Cycle Tour Iron Curtain Tour, part 3 Gdynia-Aš

The rest day was a perfect chance to enjoy this exciting little town in Upper Franconia, my favourite region in Germany. Here they've got both history, charming towns and good beer. Bamberg is probably the best place, but the smaller Kronach is a fine one too, I think. And the city of Bamberg and Kronach are closely connected, I learned on a guided tour in the fortress Rosenberg, as it was the prince-bishop of Bamberg who had been the boss here as well, and together with his deputy here they upheld the values of the Catholic Church, e.g.  against the nearby city of Coburg, which collaborated with the nasty Swedes during the Thirty Years' War.

The fortress is the real thing from the 17th century and built entirely according to the art of fortress construction. And with many built-in clever inventions that made it completely impregnable. The geographical location played its part. The guide knew many funny stories, such as during a Swedish siege, the inhabitants of the fortress let an old female hare jump around the walls, even though they had eaten all the provisions and were close to surrender. This led the Swedes, who themselves had serious supply problems, to believe that there must be plenty of supplies in the fortress, so they abandoned the siege. Since then, the hare is an exalted animal in Kronach, especially the females, which they call hare cows.

After the tour, it was time for dinner in a beer garden with a nice view to the south over the city, where I struck up a good conversation with one of the others from the tour. After that it was time for a little nap in my hotel room and a cup of coffee before I did some research regarding the best way out of town without detours the next morning. Next I strolled around the upper town enjoying the peace and quiet. It was very quiet down on Melchior-Otto-Platz, where there had been a party going on the night before. Here is also the large church that I walked around.

Dinner turned out a pasta dish in an Italian restaurant on this square. Afterwards I walked a bit further and hoped there would be some night life, but no. So I went to bed early.