Day 81: Mainz to Hanau

May 9, 2025

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One of Mainz's biggest claims to fame is that it is the birthplace of Johannes Gutenberg, and the place where Gutenberg produced his first printed Bible.

Gutenberg was born around 1400, and after some time spent in Strasbourg, returned to Mainz, secured funding, and opened his printing shop. Unlike what we might guess, his first products were miscellaneous books, and Latin grammars. A big one was the printing of Indulgences forms, which were filled in, signed, and sold by the church. Gutenberg probably opened shop in 1449, while his bible came out in 1453.

Needless to say, printing is a blockbuster technology. Like many high tech founders, Gutenberg lost control of his original shop. He then ran a lower quality one, and ultimately produced some further bibles, not here but in Bamberg.

Gutenberg is shown on a side panel of the monument, presumably checking the product, while an employee does the actual work.

On the pavement, what seemed like a paper poster offered a QR code for more Gutenberg information. It's an innovative use of QR, since it has a Gutenberg image, but actually works!

There was a market today in the Cathedral square. Although it was nice, it did not have crowds and excitement, exotic foods, or the like.

However it did have spargel. We are still looking for just the right time and place to have spargel in a restaurant.

Mainz old town was mostly wiped out in WW II, so it takes some searching to find attractive old buildings. The photo below is on edge, just to isolate the two or three buildings.

The Munster did survive, at least enough to be rebuilt. Here one of its towers rises above surrounding buildings.

We stepped into what we thought was the Munster, for a quick look. We thought we knew that it had a lot of Marc Chagall windows, and that these were generally blue. I snapped one blue, modern looking window, but we don't think this was really the right place.

A side room housed a presentation on the damage sustained in the 1945 bombing of Mainz. Presentations like this have popped up since it's the 80th anniversary. We found another one later as well, in Hanau.

The room had examples of fallen pieces of carving, describing where they originally had been.

The photo here shows the bird in its original place.

A last look at some attractive buildings by the market.

Mainz is located at the spot on the Rhine where the river Main joins in. Then 40 km up the Main is the major city of Frankfurt. This confluence, then, is a big deal in German geography. Since our route continues on the Main, we headed out to the Rhine, so as to cross a bridge and get on with it.

Lots of river cruise ships ply the "middle Rhine" from here north.

On the bridge over the Rhine, looking north.

The old town with the cathedral is obscured by riverside construction.

From a different angle, here is a sneaky but good composition:

A magpie happens to walk by.

Dodie thought this looked rather cathedral like, but it is a relatively modern Protestant church.

The hugely important but nondescript confluence of the Main and the Rhine.

These signs illustrate not only the great bike signage in this area, but some of the famous town names.

The Main turned out to be a hot spot for geese raising goslings. There were three species - the Canada Goose, Graylag Goose, and the Egyptian.

I like the way the one little guy is standing up!

The beginning of the Main had some large plants that we cycled by. Many buildings belonged to Sanofi. "Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. The corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo."

We were never actually on road - that just doesn't happen in Germany - but we sometimes had situations like this.

As we drew abreast of Frankfurt from across the river, we could observe its miscellaneous architectural features. The cylindrical building is the Westhafen Tower. "The building 's architectural feature is its diamond-shaped façade structure. 3,556 triangular glass panes form the outer skin. The glazing's structure, reminiscent of a Frankfurt apple wine glass, earned the skyscraper the popular nickname "Geripptes" ( Ribbed)."

Other various towers followed as we cycled along.

Graylag more concerned with its one remaining baby.

Meanwhile, looking up from the riverbank on our side, we briefly saw the Dreikonigskirche - Lutheran Church of the Three Kings (Magi).

But better watch the road, because these guys were crossing without looking.

This is what the Main riverbank looks like, just past the main part of Frankfurt on the other side.

Ok, one more building over there: the European Central Bank.

Another 25 km of following the river came next. I must have been getting tired, because I have no photos or recollection of what the trail looked like.

We rolled into Hanau, and went to first to find the memorial for the Brothers Grimm. The brothers Jacob (1785 - 1863) and Wilhelm (1786 - 1859) lived in six cities during their lifetimes, but they were born in Hanau. The bothers were academics - linguists - but they also collected folk tales. The best-known tales include “Hansel and Gretel,” “Snow White,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Tom Thumb,” “Rapunzel,” “The Golden Goose,” and “Rumpelstiltskin.”

The Grimms memorial in Hanau. They are appropriately holding a book.

The statue is in the main square, where we also found a display about the March 1945 destruction, and subsequent rebuilding. For city hall, and for a nearby street, the display shows what it was like before the war, the destroyed version, and the rebuild.

The rebuild (1965). You can see the design was basically retained.

Here is the display about the Marketplace - which is adjacent to city hall.

We left the city hall/market place and continued down the pedestrian street. This proved to be quite plain, with the kind of shops that are standard for a small German town.

Arriving at our hotel, the Trip Inn, we had a statue of the younger Grimm - Ludwig - sitting outside. Not that "Ludwig slept here", of course.

The hotel claims three stars, and it is rather nice. We have a quite large balcony, something we like a lot, because we can open and close the door for more or less air. And of course, there is a duvet, folded on the bed and not tucked in anywhere. Also, I am typing this at a desk, that has power outlets for chargers. So cool.

Breakfast is included, and we are hoping for a good one because we are headed next to Miltenberg, which while not impossibly far, will be a reasonably distant 75 km, as we continue along the Main.

Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 2,857 km (1,774 miles)

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Laura SeiditaI lived on one of the Army bases in Hanau for 3 years and remember the Grimm statue. I regularly shopped down in the main shopping area as I enjoyed the quality over what was usually available in the PX on base. Thanks for the great memories!
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2 months ago

Bob Koreis"A" duvet, as in one? Not his and her duvets?
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2 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Bob KoreisAlways his and hers. (Typo you know.) Individual bed coverings are sooo nice. We have 2 duvets at home, after time spent travelling in Germany. It allows customized weight (warmth) and prevents cover stealing.
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2 months ago

Carolyn van HoeveWe stayed in the same hotel in Mainz. Our bikes seem to enjoy parking up in the same places! Enjoying following you on your journey.
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2 months ago

Hans BeekmansHi Steve ans dodie. Now you left the Rhine and going more to the north-east. You missed koblenz wat is a beautiful city.
Have a good trip further on
We going to follow (your trip )the rhine further on to the netherlands.
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2 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Carolyn van HoeveInteresting that we end up in the same digs. Our bikes are happy whenever they have indoor accommodation, as are we.
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2 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Hans BeekmansWe have been in Koblenz before, and agree with you. It is a beautiful city. Maybe in the Autumn when we cycle along the Rhine from the Netherlands we will see it again.
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2 months ago