Margravial Opera House Bayreuth and Bad Kissingen

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Margravial Opera House Bayreuth

   Bayreuth's Margravial Opera House is the sort of building that makes you wonder how a small provincial court could afford it. It was built between 1745 and 1750 for Margrave Frederick of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and his wife, Wilhelmine, the sister of Frederick the Great, who was a composer, writer and patron and the driving force behind the court's cultural life. The interior, designed by the Italian theatre architect Giuseppe Galli Bibiena and his son Carlo, is a Baroque jewel box of carved and painted wood, with gold and blue tiers, a royal box like a throne and a stage deep enough for elaborate scenery.

   Read the complete Margravial Opera House Bayreuth write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Margravial Opera House Bayreuth is where the day begins. Next is Town of Bamberg.

2. 2. Town of Bamberg

   Bamberg is built on seven hills, like Rome, and its townspeople are proud of the comparison. The old town survived the Second World War almost unscathed, which makes it unusual in Germany, and its jumble of medieval and Baroque streets, spread between the Regnitz river and the hills, is a World Heritage Site, listed in 1993. At the top of the cathedral hill stands the Kaiserdom, a four-towered Romanesque cathedral that holds the tomb of the Emperor Henry II, who founded the bishopric in the early eleventh century, and his wife Kunigunde. It also holds a mysterious medieval equestrian statue known as the Bamberg Horseman, whose identity is still debated.

   Read the complete Town of Bamberg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Town of Bamberg comes up about 72 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bad Kissingen.

3. 3. Bad Kissingen

   Bad Kissingen is a spa town in the northern corner of Bavaria, in the valley of the Franconian Saale, between the Rhön hills and the Spessart. People have taken the waters here since the Middle Ages, and in the nineteenth century the town became one of the great resorts of Europe, visited by Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, by tsars and kings, and by Bismarck, who drafted his famous Kissinger Diktat in 1877. In 2021 UNESCO added the town to its list of the Great Spa Towns of Europe, alongside Baden-Baden, Bath, Karlsbad and others.

   Read the complete Bad Kissingen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 161 km into the recorded legs you reach Bad Kissingen. Next is back through Town of Bamberg.

4. 4. back through Town of Bamberg

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Town of Bamberg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Town of Bamberg, late in the day. Next is Margravial Opera House Bayreuth.

5. 5. Margravial Opera House Bayreuth

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Margravial Opera House Bayreuth write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Margravial Opera House Bayreuth. That is the ride.