was interesting, but only in German (although there's an English paper guide available upon request). The castle contains quite an impressive art collection. Surrounding the castle is a nice collection of Fachwerk buildings, although the further you move away from the castle, the more modern the town becomes. The town also hosts some kind of "Wellness Clinic", which I suspect is similar to the bathing treatments you find in towns designated "Bad".
So, here's two more interesting stops to put on your German radar. Perhaps not for first time visitors, but if you've seen the Rhine, Neuschwanstein and Munich, you've already bought your souvenir cuckoo clock and beer stein and now he want to see the "hidden, untouristy Germany", add these to the list of possibilities. Braunfels and Dillenburg are both pretty close to Wetzlar, Butzbach, Marburg, Fritzlar and Büdingen, all of which feature the type of stuff people travel to Germany to experience but have none of the trinket shops that have taken over Rothenburg, Bacharach and the like. I aslo passed a "Kloster Altenberg" near Braunfels that looks quite interesting, but that will have to wait for another day. And all of this lies less than an hour's drive from Frankfurt Int'l Airport.