town square courtyard

Pretty square with more heraldic emblems and spires. Two things are worth noting about the lower right corner of this picture. Through the gate one can see a red awning: this was over the great Marzipan shop window. An amazing shop which had marzipan in every form imaginable, including a huge sculpture on the upper floor made entirely of marzipan!

Our guide informed us that marzipan was invented in the middle ages when the town was under siege and the food was running out. The local leaders went to all the bakers and confectioners and asked them what they could still make. They had run out of flour and other usual baking ingredients, but they had a large number of almonds and some sugar at hand. So they ground the almonds into a paste and made confections out of it, and marzipan was born.

Also, between the inner and outer walls of this gate was a small open air market selling various things including fresh fruits and vegetables. You can get a much better view of that in the next photo, including a little store where I found a bit of a surprise!