# Miltenberg, Germany (long tour)



## Clay Hefner (May 31, 2008)

part one

MILTENBERG; LOWER FRANCONIA (Bavaria, Germany)
(flickr, all photos taken by me unless stated otherwise)
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Miltenberg is a small town of not even 10k inhabitants in Lower Franconia in Bavaria, situated in the narrow valley of the River Main.
It's no Dinkelsbühl or Quedlinburg for sure, but locally it's definitely in the same league as Wertheim (20 kilometers away) or Erbach/Michelstadt (25 km away)

view east from the castle, on the mountain in the background, the remains of a big bronze age fortress can be found. I wasn't there, though
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view North from Burgweg lane, in the background: The Spessart mountains with the Engelberg monastery.
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Miltenberg proper was founded in the 13th century, yet settlement there dates back much further back. 
There was a fortified Celtic town on the mountain above the old town (5th century BC), also the place got important as a Roman border town when the Empire expanded the province Germania Superior in the 2nd century AD. 
There were two Roman castles at Miltenberg, as well as a Gallo-Roman temple built in the center of the older Celtic town on the mountaintop. Not much of those structures remained, though.
Miltenberg is situated at important trade and smuggling routes.
Controlling the entrance to the Main valley and the traffic on the river was Miltenberg's biggest asset. 
Of course that also meant the town was always on invaders' "to-conquer" list to establish supply lines. The inhabitants were smart enough to surrender in most cases.

This is the medieval St. Laurentius chapel, just outside the town gates. In former times, you had to cross that old bridge to get to the town.
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The "outer" western town gate (Mainzertor). The old town proper does not begin right behind this gate, because the valley used to be too narrow. Infact, this gate was used to block the entry to the valley and was not connected to the actual town wall.
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Ok, this photo is crappy. But I included it to show the buildings just behind the gate, which are mostly 19th/early 20th century. The medieval old town is far in the background. You can also see one of the old quarries where the local sandstone was mined.
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This is the western entrance to the old town. It used to be the main access, now it's rather the back door.
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Since the walled old town is squeezed into the narrow valley, it consists of only one street, the Hauptstrasse (Main Street). Not to be confused with this street which runs around the old town walls and is called Mainstrasse (well...Main Street... lol).
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The Mainstrasse was created for Napoleon's troops to march through. I suppose this was when the inner western gate (Schwertfegertor) was torn down.
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along Mainstrasse, the town wall is kinda preserved, but not at full height. The south side of the wall is better preserved with towers and stuff and we'll get there soon.
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Now on to the market place!


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## erbse (Nov 8, 2006)

Beautiful Mildebersch :applause:

I remember Tannenschnaps (a fellow German forumer) moved from this town to Berlin.

Please continue!


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## Clay Hefner (May 31, 2008)

The market place
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north side with tower
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cool: When you exit through the gate, you're right in a freaking forest!
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Northeast corner with the Stone House and exit into Grosse Fischergasse.
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This is the catholic church in the north-western corner. 
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eastern exit
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above, there is a nice 20th century villa built into the southern town wall. Reportedly, it gets confused with the castle often 
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walkway to the (real) castle
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the castle. It was partly destroyed in the Margrave Wars and some of it has been rebuilt in the contemporary Renaissance style. Courtyard was CLOSED...so no pics
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next is the Black Quarter, the oldest part of town!


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## Tom_Green (Sep 4, 2004)

:rofl:
:rofl:
:rofl:

Muhaha... :rofl:
I am searching for people i know on your pics. I don`t live in Miltenberg but in Obernburg but i am in Miltenberg as often as in Obernburg. That`s so funny. All the time i see far away citieson SSC and now it`s one around the corner.

erbsenzaehler: What`s the real name of tannenschnapps? I think someone i know, know him


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## channel (Apr 24, 2008)

such a lovely place :cheers:


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## Clay Hefner (May 31, 2008)

okay, before we enter the Black Quarter, some photos of the town wall.
I estimate around 70 per cent of the town wall are preserved.
Maybe 30 per cent still stand at full height with towers.

This is the only tower left on the northern wall
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tower on the eastern wall
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the southern wall is preserved best, but it's actually hard to photograph. From the south, it's hidden by the vegetation, from the north it's mostly obscured by houses.
This is another gorgeous 20th century villa with two of the towers
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Thre is also a short walkway along the southern wall, but it's very narrow

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remains of tower
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This power plant was built into the North-Eastern corner of the wall. A tower was razed for that purpose, but the government demanded a tower had to be included in the new structure. Oh well...
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there is also an "abandoned part of the wall that got obsolete when the city expanded, as well as a number of lateral town gates, which we will see when we continue the tour along Hauptstrasse.


