Night Watchman star of Rothenburg

updated 12:24 p.m. ET Dec. 11, 2007

ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER, Germany - Cloaked in black and brandishing a deadly medieval weapon, Hans-Georg Baumgartner strides purposefully into Market Square at dusk. The crowd parts — not out of fear, but fascination. Cameras flash.

Meet the Night Watchman, a lowly figure in this town centuries ago, but in Baumgartner's incarnation a tour guide with a rock-star aura and a wit so calculatingly clever he's been called a medieval Jerry Seinfeld.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Baumgartner's Watchman tour has helped make Rothenburg — Germany's best-preserved walled town and the jewel of the medieval trade route known as the Romantic Road — one of the country's most popular tourist sites.

Rick Steves, the ubiquitous Europe travel impresario savvy in what American tourists will pay to see, calls the watchman tour "flat-out the most entertaining hour of medieval wonder anywhere in Germany."

While Baumgartner is at the top of the tourist food chain, he's by no means Rothenburg's only attraction. Besides its 2 1/2 mile fortifying wall, the town is also known for the heavy — some might say leaden — Schneeball pastry, medieval crime museum and a hybrid saxophone-trombone instrument invented by a local innkeeper with a passion for Dixieland. Christmas shops sell knickknacks year-round, but a seasonal Christmas market offers puppet shows, concerts and walks during the holiday season. There's often a line to get in to the Kaethe Wolfahrt Christmas shop, an ornament and cuckoo clock emporium popular among U.S. military personnel.

Though 1.5 million tourists visit each year, there's little schlock. Rothenburg's cobblestone streets are spotless, its storefronts neat and charming, its 12th century towers well-preserved. The town is frozen in the Middle Ages splendor that came from a rich textile trade and prime location along the trade route now known as the Romantic Road, which links more than two dozen picturesque German towns and historic sites.

If you go Getting there: Nuremberg is the closest airport, about 50 miles away; Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Munich airports are convenient to other points along the Romantic Road. (From the A7 highway, take exit for Rothenburg o.d.T.) Bus and train service available. Rothenburg: Tourism office, (click on "English version") or 011-49-9861-404-800. Night Watchman: One-hour English-language walking tours through Christmas (tours resume mid-March); meet at Market Square (Marktplatz) at 8 p.m., German tour at 9:30 p.m. Adults, $9, kids under 12 free. Reservations not required, unless for a big group or private tour. Christmas shopping: Elaborate nutcrackers, decorations and ornaments, painted figurines, music boxes and other trinkets available year-round; puppet shows, concerts, walks and concerts during busy Christmas market period in December. Kaethe Wolfahrt Christmas shop. Medieval Crime Museum: Adults, $5.60, children under 6 free. Open daily, December-March, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., November, January and February, 2 p.m.-4 p.m., April-October, 9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. Romantic Road (Romantische Strasse): Scenic route from Wurzburg to Fussen, about 220 miles long. Interactive map with information on sights, history, shops, dining and inns in Rothenburg and other towns and villages. Getting around: Unless you have lodging inside the town, be prepared to park your car outside the wall. Once inside, you'll find Rothenburg to be a great walking town. You can amble from one end to the other in 15 minutes.

The town is also known for its Jewish history, with Judaica in the Imperial City Museum; and Judengasse (Jews' Lane), a street billed as Germany's only intact ghetto from the Middle Ages.

Perched high above the Tauber River, Rothenburg, offers stunning views, especially for those who climb atop its 20-foot-high covered wall to walk the circumference of the town, officially known as Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

But the real star is the dashing Baumgartner. Tall and lanky, with a billowing midnight cloak, tricorn hat and black boots, he stages a masterful entrance, emerging from an alley into Market Square, the town's center. He hoists a hellebarde, a long, hooked spear with an ax-like blade the watchman carried for protection.

Centuries ago, Baumgartner explains, the watchman made rounds while everyone else slept. His job was to light lamps and check for fire, a grave threat to medieval towns. He sang a song on the hour to remind townsfolk to take precautions against fire, and he carried a horn to sound the alarm. In spite of the job's importance, it was considered a lowly occupation, above only the gravedigger and executioner.

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"These two liked to work together because they had the same clients," Baumgartner quips. The line, undoubtedly well-used, nevertheless gets a laugh from the crowd.

Because the watchman was a creature of the night, some viewed him with dark superstition, which doesn't hurt Baumgartner's image one bit.

"I'm real," he promises, with a wink, to those who reach out to touch his cloak.

Dozens of tourists, a majority Americans, are here for his English-speaking tour. He will do another tour in German 90 minutes later. The Americans crowd around and pose for photos with him. The Germans on the next tour are more reserved and stand at a respectful distance.

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