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Winter tour around Regensburg
Winter tour around Regensburg
Beyond Christmas
Anyone who, like many others, only thinks of one thing in December is missing out on the best part: the little escapes from tax returns, the crib play and the intoxication of gifts. Here is our relaxation trip for cool all-weather pilots.
Gerhard Eisenschink
December 04, 2008
Even the speedometer needle seems to be moving slowly. No wonder, minus five degrees are actually not enough for a motorcycle or a person. But today is one of those days when thick hoar frost has a firm grip on Bavaria. Sugars over houses, trees and grasses. Fog gives an idea of the mountains in pastel colors. I poured a few liters of fresh fuel into the Suzuki DR 650 and am getting ready for a compact lap. After a few tough organs, the starter gets the single going, and after a brief stutter it even bravely picks up the gas. Grip heating on “Hi”, then you go along the rain north out of Regensburg. As neighbors of no less than five rivers, there are endless routes around the metropolis.
On the outskirts, I overtake cars crammed with Christmas trees and presents – Christmas is just around the corner. A few kilometers further on, a little road begins near this stream that leads upstream on the western Regen bank. The first curves appear, and at the latest they free the mind. Regardless of whether all the presents have been arranged, whether Aunt Beate will be satisfied with her woolen scarf and mother with the “Acqua di Gio” scented gift box – all the hustle and bustle of the last few days is receding, I feel relieved of everything.
Next to the route, the rain gushes wildly around the rocks between natural banks that are hardly built on. A real river! In Ramspau, ducks maneuver between ice floes, and despite all global warming, it is still really winter here. A few curves further on, the river is completely frozen over. In front of Hirschling, ice sheets slide over one another, the water as if covered. For ducks, gray herons, kingfisher and other boarders, the fridge remains closed for the time being.
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Beyond Christmas
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In Marienthal, I stop shivering at the village inn. The cold is already biting into every part of the body that is not thickly masked, and the heated grips are more warm than expected. Here the rain turns abruptly at right angles and changes its course from south-north to more or less west-east. At the large canoe jetty, where in summer there are often more boats than cars and motorbikes crowd at the foot of a popular beer garden, there is a yawning emptiness, and I am the only guest in the warm, Christmas-decorated dining room.
The winter journey continues, into the Bavarian Forest. A trade route between Bohemia and Regensburg has been running through the Regental for thousands of years. The exchange of goods flourished here, unhindered by rocks or ravines. This is how the DR and I are making good progress. After Nittenau and Roding have flown by, we are gradually turning south again. My hands are getting clammy again, I am not allowed to stretch the circle too far. In small curves it goes quickly over a foothills of the Bavarian Forest to the next player in the city of five rivers, the Danube. The higher the road behind Michelsneukirchen climbs, the thicker the hoar frost sits on the trees. I could scream with pleasure at the unexpected winter treat. But then it happens – behind a bend, overhanging branches have spread the frost on the road – the enduro slips over both wheels in a flash. I catch them just before the unstable side position. Suddenly I feel red-hot, my pulse is racing at the highest frequency. Phew, went well again. Taking a deep breath, I open the visor, which immediately tarnished – the pitfalls of winter.
Iron ham
Watch out, edge! Woe if there is an icy piece of asphalt lurking here…
I continue to roll carefully to Worth and on the Danube back to Regensburg. Hardly 4 p.m. and it is already getting dark. While the fog sends the first icy clouds, chains of lights flare up in the gardens, plastic snowmen and Santa Clauses climbing balconies fly past in the corner of your eye. Time to come home On the Danube quay, behind the glass panes of the anchored cruise ships, guests are already preparing for an aperitif in the brightly lit on-board restaurant. Since the expansion of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, the world cultural heritage city has been accessible from both the North Sea and the Black Sea. I also drop anchor and walk the last few meters to the old town to warm up. Now a mulled wine!
“Almost 900 years old” – in front of the “Historischen Wurstkuchl”, a tour guide is explaining one of the oldest takeaways in the western hemisphere, and Japanese people snapping pictures get dangerously close to the edge of the quay of the three degrees cold Danube in awe. In the open air, in front of your amazed eyes, I devour one of the typical Regensburg bratwursts in style. Since the cold airflow has been absent, I’ve had heat attacks.
