Ochsenfurt is a town where you could be quite content to sit at a streetside cafe (right off the town square); absorbing every ounce of its Franconian culture. Of course, you could take a more proactive approach.
As good as sitting at a cafe with a great beer sounds, you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you actually did. This is a town with a festival or market going on for everything, including all seasons.
The Spring Market is the last Sunday in April, Summer Market in June, Autumn Market the 2nd Sunday in September, and Winter Market on the first Sunday after November 1. To round it up, they’ve also got a Green Market (Grüner Markt) on every Saturday in front of the Town Hall.
Then you’ve got the Ochsenfurt Festival in September, right around the same time as the Wine Festival. How funny is a festival to wine when Franconia is famous for its beer? Ah, doesn’t matter… it’s a good time to be had for everyone!
Kidding aside, for those of you who are curious, there are simply too many vineyards in this area to dismiss this healthy tipple. :-)
If you’re visiting and no festivals are happening, it’s all right; there’s stuff for you to do. Ochsenfurt was a medieval town and there are remnants from that time. There are parts of the original defense wall, called a Stadtmauer, and few of the towers that were used to help protect the village from invading marauders.
On the Marktplatz, you’ll find the New Town Hall with its moon clock and the Old Town Hall with its pillory (used for the punishment of criminals). You’ve also got a local history museum, a school museum, and a museum on living a Carthusian monastic life.
Then you’ve got the St. Andreas Church and Michaelskapelle (St. Michael’s Chapel) to see, too. Many devout pilgrims have come the way of Ochsenfurt on the Jakobsweg or Way of St. James going to Santiago de Compostela, including England’s Richard I on one of the Crusades.
Ochsenfurt didn’t have a Kneipp barefoot bath or a medicinal herb garden back then. Otherwise, the good ole king might never have left. With a town this fantastic, you won’t want to, either.
