Getting the train from Munich on Friday night, We got in quite late so didn’t have much chance to explore, but even the walk from the station past the old town walls and the Handwerkerhof gave a flavour of the town’s medieval, oldy-worldy charm.
Setting off on Saturday we were wrapped up and braced against the rain, sadly, but it didn’t stop us exploring, starting with the Handwerkerhof, a cute and tiny little collection of artisan shops and a few places to eat, not very busy early and in the rain, but a real throw back into a medieval past.
After wandering round our side of the river, mostly retail and a few outdoor market stands, up and down Königsstraße, we had covered the major squares, the Lorenzkirche and the Way of Human Rights sculpture within an hour or so, before heading across the river for a much needed brunch at a cosy and popular restaurant overlooking the Hauptmarkt.
We then wandered up to the castle, taking in the Liebesinsel and the market square on the way, up past the Dürer house museum.
The smallness of the old town continually surprised us, and we were at the Kaiserburg much earlier than expected, with time to queue for a little bit too long in the rain, go inside and see the middle-age treasures of kaisers and kings, before taking in the old town again, and buy some Mazipankartoffel (literally ‘marzipan potatoes’, little marzipan bals coated in cocoa so that they look like diddy potatoes but taste much better), which seem to be a speciality in Nuremberg, on the way back to the hotel.
The evening didn’t go quite as well to plan as we might have hoped, a nice little restaurant that we had already checked out turning out to be a favourite for everyone else and fully booked all evening, marking the first in a chain of unsuccessful restaurant visits. After three more rejections, a combination of rain, busy Saturday night and limited capacity because of COVID, we finally got in at a bar/tapas place which turned out to offer some much needed comfort food after a rainy day.
Sunday was a bit more tightly structured, with a visit to the Nuremberg trials memorium museum in the morning - a great size, just the right amount of information to tell you everything you need to know about the trials, but not too much that it’s exhausting, plus the chance to see the Saal 600, where the trials actually took place - and the Nazi rally grounds in the afternoon.
An impressive vegan lunch from Veganel was made a little stressful by some unexpected complications with public transport which made us half an hour later for our 2pm tour around the rally grounds, but we managed to catch up before they had got very far, and were guided round the Kongresshalle to the Große Straße to the Zeppelin Tribune and inside the Goldener Halle, which we found particularly useful, as the site of the rally grounds is 11 square kilometers and quite hard to navigate, having been turned over to public use and now looks more like a recreational park than a former Nazi propaganda ground.
I personally found the appropriation of the space very practical, and thought the lack of restoration or completion of buildings left unfinished when the Nazis had to redirect funds to the war effort was quite powerful.
In keeping with the slightly chaotic theme of the day, we just missed the last entry to the Dokumentationzentrum (the museum at the rally grounds), but decided to take the opportunity to enjoy a wander round the green space and take in the weather, which had really perked up since Saturday.
Dinner was much more successful this time, with a table booked at dasPaul, a restaurant and hotel overlooking the river with some tasty food, brilliant views, a heated outdoor terrace and all round good vibes.
As we walked back to the station to catch a late train back to Munich we got to take in Königsstraße again, and I was quite pleased that over the course of the weekend we had taken in Nuremberg, both medieval quaintness and more unsettling Nazi past, really quite thoroughly.
