January 2nd, 2004 | The lowdown by Adrienne Lynett

One Night in Wurzburg.

We got marooned in Wurzburg (north of Nürnberg, in Bavaria) a couple Saturdays ago and ended up having a nice time there. At first we weren't thrilled because we'd never heard of it before and even though it was only like 7 o'clock everything was closed (including the public transportation, strangely enough), but Wurzburg is actually a really pretty town with a lot to see.

Wurzburg is a town on the river Main, surrounding by hills covered in grape vines, and the walk provides lovely views. The castle itself is huge, with a massive old tower (you can't go up) and a 300-foot-deep well, and what is apparently the oldest intact church in Germany (8th century). There are also a couple of museums, one of art and one of the castle rooms (which is closed until march 04). After you've seen the castle, follow the signs for the foot path to town, which leads through the castle terrace and the perfect spot for taking a picture of the city skyline. The Alte Mainbrücke (old bridge, dates from the 11th century) is a pedestrian bridge that you take over the river to the Innenstadt (downtown).

There are churches from a ton of different architectural styles, so if you like churches, this is your place. There is also the Residenz, which is a massive residence that was built to show off how rich the Wurzburg royalty was (tours are a couple of euros). There are also a couple museums inside and a huge garden outside, and the fresco is supposed to be the biggest in the world.

We stayed at the DJH-Jugendherberge (youth hostel), which costs 17 euros, including sheets and breakfast. It's in a cavernous old building with over 250 rooms (when we were there, about 4 of them were occupied), attached to a beautiful old church and at the head of the trail leading up to the Festung Marienburg, an old castle/church. We walked up there in the morning (exit the hostel, make a left, go through the parking lot of the church next door, then follow the path through a little tunnel) and I have to say, it was really beautiful and worth the walk.

All in all, even though we were at first creeped out by the fact that we had to take a taxi across town because the public transportation (not to mention the hostel) closed so early, and the fact that the hostel itself was eerily empty, when we awoke to the view up the hill to the fog-shrouded Marienburg and the sun rising over the river Main and all the church steeples, we were happy we got stuck in Wurzburg. If you're heading through Bavaria, Wurzburg is worth a stop.

One thing about hostels in Bayern (Bavaria): they're on a different system than IYH, and in most, only people up to 27 can stay, and in some, only women can stay. You should definitely call ahead if you're older than that or a guy.