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## cuiti78 (Sep 15, 2007)

*Wonderful place!!!!*

:cheer::cheer:Miltenberg is so amazing!!!!!!! I really love this place. Germany is such an incredible country. I hope I´ll be there some day. Congratulations!!!!!!! Thanks for showing us these stunning picskay:kay:


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## Clay Hefner (May 31, 2008)

Thanks!
For the conclusion of part one, here's the oldest part of town, the Schwarzviertel (Black Quarter), where Hauptstrasse becomes quite narrow and the lanes even more so. It's to the west of the market square and ends at the "back door" we saw in an earlier post.
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Pfarrgasse (Preacher's lane)
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back on the Hauptstrasse
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looking back
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This is the oldest Brewery in town (est'd 1580), the Kalt-Loch Brewery. Miltenberg has two breweries left. 
The other one was established in 1640. When two of their brewers had to flee the country in the revolutionary years, they went to Milwaukee and founded Schlitz Co.! :cheers:
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patrician court
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Löwengasse

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further west along Hauptstrasse 
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lane
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VERY narrow lane
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tiny lateral town gate
here you can see why it's called "Black Quarter"...that day was as sunny as it gets.
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this is the end of the Black Quarter
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All right, we arrived back here on the western end









In part two, we'll check out the eastern part of the old town (the town expanded eastward around 1300 AD).
Until then. Thanks a lot for visiting!


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Absolutely beautiful. I love half-timbered houses and Miltenberg seems to have them in abundance!


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## Clay Hefner (May 31, 2008)

I edited the previous posts, added some pics and stuff, now let us move on.

part two

So we’re back on the market place, let's look around.
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Huh?!...what’s going on now?
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it’s a Franconian separatist festival, and I’m not even kidding. 
So let’s enter the eastern part of the old town before the shooting begins.
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the former (gothic) town hall
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before we continue, let’s take a look at the Fishermen’s Quarter. A very crammed part of the old town with very narrow lanes and mostly simple houses, a bit like the Black Quarter.
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little square

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Grosse Fischergasse
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lateral gate
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lateral town gate
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back to Main St.
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The Riesen, oldest tavern in Germany. The house as we see it here was built around 1590, but the business is said to have been established in the 12th century.
Many famous people spent a night here, including several emperors, but only one king... Elvis Presley.
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view from Riesengasse
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Riesengasse
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town gate
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Here we can see the part of the wall that became redundant when the town expanded further. There was also a gate (Wamessertor), but it was already torn down during the Holy Roman Empire
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lane
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lane
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lane
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Yeah, so we have arrived at the end of the first expansion area. But the town expanded further east around 1380, which I will cover in part three.

Thanks for visiting!


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Awesome place


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## Tiaren (Jan 29, 2006)

Wow...breathtakingly beautiful town! Thank you very much for these impressions.


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## Johnor (Jan 8, 2008)

Wonderful picture of a small town in Bavaria that I have never visited.

Is it far from Heidelberg with car?


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## Patrick (Sep 11, 2002)

Wonderful thread :applause: I guess I have to take a look to this town when I will have moved to Maintal near Frankfurt next month.
@Johnor: it's 76km of Bundesstraße from Heidelberg direction to Würzburg. Not that far away 
http://maps.google.de/maps?f=d&sadd...l=49.60715,9.310913&spn=0.939767,2.460937&z=9


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## Clay Hefner (May 31, 2008)

Hey thanks guys!
Sorry I haven't checked on this thread for a while because I have very little time at the moment, but I'll post part three tomorrow.

And yeah, it's not that far away(about 1,5 hrs) from Heidelberg.


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## erbse (Nov 8, 2006)

Great. I'm looking forward to part III then 


Anyway, where do you actually live, Clay? Near Mildebersch (because of the relatives), I suppose?!


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## Clay Hefner (May 31, 2008)

Nah, I seem to have relatives everywhere. My great-grandfather appears to have been a pretty fertile dude
I just moved to Dossenheim near Heidelberg and I already hate it there. Heidelberg is so overrated it's not even funny.
BTW I checked out Karlstadt for photos and it SUCKS. HARD. Too bad, it has an awesome town wall and I love those. Maybe I'll just do Hirschhorn next or something.


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## Clay Hefner (May 31, 2008)

Alright, Part Three
This youngest part of town is a bit different from the older quarters. 
Firstly, it is stil open for traffic, whereas the other parts of Hauptstrasse have been made a ped zone in the 80s
Secondly, there is more Gründerzeit architecture in this part of town, more stone houses in general and less half-timbering.

103. Here, the valley opens up a bit and there is a biig lane traversing the old town from north to south









104.The protestant church, built around 1900 in a nice neo-romanesque style. Awesome.









105.The protestant preacher’s house. 









106. Pure 20th century Kitsch, I love it.









107. If we leave the old town down this lane here









108. We end up at the bridge and the beautiful bridge tower. Both were built in 1900, the tower was originally a toll booth for the bridge!. The ugly container underneath is a mobile toilet for the festival.









there hadn't been a bridge there before, just a ferry. Also, the town expanding around 1900 made for nice Gründerzeit buildings on the other shore.



109. Back on the Main Street, this in Angel’s square (Engelplatz) with the town hall.









110. The monastery on the north side of Angel’s square










111. gate









112. The courtyard, seen from north (Mainstrasse)









113. the library









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116. 19th century houses.









117. Ankergasse









118. Early and late 19th century buildings near the eastern end of the old town.









119. Some of the half-timbered houses in the area are simple and small, but nice.









120. So this ist the east end of the old town, the Würzburgertor









121. a villa, just an example of the simple, but beautiful Gründerzeit architecture found around the old town.












That’s it from Miltenberg. Thanks for visiting!
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## Dr.Seltsam (May 28, 2008)

I like it! Thx!


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Beautiful pics


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