Like any self respecting town in Europe, Ansbach has a lot of history. A couple of times a month the city’s tourist bureau hosts tours. A guide takes you around town, points out interesting sights, opens doors that are normally locked, and decorates the walking with a few interesting anecdotes. For the first time, in a long time, they hosted a tour in English. I was thrilled that it was on a day where Phil and I were home and available to attend.
We were able to climb up the city’s tower for a unique view of Ansbach.
We were taken down into the crypt of the church of St. Gumbertus. We saw the caskets of the town’s royal family.
We were also taken into the small chapel of St. Gumbertus to see all of it’s treasures.
The highlight of the tour for me was the dungeon underneath the school. The school is the present-day school for Ansbach. Although the dungeon is not still in use; legend has it that it was a detention center in the old days. When students broke the rules they were forced underground into one of the stone cells with iron doors, and had to remain there until their sentence was served. I don’t know how true the tale is, but I do know that there are definitely holding cells in this cellar of the school….and they were seriously creepy!
The tour of Ansbach helped us to work up quite a bit of hunger, and thirst. Phil and I celebrated our history lesson with big beers and a plate of roasted pork in dark beer gravy with dumplings.
Perfect.
