This cycling tour will be held in Germany. It will cover places including Bamberg, Hallstadt, Regnitz, Haßfurt, Franconia, Volkach, Theres, Fahr, Bocksbeutel, Main channel, Schwarzach, Würzburg, Veitshöchheim, Karlstadt, Gemünden, Rothenfels, Marktheidenfed, Wertheim, Miltenberg, Spessart, Odenwald, Seligenstadt, Hanau, Offenbach, Frankfurt, and Mainz.
Bamberg
As visitors wander through the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bamberg, they are particularly enchanted by the city's many different facets. In the hill city, Bamberg portrays itself as the Franconian Rome. The island city with Little Venice is its lively heart, and the market gardeners' district a part of town steeped in tradition.
Bamberg means beer from nine breweries within the city, supped in traditional brewery pubs, as well as shopping in modern shops and a historical atmosphere. And in the Old Town, everything is very close together. Explore the imperial cathedral just a few minutes from your hotel or holiday apartment.
Maria Limbach Pilgrimage Church
The Limbach Pilgrimage Church is an impressive testimony to Balthasar Neumann's art of creating great architecture with little effort. Above all, the light and playful design as a double-shell room with a gallery entrance characterizes Neumann's last church construction and shows him as a splendid example of late Baroque.
While the exterior façade seems to have calmed down in classicist style, the interior is full of cheerful rococo stucco and sumptuous furnishings.
Volkach
The small, historic city on the Main is an important wine and tourist resort in the Franconian wine-growing region. Volkach and the Mainschleife is unique in Germany because only here the Main has formed this loop. The Mainschleife is also the wine, fruit, and asparagus region in the Franconian wine country.
Winemakers and wine festivals invite wine tasting everywhere. In autumn, the grape harvest is on. From a culinary point of view, there is a distinctive cuisine. Typical Franconian dishes or exclusive asparagus and fish dishes with the matching wines are on the menu.
Würzburg
“If I could choose my place of birth, I would consider Würzburg”, wrote author Hermann Hesse, and it is not difficult to see why. This scenic town straddles the Main River and is renowned for its art, architecture, and delicate wines. Founded in the 10th century, Würzburg served as the home of powerful prince-bishops for many centuries.
It is renowned for the Residence, regarded as one of the finest palaces in Europe and a high point of Baroque art (also UNESCO cultural world heritage). Würzburg is also home to one of the oldest churches in Germany, built in the 8th century on top of a former pagan shrine. One of its most famous structures, Festung Marienberg, is a fortress which now surrounds the church.
Lohr (Town of Snow White)
In Lohr, locals will tell you references of the Snow White tale. The “Gate of Spessart” which is thought to have been the opening to the escape route for Snow White as she vanished “on seven hills”, the Mountain Trail (Wieser Strabe). The journey through the seven Spessart Mountains from Lohr would have taken her to the kingdom of the seven dwarfs.
Wertheim
Located in southwestern Germany, the town of Wertheim-am-Main is located along the banks of the Main River, where it meets the River Tauber. With a population of just over 24,000 inhabitants, Wertheim is a picturesque, medieval German city that is perfectly suited to arriving river cruise passengers.
First mentioned in 779, Wertheim underwent several name changes throughout the intervening centuries before officially receiving township status in 1976.
Wertheim Castle
Once the domicile of the Counts of Wertheim, the fortress (extension during 15th to 17th century) is one of the most picturesque ruins in Germany with a deep moat and impressive bulwark. In 1618, the castle was partly destroyed by an explosion. During the Thirty Years' War in 1634 and 1647, it was under heavy fire.
Today, the castle is owned by the Community of Wertheim, growing into a more and more attractive setting for cultural events.
Aschaffenburg
Whatever the season, Aschaffenburg is always worth a visit, whether for the magnolia blossom in spring, for Pompeiianum Palace in summer, for Bavaria's oldest English landscaped park in autumn, or for the works of Cranach, Grünewald, Kirchner and Schad in winter. And with Aschaffenburg being a compact town, you can discover its many sights on foot.
The route from Johannisburg Palace to the town hall is a labyrinth of narrow alleys, where traditional bars and quaint restaurants occupy pretty little half-timbered buildings. The Johannisburg Palace, made of red sandstone, is one of the most significant and beautiful Renaissance buildings in Germany.
Its unique features include the chapel (complete with Renaissance altar, pulpit and portal sculptures by Hans Juncker), the royal living quarters, the world's largest collection of architectural models made from cork, the state gallery with paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Palace Museum of Aschaffenburg that houses works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Christian Schad.
Pompejanum Aschaffenburg
This replica of a Roman villa was built at the behest of King Ludwig I, who was inspired by the excavations in Pompeii, and it is the only one of its kind in the world. Architect Friedrich von Gärtner did not overlook a single detail in his design of the atrium and interior.
The exquisite frescoes and floor mosaics, for example, give art lovers an ideal replica from which to broaden their understanding of classical culture. The Pompeiianum was badly damaged during the Second World War but reopened in 1994 following several phases of restoration.
Since then, it has been used to exhibit original Roman works of art from the holdings of the State Antiquities Collections and the Glyptothek in Munich.
German Leather Museum
The German Leather Museum is the worldwide only museum that presents the manufacture, ornamentation, and utilization of the material leather. It was founded in the year 1917 by Hugo Eberhardt in the leather-city Offenbach am Main, originally as a collection of historic samples for the training of young craftsmen, designers and leather goods producers.
St. Stephan’s Church, Mainz
Lovers of the works of Marc Chagall make a pilgrimage to St. Stephan’s Church with its famous blue stained glass windows, unique in Germany. The largest Roman theater north of the Alps can be found in the southernmost part of the old town as well. The cityscape and the various city panoramas are shaped by St. Martin’s Cathedral.
Mainz
The state capital of Rhineland-Palatinate combines an ancient culture with joie de vivre. It is the home of the German Wine Institute and is the wine capital of Germany. Outside the city is the largest German wine-growing area, Rheinhessen, with a number of award-winning vintners.
In the picturesque old town around the Romanesque St. Martin’s Cathedral, you can stroll through winding streets. Behind the lovingly restored half-timbered, Baroque and Rococo façades, jewelry and clothing boutiques, little studios, typical Mainz wine taverns and restaurants invite you on a journey of discovery.
