Rhön-Saale - Rhön-Saale

The region Rhön-Saale lies in the north Lower Franconia and includes the Bavarian part of the Hochrhön and the area south and east of it (Vor-Rhön).

Regions

The region extends in the south of the main area close to Hammelburg to the northernmost tip Lower Franconia and Bavaria at Fladungen. On the northwest side, the Hessian and Thuringian lines join Hochrhön on, on the east side that Grave field.

The region treated here corresponds to the entire Bad Kissingen district and the Rhön-Grabfeld district without that Lower Franconian Grabfeld (Altlandkreis Königshofen), which distinguishes itself somewhat as a landscape and also culturally with a certain independence.

The low mountain range is decisive for the landscape Rhön and the draining river valleys of Franconian Saale, Sinn, Streu, Brend, Lauer and Els.

The Low mountain range the Rhön is in own article for the three parts Hesse, Thuringia and Lower Franconia treated together.

places

In and on the Rhön:

• 50.3091111111119.78711111111111 Bad Bruckenau - Bavarian state bath with history.

• 50.410.0166666666672 Bischofsheim on the Rhön - Wood carving town at the foot of the Kreuzberg.

• 50.43333333333310.1333333333333 Oberelsbach - Market town and officially recognized resort.

• 50.38333333333310.14 Schönau an der Brend - Vacation community.

• 50.3666666666679.91666666666675 Wild spots - with the information center "House of the Black Mountains" in the Oberbach district;

in the valley of the Saale and on the Lauer:

• 50.32194444444410.2161111111116 Bad Neustadt - on the Saale - Bavarian State Bath at the foot of the Rhön.

• 50.26666666666710.0833333333337 Bad Bocklet - Bavarian state bath in the valley of the Franconian Saale.

• 50.258310.06118 Aschach - between Bad Bocklet and Bad Kissingen with Aschach Castle and museums.

• 50.210.0666666666679 Bad Kissingen - Bavarian state bath and most famous health resort in Germany.

• 50.1166666666679.910 Hammelburg - Franconia's northernmost wine town, in the Saale Valley on the southwestern edge of the Bavarian Rhön Nature Park.

• 50.25261111111110.19661111111111 Münnerstadt - on the south-eastern edge of the nature park, magnificent half-timbered buildings, a church that is particularly worth seeing.

in the valley of the litter:

• 50.52111111111110.14527777777812 Fladungen - medieval romantic half-timbered town.

• 50.50555555555610.12513 Hausen - orchards community;

• 50.48333333333310.18333333333314 Nordheim before the Rhön - Half-timbered houses and a staircase to the church fortress that is well worth seeing.

• 50.46666666666710.21666666666715 Ostheim before the Rhön - with the largest fortified church in Germany.

• 50.427810.302716 Mellrichstadt - The “young city within old walls”.

• 50.38333333333310.26666666666717 Unsleben - with water lock;

• 

  Bad Kissingen: spa garden

• 

  Bad Neustadt: Salzburg

• 

  Münnerstadt: Tithe barn

• 

  Ostheim: Fortified church

Other goals

• Maria Bildhausen, former Cistercian monastery near Münnerstadt;

• Wechterswinkel, former Cistercian monastery and cultural and event center of the Rhön-Grabfeld district.

• The Green ribbon is the first all-German nature conservation project and was created along the former inner-German border strip, which during the Cold War was the neighboring one Southwest Thuringia impenetrably separated.

background

regional customs

• Traditional carnival as a traditional tradition with carved wooden masks and carnival figures exist in Bischofsheim on the Rhön (Maumer), in Oberelsbach and its surroundings and also in the neighboring Grave field (Junkershausen).

• Lumberjack (also "rattle boys"):

A Christian custom still widespread, especially in the smaller and medium-sized towns, are the "ratchet or rumble boys" in the cartages before Easter: on Maundy Thursday and after the glory of mass, the bells of the churches fall silent until Easter night, which according to legend after "flew to Rome". This bell rest is documented as early as the 13th century.

Replacements for the bells are the junk boys, the altar boys in the village, now reinforced by the girls. They pull through the streets with ratchets and junk boxes, which are 30 to 50 centimeters large resonance boxes made of wood, which are noisily processed by a cam roller with a crank drive and wooden hammers fixed to the wooden box. In addition to the noise of these junk boxes and ratchets, there are more or less melodious lyrics and often centuries old lyrics, the lyrics vary a little from place to place. This takes place several times a day as a substitute for the chiming of the bell at 6 a.m., at 12 noon, at 6 p.m. in the evening and also before church services as a reminder of the Christian duty of going to church.