But it’s really hot at the Christkindlmarkt on Neupfarrplatz. Through the medieval network of small alleys I get to the oldest of the three Regensburg Christmas markets, above which swaths of mulled wine fumes rise into the night sky. A never-ending stream of people pushes me between the stands. Past Regensburg half-meter bratwurst, yeast dumplings and Almhutt‘n as well as Engerlhutte with an overwhelming range of the most varied alcoholic beverages. An illustrious group of drinkers creates an Oktoberfest atmosphere in December and roars blissfully Christmas carols. With “Jingle Bells” in my ears, I finally discovered a Christmas tree bauble on a motorcycle-riding Santa Claus. What a day!
But the night gets even better and with a biting eight degrees below zero, it conjures up even more hoarfrost on the trees. When a plump minus five degrees presumably mark the day’s maximum the next morning around eleven o’clock, Suzi has to go again. And jumps promptly only with jump start help. The heated grips got to her! Anyway, today I’m going to do the west lap. After the granite of the Bavarian Forest, the limestone cliffs of the Jura are next. Via Kehlheim it goes into the Altmuhltal. Steep, white rocks line the route. The small town of Essing is draped directly under a rock wall.
I could now follow the Altmuhl west almost to Ansbach. And explore the natural part of the river, where even beavers have made their home again. The Rhine-Main-Danube Canal has occupied the Altmuhl as far as Beilngries, but behind it it branches off to the north and leaves the river to itself again.
Iron ham
Worth seeing: the Gothic cathedral of Regensburg.
I choose the “Canal” waterway, which was built in the days of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Ten kilometers behind Beilngries, the historic town of Berching welcomes me as if I were traveling back in time, with half-timbered houses and a completely preserved city wall. Along the canal, I would even be in Nuremberg in a good hour. When it comes to the Christmas round actually indispensable, because Germany’s largest and probably most famous Christmas market is boiling there with visitor numbers in the millions. But in Berching one of the heated grips promptly fails and, after unsuccessful repairs at the foot of the Berching Christmas tree, requires short-term rescheduling. Better go back!
So I steer the 650 towards Parsberg and there into the valley of the Schwarzen Laaber. The smallest of Regensburg’s five curls through a magnificent valley with even more beautiful curves that let the dying clutch hand get over for a short time. And to seduce myself in high spirits to a swerve to the last of the five rivers: the Naab. Via Hohenfels I cross east to Kallmunz. With its artist flair in the midst of colorful medieval houses that seem to tumble like cubes on the castle rock, it is a good place to warm up. Only 25 kilometers to Regensburg. In the inn, the hot tea mug glows your clammy fingers and provides the rest of the energy and warmth. “It’s the happiest time of the year,” rattles a choir of angels of North American provenance on the radio. “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”, Dean Martin then adds the Christmas song, which is probably particularly popular with winter services.
Before it can really start to snow, I’ll be on my way. Following the Naab, I thread my way through Regensburg from the northwest over the well-known Danube quay to the old town. It’s brightly lit tonight and lined with a crowd of people staring into the water. “The Pope is about to swim by here,” jokes a young prankster. In fact, it is the water watch that celebrates its traditional Christmas swimming. Accompanied by a Santa Claus in a motorboat, the brave ice swimmers even dare through the whirlpools under the stone bridge. A visit from the Pope is not that far-fetched, however, as Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, was appointed to the local university in 1969, where he taught dogmatics for many years. Even today he is still associated as an honorary professor with Regensburg, which likes to see itself as a “papal city”.
In contrast to the ice swimmers, I now urgently need something hot. So Suzi stops on the Danube and I walk around another Regensburg Christmas market, the Lucrezia market on Haidplatz and Kohlenmarkt. Here the classic Christmas tree ball seems to be prohibited from standing. Instead, creative alternative hangings advertise the contemporary Christmas tree: hippopotamus and seahorses made of hand-blown glass, cats, dogs, sun and stars of shrill colors. And to top it off, a Christmas tree top in the form of a glass crescent moon. It has a culturally connecting character!
