Wurzburg

Romantic Wurzburg is lively, beautiful, and uniquely European

For Germans, the south begins at Wurzburg, one of Germany’s loveliest baroque cities (it’s 74 miles southeast of Frankfurt and 174 miles northwest of Munich). For those driving the Romantic Road, Würzburg is the best place to start. This young and lively city on the Main has a population of some 50,000 students, who give it a German version of joie de vivre. It's also a center of the Franconian wine region.

Würzburg remained faithful to the Roman Catholic Church throughout the Reformation. It's been called "the town of Madonnas" because of the more than 100 statues of its patron saint that adorn the house fronts. The best known of these statues is the baroque Patrona Franconiae, also known as the "Weeping Madonna," which stands among other Franconian saints along the buttresses of the 15th-century Alte Mainbrücke, Germany's second-oldest stone bridge.

On March 16, 1945, Würzburg was shattered by a bombing raid. In a miraculous rebuilding program, nearly every major structure has been restored, making it the travel-worthy city that it is today.

© 2009, Wiley Publishing, Inc.