The junk boxes are also sometimes quite old, they are passed on from generation to generation.

On Holy Saturday the lumberjack (and girls) gather at the supervised households for their work, the general saying here is "We have rattled for the holy grave and ask for a little gift". The income is used for social purposes.

Lakes and bodies of water

Franconian Saale

The course of the Franconian Saale is the most important body of water in the region and is popularly known as the "Rhön Gutter". The headwaters are at Sulzdorf an der Lederhecke and in the neighboring Grave field and at an altitude of around 330 m, at Gemünden (160 m) and after around 136 kilometers of river the Saale flows into the Main. With a catchment area of ​​2,700 square kilometers, the Franconian Saale is the second largest river in Lower Franconia after the Main.

Because of the small difference in altitude of only around 170 meters over its entire length, the Saale appears as a slowly and calmly flowing body of water with in places quite wide floodplains as a meadow landscape. After heavy rainfall and meltwater in spring, the excess water cannot drain away quickly enough, and flooded floodplains are often the result. Another reason for the floods are various river straightening measures at the beginning of the last century.

The water quality is considered good due to the lack of a larger and more polluting industry and should be secured and improved through further renaturation requirements.

For leisure activities, the Franconian Saale is used by anglers and white water rafters, it is navigable from Bad Neustadt and at river kilometer 96.5. Sometimes people bathe in it too. The river is also home to many vulnerable creatures and plants.

language

In the Rhön a Lower Franconian dialect spoken, with echoes of the Hessian and the Henneberg area (southern Thuringia). Linguists count the dialect of the East and Southeast Rhön as East Franconian, more precisely: Lower East Franconian dialect. It is often difficult to understand for outsiders. In addition, the dialect varies greatly from place to place.

In general: k becomes g, p becomes b, t becomes d, w often also becomes b, endings are often left out and replaced by a prefix:

• "Bie - Bu - ban": How - Where - When;

• "help ": help, "Konnsde me aemol help?".

A selection of a few expressions from the vocabulary of the region:

• "Bfugge": Pimples, blackheads, acne;

• "Boudse": Beets;

• "Gaggel": the fat layer on the boiled fresh milk, also for a jelly-like consistency, as "Gaggele" as in Swabian also for a small egg.

• "Fogged Depth": No good, good-for-nothing;

• "Bunny glasses": Nikolaus, or, depending on the location, also his assistant, the servant Ruprecht.

• "Kobbeleskas": Quark;

• "After - for after - uänzichnachde": yesterday - the day before yesterday - the day before yesterday;

• "Odse": Leftovers, but generally often with a positive meaning: That "Odse Festival" (also: "Broggefest") as a follow-up celebration for recycling leftovers is generally very popular.

• "Roddbänn": Wheel stretcher, wooden wheelbarrow;

• "Bullshit" (Bugger): stye, inflammation of the eyes;

• "Wissd" and "Hodd ", also "Wissdromm" and "Hoddromm": left and right or left and right, from the commands to the horse or the cow while plowing in the field ("Hü und Hott");

See also the Language section in the article on Rhön low mountain range.

getting there

By plane

The nearest international airports are in Erfurt, Frankfurt Main and in Nuremberg;

In the street

• from the west / north: on the motorway (Kassel - Würzburg), Fulda North, there direction Bad Neustadt and over Gersfeld and the Rhön in the region;

• from the south and north-east: via the motorway (Schweinfurt - Suhl) in the region;

By train

The railway stations Münnerstadt, Bad Neustadt and Mellrichstadt are on the Würzburg - Erfurt railway line.

mobility

• Public transport Rhön-Grabfeld (Transportation): Public transport Rhön-Grabfeld

Bus routes: city Mellrichstadt circle Rhön-Grabfeld

Season bus

In the summer season from the beginning of May to the end of October, the regional buses run several times a day on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays to attractive sights and destinations in the region.

• Hochrhönbus, Line 8260: The hiking bus runs four times a day through the hiking region of the Hochrhön with forty stops in the villages of the Rhön and at starting points for walks and hikes. In Franconia, the area includes the towns Bischofsheim, Bad Neustadt, Oberelsbach and Fladungen up to the Hessian Gersfeld.

• Bathing bus: The line connects the baths of the region, stops are Staatsbad and Stadt Bad Bruckenau, Römershag, Schildeck, Geroda, place, forest window, Aschach, Bad Bocklet, Bad Kissingen, Nüdlingen, Münnerstadt, Bad Neustadt, Herschfeld, Saal as well Bad Koenigshofen.

