Bamberg September 4-30 Part 4

On Sunday September 20 I went to Gössweinstein, in the heavily forested region known as the Frankish Switzerland to see the impressive cathedral and the castle.

The cathedral seen from the castle The castle from a distance

One interesting site in the town was a small chapel that the locals had built in fulfillment of a vow in April 1945. They vowed to build the chapel if the town would be spared from destruction as the American army advanced during the final days of World War II, which proved to be the case.

The chapel built to fulfill the vow

I then walked a few kilometers to Tüchersfeld in time for the afternoon nature hike for the Day of the Open Geotope in the Bayerisch-Böhmischer Geopark. After the hike I went to the Fränkische-Schweiz Museum situated in the middle of a very interesting rock formation.

The rock formations in Tüchersfeld

On Saturday September 26 I went to Bad Steben and joined an afternoon nature hike there. Bad Steben, as its name indicates, is a spa and most of the hikers were visitors to the spa. There were a number of abandoned mines in the area; Alexander von Humboldt had worked as a mines inspector here at the beginning of his career in the late 18th century.

The participants in the nature hike

The house of Alexander von Humboldt in Bad Steben

On Sunday September 27 I went to Bayreuth. There are a lot of historic buildings in the city center, but also one amusing modern building as well.

A modern building in Bayreuth

On this trip to Bayreuth I went to the spectacular Hermitage palace and gardens, in large part built by Wilhelmina, the sister of Frederick the Great. The water installations were of particular interest. One of the large public fountains sprayed the water over the heads of the visitors, while inside the palace was a room with a water jet that could keep a candelabra suspended in the air.

The main building at the Hermitage palace and gardens

The fountain spraying water overhead

The water jet keeping a candelabra suspended