The best traffic-free bike rides around Hofheim in Unterfranken

A wonderful overall picture with the old school, fountain and the former town hall.

Two towers dominate the townscape. One is a four-story sandstone structure with a round-arched gateway and a cupola roof topped with a lantern. It dates from the first half of the 16th century and is a remnant of the churchyard fortifications, which once housed a late Gothic church from around 1200. The second tower also dates from the 16th century and belongs to the Catholic parish church of St. Nicholas. The church underwent renovations and additions in the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as in 1872. The church's facade is made of sandstone and articulated with dressed stone. The chancel tower has an onion dome and a lantern. The nave is a single-nave building with a gable roof and a gabled facade. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechenried

Friesenhausen Castle was built as a moated castle in the 13th/14th century.

Welcome to Friesenhausen Castle The small village of Friesenhausen, part of the municipality of Aidhausen, is beautifully situated at the foot of the Haßberge hills. Along with the Protestant St. George's Church and the Catholic Church of the Assumption of Mary, Friesenhausen Castle is a defining feature of the village. The current building dates back to a Gothic castle surrounded by a moat. In the 16th century, a Renaissance palace was built over the castle courtyard and later converted into a Baroque palace. Further details can be found under the section on the castle's history. To commemorate the village's 1200th anniversary in 2016, a historical guide to Friesenhausen Castle will be published, containing a detailed history of the castle's construction as well as numerous illustrations. The property is privately owned and is generally not open to the public. Groups of 20 or more can request a guided tour by contacting us. Photography is not permitted inside the castle, and animals are not allowed on the premises. On Sunday, September 11, 2016, this year's Open Monument Day will take place. On this occasion, Friesenhausen Castle will open its gates from 12 pm to 5 pm (guided tours will be offered by family members; a small contribution towards expenses is requested). Coffee and cake will also be available. Larger groups can register for the event on this day by contacting us. http://www.schloss-friesenhausen.de/index.html

Architectural History of Friesenhausen Castle Around the year 1300, several local lords held sway in Friesenhausen simultaneously. A Gothic moated castle in a small lake existed from approximately 1300 to 1741 and was at times owned by the Truchseß von Wetzhausen family. Traces of this family can still be found in the Protestant Church of St. George. The Gothic lake castle, however, was demolished in 1741, and the lake was filled in with the rubble. The present Renaissance-Baroque castle in Friesenhausen also originates from a Gothic castle, which, however, did not stand in the adjacent lake but was surrounded by a moat. Around 1563, the married couple Schenk von Ostheim-Steinau von Steinrück built a Renaissance castle over the Gothic moated castle, incorporating the castle courtyard. The conversion to a Baroque castle and further construction work were carried out under the Würzburg Cathedral canon Johann Philipp Fuchs von Dornheim and the Lords von... Dalberg, who embellished the entire complex with numerous additions such as the gate and the equestrian statues. In 1940, Franz Karl Prince zu Salm-Salm acquired the castle, but resided there only temporarily. As early as 1938, it had served as quarters for women of the Reich Labor Service, later as accommodation for prisoners of war, a military hospital for wounded German soldiers, and finally as a transit camp for expellees from Silesia and the Sudetenland. Subsequently, Caritas Würzburg established a retirement home there, which remained in operation until March 1957. After this intensive use, the building stood empty for 16 years, which is why Prince Salm sold the urgently needed renovation of the castle to the von Eichborn family in March 1973. You can read the detailed, richly illustrated architectural history in our newly published 2016 art guide. http://www.schloss-friesenhausen.de/baugeschichte.html

Gossmannsdorf Church Market Square 1 97461 Gossmannsdorf Telephone (09523) 5033710 Website: info@hassberge-tourismus.de Of the old church, which was built a century earlier, only the ground floor remains to this day, making it the oldest monument in our village. After the village was elevated to parish status, the hill on which the church stands overlooking the village was fortified with a fortified church complex. This defensive structure had four towers. It served as a safe haven for the villagers in times of war. From 1601 to 1610, Prince-Bishop Julius Echter had the church tower raised by two stories and topped with its tall spire. Following the plans of Joseph Greissing, a student of the famous Würzburg architect Balthasar Neumann, Johann Georg Bierdümpfel, a native of Gossmannsdorf, built the current nave in 1716. The church's interior originally consisted of Gothic winged altarpieces, which were replaced by Baroque altars in the 18th century. The church owes its current, exceptionally valuable furnishings to the dedication and artistic appreciation of Pastor Dr. Ludwig and the generous congregation of that time. The Baroque high altar was acquired from Stadtlauringen in 1894. The beautiful side altars came from the town church of Schweinfurt and were previously located in the Carthusian Church in Würzburg. They are the work of Peter Wagner, the last great Rococo sculptor of Würzburg. Their great artistic value is evident from the fact that the Minister of Culture, von Müller, intended to purchase the altars for the new National Museum in Munich. https://www.gossmannsdorf-hassberge.de/verzeichnis/mandat.php?mandat=141763

From here you have a beautiful view of Königsberg Castle.

A beautiful path leads all the way around Lower Franconia's largest lake. The lake is a great place for a break. You can grab a snack at the kiosk and, if the weather's nice, sit on the sandy beach.