Now only the third Regensburg Christmas market is missing: the one on the other side of the old town at Princess Gloria’s in St. Emmeram Castle in Thurn-und-Taxis. A really noble thing – with its 500 rooms the castle even surpasses Buckingham Palace. Which also leads to ennobled prices. With an entry fee of 3.50 to 5.50 euros, Gloria even takes admission to the Christmas happening. In return, the normal fare has two pots of mulled wine. No, it would be better to have a real party at the Lucrezia market, leave the moped behind and, if necessary, check out the princess tomorrow. And the weather report sounds good. There should be around zero degrees. I don’t even have to repair the heated grip for that.
Info
Regensburg at the intersection of five river valleys is considered the gateway to the Bavarian Forest. Whether in the mountains or along the pretty valleys ?? Here, even in winter, you can make short, but very varied, rounds.
Duration: two days (in winter)
Distance covered: around 230 kilometers
Worth seeing
There is a lot to see in medieval Regensburg: from the Gothic cathedral to the stone bridge and salt bar with “historic sausage cake” to the Thurn und Taxis castle and the Roman Porta Praetoria. In the surrounding area, in the Altmuhltal, are Prunn Palace and Rosenburg (near Riedenburg) with falconry fortresses. In the Danube Valley in Donaustauf, the Walhalla, which was built under Ludwig I and modeled on the Acropolis, sits enthroned in the hills. The Danube breakthrough at Weltenburg Abbey is best explored by boat from Kelheim. The drinkable beer of the monastery brewery can then be awarded without any problems.
Stay
At the gates of Regensburg and ideal for tours in the Bavarian Forest: Landgasthof Hotel Hammermuhle, Thiergartenstrabe 1, 93093 Donaustauf / Sulzbach, phone 09403/96840, Internet www.hammermuehle-donaustauf.de. Overnight stays from 33 euros per person in a double room. In the Altmuhltal in the idyllic Essing, the rainbow guesthouse, Eisenbrunnerl 7, 93343 Essing, phone 09447/9911105, Internet www.essing-gaestehaus-regenbogen.de, offers a good base. From 23 euros. The Gasthof Marienthal, 93128 Marienthal 3, telephone 09436/90047 or 90048, Internet www.gasthofmarienthal.de, is located directly in the Regental north of Regensburg. Double room per person from 20 euros. If you want to live in Regensburg, you will find affordable accommodation in the Hotel Avia, Frankenstrabe 1–3, 93059 Regensburg, phone 0941 / 4098-0, Internet www.avia-hotel.de. Prices from 47.50 euros.
Literature and information
Well informed “Regensburg, city guide through the medieval world cultural heritage” by Martin Kluger, Context Verlag 2007, 9.80 euros. The Marco Polo travel guide “Bavarian Forest” is suitable for the surrounding area at a price of 9.95 euros. The MOTORRAD general card sheet 17, “Regensburg – Weiden – Passau”, in 1: 200000 for 5.90 euros is waterproof and stable even in the snow. Further information is available from the tourist information office in the Old Town Hall, 93047 Regensburg, phone 0941 / 507-4410, Internet www.regensburg.de. Www.ostbayern-tourismus.de provides information about East Bavaria, where brochures can also be ordered.
Christmas markets
There are over 2500 Christmas markets throughout Germany, not counting the small ones. An overview can be found at www.weihnachtsmarkt-deutschland.de. The websites www.regensburg.de and www.thurnundtaxis.de provide information about Regensburg Christmas markets. The Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt is the largest and most famous in the world. Despite its centuries-old tradition, it is not the oldest in the country. This is what Dresden’s Striezelmarkt claims, which is taking place for the 574th time this year. If you want to visit Christmas markets in a special historical setting, you will find what you are looking for in Eisenach on the Wartburg or in Salzburg in the courtyard of the Hohensalzburg Fortress. The Christmas market in Heidelberg is particularly romantic, whereas the people of Constance counter this with a Christmas market ship. While in most places it ends on Christmas Eve at the latest, the four Hamburg markets will last until December 30th and one even until 2 a.m. on January 1st. The Christ Child will have to work overtime …
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