Coburg is a midsized town in Bavaria Germany about an hours drive from the city of Nuremberg. We headed there early in the morning on day two of our trip to the region.
This was a while ago now, back in late June of 2022, when we were still living in Europe.
That seems like forever ago, though it hasn't actually been that long. I'm not pining for Europe.
The town of Coburg was very charming and since it didn't receive much damage during WWII, a lot of its historic monuments and buildings remained intact. As such, a lot of it's architecture is also very traditional.
Steeply peaked roofs, mural facades, and colorful half timber construction are just some of what you will see while strolling through the cobble stone streets of the old town.
Hofgarten
We started our journey of Coburg in the Hofgarten, which was a 30 hectare green space park that connects both of the town's castles, the medeival Veste fortress and the more modern Ehrenburg residence. I'm using the term "modern" in a very relative sense here as the structure was turned into a palace way back in the year 1549 Source.
The park starts right outside of the Ehrenburg and Schlossplaza.
The plaza was surrounded by a wall of stone arches called an arcade, in French.
Connected to that was a large stone staircase that brought us into the park itself. Within the park you will find long green lawns and a gentle path through the trees, with maybe a few bronze statues thrown in here and there along the way.
Here you see a statue of Herzog Ernst II, a comander in the Schleswig-Holstein Wars against Denmark Source.
We didn't explore the entire green space of course,
but we did enjoy taking a stroll along the paths, viewing some of the monuments, and looking upon the Ehrenburg Castle from slightly above at a distance.
If you're like us and just like to wander around on your trips than the park is a good place to start your visit.
Europe does a great job at maintaining green space within its town's and cities.
Ehrenburg Castle
Ehrenburg Castle was completed in 1547 as a replacement home to the medeival Veste fortress.
It's name means "Palace of Honor," which it was given by Emperor Charles V because it was constructed without the use of forced labor.
It was renovated in 1699 in a Baroque architectural style after a fire destroyed the Northern part of it 9 years prior. Source for the above info.
Today it is a museum open to the public, but as you might have guessed, we didn't go inside.
We were satisfied just admiring the buildings exterior and setting.
It was a pretty large and impressive Castle considering it is located directly in the town of Coburg.
Marktplaz
Moving on to the next spot on our list to check out is the main city square - Marktplaz.
Its large, paved in cobblestone and surrounded by grand and colorful buildings housing a variety of nice shops, cafes and restaurants.
At its center is a fountain and statue of Prince Albert of Colburg. He was Queen Victoria's consort.
Directly behind the statue is the Stadhaus building (above) and in front of it is the townhall building (below).
Both buildings are unique in design and quite colorful.
Something interesting that you will want to take note of and check out if you go there are the circular windows on the Stadhaus building. Those are a completely unique architectural creation specific to Coburg. They only exist in the town and are fittingly called Coburg bay windows. There are five of them in the city in total. The windows are characterized by three distinct features: 1) a two story structure with a 2) French hood on the top and a 3) a support pillar holding it up at the corner of the building. Source for the above info
I actually managed to capture by accident four of the five Coburg bay windows. You can find one of them in the photo above, then there are the two in Stadhaus shots. There is also one on the townhall building in one of the shots above.
I missed the window one on the Ehrenburg Castle though.
There were a lot of neat buildings in the town and of course, there were also a few churches. Every European town has plenty.
What I liked about this one was its statues outside the door. Adam and Eve above aren't the most attractive looking and Mother Mary and Jesus are looking somewhat gangly and weird. But maybe that is why I like them, because they're creepy...?
Overall, Coburg was a really great town to visit. I found it to be very unique with a lot of character and a lot of really neat architectural features and buildings that were worth checking out. It was one of my favorite places that we visited in Bavaria on this particular trip, so I would definitely put it on my list of recommendations.