As everyone knows, the town of Lich, Germany is famous for being the home of the Licher Brewery.
Yup, those are cases and cases of Licher beer behind the unfortunately locked gate at the brewery.
Licher is the best-selling brand of beer in the German state of Hesse.
The town is also part of the German Half-Timbered House Route.
Armed with these two bits of knowledge and a printout of points of interest that we found online, off we went one Saturday to explore Lich.
The town is less than an hour’s drive for us and we found easy, central parking when we arrived.
We started off at the Stadtturm or City Tower.
It was built starting in the year 1306 and is over 160 feet high.
The tower was originally built for defensive purposes as part of the city wall.
A watchman lived and worked at the tower, with the last watchman retiring in 1912 after more than 50 years on the job.
Supposedly the tower is open to the public and you can climb 150 steps to what used to be the watchman’s living quarters for some great views.
However, it was not open the day we went.
All was not lost because you can still have fun and games outside the tower.
Oh, I just laughed and laughed to see Sean in a neck shackle.
Just kidding.
Our next stop was the Marienstiftskirche or Collegiate Church of St. Mary.
The church was locked, but we stopped into the tourist information office where they gave us the key and sent us on our merry way.
Built between 1511 and 1594, the church was completely renovated before its 500th anniversary in 2011.
One odd thing inside the church was what appeared to be paintings on glass of some famous anti-Nazi activists such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Sophie Scholl.
And then all of a sudden there was Rosa Parks.
I mean obviously she was an activist as well so kind of fit the theme.
It was just odd to see her likeness in a church in Germany next to portraits of people who were executed by the Nazis during World War II for their political beliefs.
After locking up the church and returning the key, we made our way to the Textorhaus.
The house was built in 1632 and got its name from the original owner, Jakob Textor.
You can see how highly-decorated the exterior of the house is, indicating that ol’ Tex was a wealthy man.
Unfortunately he and his wife, along with about 1,200 other townspeople, died of the plague in the year 1635 so he didn’t get to enjoy his house for long.
The Textorhaus is now a museum displaying local historical objects.
This next house has two things of note.
The first is the oriel window that you can see sticking out on the top left-hand side, and the second is the original wooden doorway that you can see at the bottom right-hand side.
The house was originally constructed in the 1500s and the oriel window was added many years later.
Another impressive oriel window can be seen on this house.
Both houses in the photo once belonged to the monks of Arnsburg, who lived at a nearby monastery. They were purchased from the monks in 1563.
The Frankfurter Hof is one of the oldest buildings in Lich.
It was built more than 600 years ago, in the year 1400.
It still boggles my mind a bit when I see half-timbered houses, hundreds of years old, housing modern businesses as if they were recently built.
That house dates back to the 15th century and now houses an African restaurant.
These former stables and the buildings behind it were once part of a large estate.
They now serve as apartments and a health center.
I could totally see myself leasing – neigh, buying – one of those apartments.
See what I did there?
Okay, I’ll stop horsing around now.
Like any good German town, Lich has a palace.
It appears to now be private property and not open to the public. We couldn’t even enter the grounds and I took this photo through a gate.
Looking down this street, you can see that almost every structure is a half-timbered house.
Naturally one works up a powerful thirst looking at and learning about old buildings, so it was soon time to stop for some liquid refreshment and a bite to eat.
Of course I had a Licher beer and it was pretty decent.
Leaving the restaurant, we passed by the Uhl tower.
It’s part of the town’s medieval fortifications and dates back to about 1300.
As we headed back to the car, we passed by the brewery again.
According to their website, the brewery is open for tours on Thursdays so if you’re exploring the town on a Thursday, check it out and have a beer for me!
