Snapshots from Bavaria, May 2023

I’m in southern Germany for a few weeks to visit family. I don’t have any plans to travel within Germany, instead sticking close to the Nuremberg area. The weather has been a mix of overcast skies, rain, and brief interludes of sunshine. I haven’t done any “real” photography with my big DSLR, but I carry my phone everywhere I go so I can grab quick snapshots of whatever catches my eye.

There’s no theme to the photos below, but you may notice one thing: It’s so green here! California has been plenty green this winter because of all the rain, but not like this.

But I want to start off with another color. The countryside around Nuremberg is dotted with expanses of yellow. These are field of rapeseed, grown on a commercial scale for the production of oil (canola oil is a food-grade version of rapeseed oil originally developed in Canada).

Rapeseed field

Blaze of yellow through the trees

Now for a blast of green:

Not that I’ve ever been wanted to be a cow, but if I did, I think I’d like to live here

Lilac everywhere—white, light purple, and dark purple

I’d never seen this lilac variety before, but the FB hive mind told me it’s an old cultivar called ‘Sensation’

‘Sensation’ lilac (Syringa vulgaris ‘Sensation’)

Even dandelions look pretty

Yet another squall moving in

European horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)

Horse chestnut inflorescences are strikingly intricate, each flower resembling a miniature orchid

I’ve been photographing the old farmhouse across the street from my mother’s house at different times of day:

Facebook friends were wondering if it’s an apartment or office building. Far from it, it’s a single-family home. The three-story attic was used to dry and store hops when this area was still a prime hop-growing region (into the 1970s).

In the photos above, see the platform on top of the house? That’s a nesting platform for storks. And for the first time, there actually is a pair of storks nesting. I’ve been watching them for days:

More picturesque houses and barns in villages nearby:

The village church up the street from my mother’s house:

It was originally built in the 14th century from limestone rubble and baroqueized in 1776/77. The church tower and nave were renovated in 2009-2013.

Some photos of Hersbruck, the town where my family still lives:

View of Hersbruck

City Hall and Upper Market Square

In the Middle Ages and beyond, a fortified wall surrounded the entire town center. Today, only a small section is left.

Spitaltor, originally built in 1425. It’s one of three towers in the fortified wall. The only way to get into town was through the gates in these three towers. Today, only fragments of the wall remain, but the three towers are still standing.

Looking through the Spitaltor gate

The Spitalkirche, originally a small chapel built in 1406 for the adjacent hospital. It was recently renovated, replastered, and repainted. Personally, I think Barbie pink is a terrible color for a church. Apparently the church was that color in the mid-1500s. How anybody would know that escapes me, considering paintings from that time would have been a rough approximation at best. The worst thing, however, are the painted white lines that mimic the mortar between the original sandstone blocks. The paint job is a massive fail; everybody I talked to hates it.

Built in 1444, the Nürnberger Tor is the second-oldest tower in the medieval wall

The third tower is the Wassertor, built in 1602. Notice the stork nesting platform on the roof.

Wassertor

Located next to the Wassertor, this small house was built in 1690. This is where out-of-towners wanting to enter the town center through the fortified wall had to pay a toll. The money was used to maintain the cobblestone streets.

Traditional half-timbered houses

Wassertor and half-timbered houses along the River Pegnitz

Massive weeping willow touching the water

Typical houses near the city center

One of the most striking building in the town center; there's a pharmacy at ground level and apartments above

Street in the town center

I doubt acid green is a “historical” color, but I could be dead wrong. The peaks that stick out from the roof were for rope-and-pulley systems used to haul grain up to the attic for storage.

Schloss Hersbruck, built in 1557 on the foundations of a fortified castle. It served as the seat of the burgrave, the local representative of the emperor. Today, it houses the district court.

Wider view of Schloss Hersbruck

Seeing how a map is worth 1000 words, here's one of Germany to show you where Hersbruck is located:

Map for orientation

If you enjoyed these photos, also check out my post about Nuremberg.

© Gerhard Bock, 2023. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.