Today was a free day for us, no commitments except to have fun and take in more of beautiful Germany. Even the starkness of winter here is beautiful. Our final destination would be Bamberg but Gene planned for us to spend a little time in Alsfeld which was on the way. He read that Alsfeld had the oldest timber framed buildings in Germany. The town itself began about 1009 AD but the buildings were actually erected in the 1300's. Still, that means they are over 600 years old, wow! It is laid out in typical medieval design. A perfect circle with all streets leading to the Market place. The streets are all very narrow. I took several pictures so you could get the feel for this old town.
We saw some very interesting buildings, the more important ones were the Rathaus (Town Hall) which is constructed in the Medieval style with timber framing about 1500 years old. This is the one I am standing in front of. The second one is the Weinhaus or wine house which was also built around the same time period. In front of that is a pranger (a lockable iron collar into which medieval lawbreakers were locked. Then they had to suffer verbal and physical abuse from their fellow neighbors. The last is the oldest framed house which was built in 1350. Underneath are two cellars with barrel vaults.
Located in the back of these three buildings on the Market platz is the Walpurgiskirche built in the 1300's. You can see the church in the far distance through the very narrow cobblestone streets. Very quaint.
Only a part of the original wall that use to encircle the town is still standing but it was a beautiful subject for a picture. The Leonard Tower or gate tower was built as part of the town fortification.
As we walked around the old town we saw some beautiful art work on doors and windows. We thought the three chairs hanging on the side of building pretty unique as well as the yellow fish scale citing.
To finish out out visit to Alsfeld Gene and I went to a little Cafe to get a hot chocolate to warm our bodies and a yummy pastry to share. This is just half of the original size. We were anxious to get on our way to Bamberg our main destination.
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