Quick trip to Marburg

Consider this the next in an occasional series highlighting worthwhile destinations outside the Rick Steves canon. Marburg lies along the German Fairy Tale Route, mainly because the Grimm brothers studied there. But I had also read that the Altstadt of this small university city looks more like a typical fairy tale than almost any other in Germany. So, off I went with the dog in-tow today. I'm not sure about looking any more fairy-tale-like than the rest of Germany, but it definitely has that look in spades. Lots of well-maintained Fachwerk, some very old churches, cobblestones everywhere, a very attractive Rathaus, and a very well-maintained Schloss (no Romantic-era embelishments here) on top of the hill, complete a very nice Schlosspark and garden. The town sort of wraps around the hill, winding up to the Schloss. I wonder if JRR Tolkien every payed a visit, because the town is very similar to his description of Minas Tirith. The Schlosspark was particularly nice today because the trees were in full autumn color. I had also read that a nearby tower inspired Jacob Grimm's drawing of Rapunzel's tower. There appears to be just such a tower overlooking Marburg from an adjacent mountain. It really looks like practically every drawing you've ever seen of her tower, and even the Disney version too. Turns out, though, that this isn't the Rapunzel tower, the real one's actually a very small building in a nearby town. So, overall, beautiful little city. Probably the most well-preserved university town that I've yet seen in Germany. Yet another example of why you don't necessarily need to make a bee-line for Rothenburg od der Tauber to see a great example of a well-preserved German town. And it's only about 40 minutes north west of Frankfurt. PS- Hat's off to Fred in San Francisco for bringing Marburg to my attention.