GERMANY: MAULBRONN MONASTERY AND NYMPHENBURG PALACE

May 24, 2025

Maulbronn is a small town of 6,700 people in southern Germany about 12 miles north of Pforzheim. Legend has it that in the 12th century, wandering monks followed a mule looking for water into the valley. (The name Maulbronn means "mule fountain.") Finding a beautiful lake, the monks settled here and established a monastery. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the monastery draws about a quarter million tourists every year.

For being so old, it is in amazing condition and is, in fact, one of the best-preserved monastic sites in Europe. It's also surprisingly large.

Half-timbered building near the entrance

Granary building, early 13th century

PORTUGAL: BRAGA

July 1, 2022

Our Braga accommodations, the Hotel Vila Galé, was about a five-mile drive from the Bom Jesus Basilica. At first we couldn't find it. The address led us to this building, which was clearly (we thought), a church and not a hotel:

Eventually, however, we noticed the hotel signs on the right end of the building.

We learned that our hotel was occupying a site that was originally the Hospital de São Marcos, established in the 1500s--similar in some ways to our hotel in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The Iberian people built incredible hospitals! The original building was expanded a few times over the centuries, and the building as it now appears served as a public hospital with a capacity of 521 active beds in 2007. It was vacated in 2011 in favor of a new, modern structure. In 2016 the Via Galé hotel group purchased the building, and in 2018 it opened as a four-star hotel. 

The hotel is enormous. Once we checked in at the front desk, we walked through a series of corridors for almost five minutes before reaching our room.