Marktheidenfeld to Würzburg

As the crow flies, Marktheidenfeld to Würzburg is a fairly short trip. Or if you were willing to walk over a mountain. But if you follow the Main river it is about 80km as the river flows north and makes a big bend at Gemünden and then flows south again.

View from hotel balcony

The weather was partly cloudy and a bit nippy -- good riding weather. We got started on time (9:15 or so) and headed north. Things went smoothly. We stopped for coffee and pastry at a village bakery and we aimed to have lunch in Karlstadt.

Passing thru Karlstadt we didn't see anything interesting, so we continued to Himmelstadt where you'll find Biergarten "Down Town." This is a vaguely western (US) themed place right on the bike path. I had stopped there two years ago when Tom and my Dad rode along the Main (we traveled in the opposite direction).

Biergarten Down Town

The beer was Würzburger Hofbräu, which is owned by Kulmbacher (which is controlled by Heineken). They had a Pils and Weizen on draft.

Würzburger Hofbräu Pils

The Pils is fairly ordinary, not up to the standards of the past few days. Still better than Bitburger, though.

We pushed on to Würzburg were we soon found our hotel, after fighting our way thru a crowd setting up benches and a big projection screen. Uh-oh, more Euro Cup soccer.

After becoming fit for human society again (a/k/a shower and clean-ish clothes) Tom and I wandered around, looking for someplace with an interesting beer.

Old Church

In the Ratskeller (pub in the town hall) in addition Würzburger Hofbräu they had Distelhäuser Pils, so we had one of those. Distalhaus is in Tauber Franken, a region that is currently in the state of Baden-Würtemburg but is historically (and culturally) Franconian. So the beer should be decent.

Distelhäuser Pils

It was. Actually it was quite nice.

Since Würzburg is the center of the Franconian wine region (Frankenwein) it was not surprising that they had a extensive wine list. But they also surved many wines in .1l (10 cl) portions -- just right for a tasting. We decided to come back for dinner and, horror of horrors, do a wine tasting as well.

Flight of Franconia White Wines

I'll spare you all the gory details, but it was a quite pleasant evening. I had tasted a few Franconian wines over the years but not as many as we did and not together. I can recommend it if you are ever in Würzburg and are bored with the local beer.

Distance Ridden: 80km
Total Distance: 880km