Swiss Franconia (Frankische Schweiz)

We have many places within an hour of Ansbach that we return to often: Nurnberg, Rothenburg, Wurburg and now the Swiss Franconian area NE of us. On July 27th Dale unexpectantly had a day off and we jumped in the car for Pottenstein (middle picture), Devil's cave (on the left) and Grossweinstein. In this hilly area dotted with caves and rock formations, we enjoyed the traditional half-timbered villages along trout filled streams...lovely:) Castles on the outcroppings are so picturesque... how did they build on top of them??!! The tiny village of Gossweinstein has a large basilica designed by Balthasar Neumann in 1730.... the inside was beautiful with gold and white baroque style similiar to the Residenz he designed in Wurzburg. We came home and packed our suitcase for the scheduled train trip to Hamburg on Saturday:)