"Daniel – the church tower" Nördlingen Things to Do Tip by brendareed

Daniel is the west tower of St. George’s Church in the center of Nördlingen. It can be accessed from outside the church to the right of the church entrance. The sign outside the tower entrance lists the fees associated with climbing the tower: €2,50 for adults, €1,70 for children. Unlike most places that have tower climbs, there was no one on the ground level to take our money. But, like most places that have tower climbs, Hubby and I had to go up to the top. We were once in a church in Plzen, Czech Republic, where we paid the admission fee part way up the tower. But we were part way up and no one to take our money.

But we kept climbing, round the spiral staircase and up some straighter stairs. The tower is 230 feet high and at each level there are signs telling you where you are in the climb and how high you are. About one third of the way up we came across the old winch that was used to pull things up to the top – it was a very large wooden wheel with various ropes. Later we would see the new electric winch currently used.
Almost to the top, we came to a level that had modern and clean bathrooms! Imagine that – at the top of the tower! That was definitely a first. But still no one to take our money…

We climbed a short staircase to another room and guess who we found! The man to take our admission fee! My first thought was amazement that he climbs those steps everyday to get to his job! Then my next thought was, well, he doesn’t have to go all the way down for the bathroom! We paid our admission and looked around this room, which had some small displays and posters. He had maps for sale and a couple books and answered a couple of our questions. Then we headed up the final small set of steps to the top and we were out on the top of Daniel.

The day was rainy, cold, and dreary, but we got that spectacular view of the city that we had been promised. Unfortunately, the surrounding area view was not a wondrous since it was overcast. But we still got a wonderful view.

If you want to see this same view, check out the YouTube video of the final scene from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (the Gene Wilder version, not the recent Johnny Depp film). Nördlingen is town that Willy Wonka’s glass elevator flies over in the final scene of the movie and you can see Daniel in the video. To see this scene and Nördlingen from the sky, check out this YouTube video.

After admiring the view, we were on our way back down the steps, which always seem to go faster on the way down than on the way up! We enjoyed our tour of Daniel and Nördlingen from above.