• Sinntalbus: the route leads through the Sinntal all around Bad Bruckenau.

• Streutalbus: 20 stops between Bad Neustadt, Mellrichstadt and Fladungen.

For more information and timetables, see www.hochrhoenbus.de, www.baederlandbus.de/, www.sinntalbus.de and www.streutalbus.de;

Tourist Attractions

• Kreuzberg (Rhoen), holy mountain of the Franks, with Franciscan monastery and monastery brewery;

Fortified churches

Ostheim: Kirchenburg (front left) and Lichtenburg / Bergfried (back right)

Heustreu, fortified church

Fortified churches are a specialty in the Franconian Vor-Rhön: They were built in the troubled times of the late Middle Ages to protect the villagers in rural regions without major fortifications. At that time the churches were surrounded by fortifications, the "Gaden", which then served as a warehouse for agricultural products in times of peace and as a refuge in times of war.

The villages on the Streu in particular were able to build such a fortified church.

• Nordheim before the Rhön: Church fortifications with a massive round tower; Basement of the round tower from the 14th century.

• Fortified church Ostheim: The largest fortified church in Germany with a double wall ring and five towers, the former moat is no longer preserved, was built in the first half of the 15th century.

• Top litter: Once the largest plant in Lower Franconia. On the former east side of the complex, the Kirchgaden are preserved in very good condition as stone half-timbered buildings with an entrance gate.

• Medium spread: "Gaden" is mentioned for the first time in a document in 1358 (together with the substructure of the church), the areas that are preserved today, due to the structural shapes, are probably from the 16th century.

• Haystack: Cemetery fortifications with moats, round towers and attached alleys are still partially preserved.

• Hollstadt: Cemetery fortification around the church with preserved gate tower and Gaden tower from the 16th century.

• Wall schedel: ancient ruin near Filke, (north of Ostheim). Due to the similarities in the ground plan, the rest of the fortified tower of a former fortified church is likely. The ruin of a desert is mentioned as early as 1424. The existing styles of the ruins suggest the 12th century.

Castles, chateaux and palaces

• Osterburg (in the vicinity Kreuzberg), destroyed as early as the 15th century and then "forgotten" for a long time.

• Salzburg (Bad Neustadt), Ganerbeburg and one of the largest castles in Germany;

• Roßrieth moated castle first mentioned in 1140, and currently still in need of renovation inside;

• Lichtenburg (Ostheim before the Rhön), Hilltop castle with keep, probably built in the 11th century.

• Unsleben moated castle, originated as a medieval castle.

Museums

• The German Bicycle Museum (in Bad Bruckenau) shows the history of bicycles in Germany;

• The German Tobacco Pipe Museum (in Oberelsbach);

• The Organ building museum (in Ostheim before the Rhön) shows the 2000-year history of organ building;

• The Elsbett Museum ( in Bad Neustadt) is dedicated to that of the inventor Ludwig Elsbett.

• Museums in Aschach Castle: (near Bad Bocklet)

The Graf von Luxburg Museum in the castle shows art objects, furniture and clothes from the property of the count's family.

In the extensive park of the castle you will find the School museum and the Customs museum of the district of Lower Franconia.

Museums with local history reference are:

• The Franconian open air museum in Fladungen shows the rural building culture and for village living and business in Lower Franconia on a museum site with 7 hectares;

• In Bad Kissingen there are several Museums and collections about the history of the spa:

• The Museum Upper Saline shows the topics "Salt and Salt Production" and "The Kissingen Spa";

• The Bismarck Museum reminds of the historical place of residence of the most famous regular guest in the state bath;

• The Julius Cardinal Döpfner Museum in the Kissingen district of Hausen is dedicated to the long-time chairman of the German Bishops' Conference and Archbishop of Munich who was born here;

• The Mellrichstadt local history museum;

• The Museum in the old town hall (in Bad Bruckenau);

activities

• The museum train Rhönzügle of Open air museum in Fladungen runs in summer on the route of the former Streutalbahn, there are stops Fladungen, Ostheim before the Rhön and Mellrichstadt. The steam locomotive “98 886” with the nickname “Bocke (r) le” dates from 1924 and was built by Krauss-Maffei in Munich / Allach built, it is a listed building, can travel up to 40 kilometers per hour and is on loan from the city of Schweinfurt to the museum.

