What makes a road romantic?
 

Why is the stretch of road from Würzburg to Reutte any more romantic than any other road of similar length?

Is there a higher concentration of romance within those particular grid co-ordinates? I don't see anything that doesn't exist in abundance all over Germany.

Or (as I suspect) is the entire cachet an example of clever and shameless self-promotion?

I believe that originally the Romantische Straße was called that because of its association with German Romanticism, and more specifically Goethe's travels to Italy. It has evolved into a tourist hype.

Michael's right - and there's nothing at all romantic or unusual about the road itself.

I don't know that there's anything shameless about it. It's part of the ongoing German tourism promotion.

They've identified a number of routes of possible interest to visitors and given them names: Romantic Road; Castle Route; Fairytale Road; Wine Route; Alpine Road; etc.

Many countries, provinces, states, etc. throughout the world make similar promotions.

Provides a convienent start for travel planning for many people.

There are a number of interesting sights and towns along the way. True, there are other routes that have pretty towns and interesting sights, but picking one to promote does serve a number of purposes.

It is called marketing.

I thought this was a Rick Steves term.

<<I thought it was a Rick Steve's term>>

LOL! He's certainly a popular guy, but it's definitely a stretch to attribute the Romantic Movement in Germany to him, especially since it happened atleast 150 years before he was born!

Don't know why this old trade route is called 'the Romantic road' but here's an interesting link on the term 'romantic'.:

http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture16a.html

The German tourist office began promoting the "Romantic Road" in the early 1950s in an attempt to stimulate tourism after WWII.

From the website, http://www.romantic-road.info/html/introduction.html

"The road itself was “invented” in 1951 by the then mayor of Augsburg Ludwig Wegele. He contacted the mayors and tourist offices of the other towns with the aim of creating a work group that was to encourage tourism in the area. After all, Germany was still suffering from the effects of the Second World War. The chosen common denominator was “romantic”."

Rufus:

All true, but the same stretch of land was informally identified in the early to mid-1800s by members of the Romantic Movement as an inspiration to their art, poetry, and other pursuits in the name of Romtanticism.

That must be what gave Ludwig his inspiration.

That's about what I figured. I've never driven it, but it looks idyllic (in a slightly Disnified way, <i>e.g.</i> brand new 17th century buildings.)

The most romantic road I've ever traveled was <b>das Rheingold</b> that ran from Basel (IIRC) to K&ouml;ln. Nothing to do for 11 hours but watch the Rhine glide by, eat, drink, and snuggle with my new bride.

As said before, the reason for the name Romantic Road dates back to that mayor of Augsburg. The road itself is, of course, not &quot;romantic&quot; in any way, but the villages/cities are. The idea was to form a link between the narrow, medieval franconian villages and the King`s Castles in the mountains. It is, however, not true that it was here, were the 'Romantic Movement' was found or inspired in the late 1790ies. The so-called birth-place of German (and international) Romanticism is the area north of Nuremberg and around Bamberg called Fr&auml;nkische Schweiz, Franconian Switzerland. It was here, were the friends and Erlangen students Ludwig Tieck and Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder would ramble and get the inspiration for their romantic/religion of art approach to life. Here they wrote the 'Herzensergie&szlig;ungen eines kunstliebenden Klosterbruders' and the famous story about the musician Berglinger and his religion-of-art experience during a mass at Bamberg cathedral. These two texts are regarded as the Birth Certificate of Romantic literature.

And Bamberg is such a pleasant small city to visit.

What makes a road romantic:

A) The Tourist Office declared it to be so

B) You bought into the Tourist Office hype

C) A Saint was killed on it once

D) It has been mentioned in more than seven Fodorite trip reports

E) A knight in shining armor once traveled it

F) You have nothing better to do than to think these things up


G) More than one of the above are true.