Ehrenburg Castle

In the "old days," before reunification, Coburg was stuck in a corner of West Germany, surrounded on three sides by East Germany and, as a result, tourism suffered. Except for a few adventurous souls headed for Berlin's via the potholed communist-maintained Autobahn, it wasn't a place where one stopped on the way to anywhere else.

Things have picked up in the last 10 years but, despite the town's historical importance, it's interesting buildings and charming setting, American tourists are still rather scarce. Enough so that it qualifies as a "Hidden Treasure."

Coburg may be physically in Bavaria but with the grape vines of Franken growing only a few kilometers away, and it's massive Veste dubbed the "Franconian Crown," Coburg's heart and culture are solidly in Franconia.

One of Germany's largest fortresses, the Veste looms above the town, fading in and out of the clouds. It was in this triple-walled citadel that Martin Luther holed up for five months in 1530, awaiting his day in court before the Augsburg Imperial Diet. You can tour his apartment and there is a decent collection of paintings including some by Rembrandt and Albrecht Dürer. But to us the Veste's best attraction is it's Kunstammlungen, a museum especially designed for visitors whose eyes have glazed over from too many religious paintings by Cranach the Elder or Holbein the Younger. It is filled with things of interest to non-scholars; items such as antique wedding carriages, Germany's largest display of ancient armor and weapons, and a cabinet filled with some 20,000 medals and coins.