Regular events

• SaaleMusicum: Summer cultural festival with several dozen musical events in the places along the Franconian Saale and its tributaries. The spectrum ranges from brass music to big bands and choirs to modern music and classical music. Most of the performers come from the region, the organizer is Bavarian Music Academy Hammelburg.

hike

• For the hiking routes in the Rhön see the chapter hike in the article on Rhön;

Themed trails

• In Aschach there is a wayside shrine and a nature trail.

• The Mill trail in Bad Bocklet connects 10 former water mills in and around the market in Bad Bocklet and in on a distance of around 20 km Aschach.

Winter sports

• Information on alpine skiing and cross-country skiing in the Rhön can be found in the article Winter sports in the Rhön to find. Here, among other things, the most important ski areas and cross-country ski centers in the low mountain range of the Rhön are described.

• The official winter sports report for the Rhön is here to find.

Cycling, cycling and mountain biking

• The Rhön cycle path leads through the region.

• The Rhön Beer Cycle Path is to be opened in spring / summer 2015 and then connect the local breweries and the malt house.

• To the bike tours through the Rhön see the chapter Cycling, cycling and mountain biking in the article Rhön;

Aviation

• See the chapter on this Aviation in the article Rhön;

kitchen

The historical cuisine of the region is actually a "poor people's kitchen" with self-sufficiency from the garden and from the field: a lot of potatoes, vegetables, bread and pastries, meat and sausage were mostly only available on Sundays and were rationed, milk and dairy products were added. Meat was preserved by curing, boiling, smoking or drying. From summer and into winter and into spring there was also fruit and stored fruit (apples, pears).

• Kardoffeldätscher (a kind of potato pancakes) are the regionally widespread variant of the Franconian Dätscher (Detscher): the dough of a Dätscher generally consists of grain or potatoes and is pressed wide before baking into an approx. The dough of the Kardoffeldätschers consists of pressed and salted jacket potatoes with only a little flour and is baked brown in the oven without topping. The Kardoffeldätscher are served as an accompaniment to apple puree or plum puree. Variants such as the Zwibbelsdätscher topped with onions and quark (as in Swabian) or as an apple topper with a sweet apple are also occasionally common. The easiest way to get the Dätscher for visitors is at village festivals.

• Grated cake is an oven-baked bowl cake made of unsweetened dough which, divided into manageable pieces, served as a side dish to the main course, similar to a bread roll. Meatless main dishes used to be vegetables such as spinach or Wirsching. As an accompaniment to sauerkraut and on pork cooked on the sauerkraut in the same pot (often cured) and with pea porridge, the grated cake is now part of a traditional holiday or fair meal.

• Heritage gallery is a liqueur that is always self-made and made on the basis of "high percentage" with caraway as the main flavor note, industrially produced not available. Due to the (secret) additives, it is usually much milder than a pure caraway schnapps. One name interpretation is that of the "pea yellow" color.

• Home brew: There is a community brewery accessible to everyone, also with demonstrations Franconian open air museum in Fladungen, there are also some other community breweries e.g. in Thundorf (at Bad Kissingen) or in Unterwaldbehrungen (north of Bad Neustadt).

• Regional specialties made from fruit such as juices, fruit wines, schnapps and liqueurs are available from Hartmann press shop in Sondheim (at Ostheim), Tel .: 09779/1531;

• The most internationally known product in the region is now Bionade out Ostheim before the Rhön, a "lifestyle" lemonade made by fermentation.

• Eco Beer & apple from the brewery Rhother brew in Roth is a mixed beer drink with 65% of the content from organic original beer) and 35% Rhön apple juice from organically controlled cultivation, alcohol 3.1% vol.

nightlife

security

climate

literature

• Roswitha Altrichter, Anette Faber, Reinhold Albert, Hannsfriedrich, Stefan Kritzer ; Culture agency of the district of Rhön-Grabfeld (Ed.): Churches in the Rhön-Grabfeld district. Red print, 2010, ISBN 978-3-939959-06-9 ; about 300. Church leaders, comprehensive account of the churches.

• Heinrich Mehl: Franconian wayside shrines in Rhön-Grabfeld. Wurzburg: Real one, 1978, ISBN 3-429-00538-8 , P. 135.

Web links

• Museum association of the region: www.museen-rhoen-saale;

• Rhön weather, Rhön-Saale Regional Climate Working Group: www.rhoenwetter.de

• list of listed building at the district Rhön-Grabfeld

• Initiative of local farmers, maltsters and brewers: www.wir-sind-rhoener-bier.de