Bavarian starting point

I don't intend this to be a travel blog.  I haven't been much of a traveler, preferring to know some places in depth rather than many casually.  I got the idea for this blog in Bavaria.  I say Bavaria as every German Bundesland is different; Bavaria is the most distinctive and it's also the Bundesland I know best. But given that Bavaria is the same size (roughly) as the 26 county Republic of Ireland (though its population is a lot bigger), I am like someone who knows Donegal very well, Wexford somewhat less, and other areas less again. Nevertheless, I have spent enough time there to get to know state well.

My base in Bavaria is a town of 8,700 named Volkach am Main. Volkach ist in the province of Lower Franconia in the north west of the Bavarian Free State.  It's approximately midway between Frankfurt and Nuremberg.  The town is located on the bend of the River Main between Kitzingen and Würzburg.

The Main valley is one of the three principal wine producing regions in Germany - the others are the Rhine and the Moselle. As such, Volkach is in a valley surrounded by vineyards, with the pilgrimage chapel of Maria im Weingarten (literally Our Lady in the Vineyard) looking down. 

Volkach derives its name from the River Volkach, a tributary to the Main. The ending -ach means stream or brook, but there is some dispute over Volk- . There is a suggestion it comes from the Germanic Folk- meaning a military hosting. Alternatively, if area came under attack by the Slavic Wends, it may come from Vlk which means wolf. The two ideas are not that distant and you can get a flavour in Kim McCone's article: Werewolves, cyclopes, díberga and fíanna: juvenile delinquency in early Ireland in Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 12, Winter 1986. I am not being facetious. Slavs, Teutons and Celts had similar arrangements before civilisation caught up. 

The area around Volkach was Celtic before the Franks or Wends arrived.  There may have been something like the fulacht fia which the Fianna used in Ireland.  The earliest name in manuscript form is Folchaa.  The modern pronunciation is not far from this and I have always got the impression of the Irish words fliuch and folcadh when I have heard Volkach pronounced, so I believe the original Celtic occupants made a much clearer mark.