Day 7 – Baden-Baden, Black Forest, Black Forest Gateau and vineyards

Black Forest Gateau

We crossed the Rhine and into Germany and our first stop was Baden-Baden a spa town about 57kms from Strasbourg. It is nestled in the Black Forest and is famous for the healing properties of its thermal waters. It is a resort town that is picture perfect. The buildings are well cared for and the town looks wealthy and I did not see a beggar on the footpaths as we did in Strasbourg. It is a place where pictures are worth a thousand words.

On arrival we had a cup of coffee and a piece of the iconic Black Forest Gateau which Bev could not resist and which I reluctantly was forced to share with her. It was delicious but too much of it and I’ll likely be several kilos heavier by the time we arrive back in New Zealand.

Afterwards we wandered the town, which did have some very interesting buildings. There was an interesting art exhibition most of which I didn’t like but some bits were very interesting.

Cafe Koenig

We had a nice light lunch in Café Koenig. The server was a delightful woman who had been doing the job for 30 years and was most helpful, a real bundle of joy. She engaged very nicely with us and said she was French and grew up learning the language from across the river. English she said was a requirement as it was a common language for many people.

Our next stop was Durbach about 50 kilometres south of Baden-Baden. We took the autobahn to get there. What an experience that was! There is no speed limit on it and at one point we were travelling at 140 kph. At times we felt like we were standing still as a range of cars, vans and SUVs flew past us. It was quite an experience coming from a country where the maximum legal speed is 100kph. Of course on our roads it wouldn’t be safe to go much faster. Eventually we turned off onto the local roads where the speed was much more modest.

Our Airbnb - Freiherr Von Neveu

Finding our Airbnb was a bit of problem as the address given was not very helpful. We actually took the right turn and even parked in what we eventually found out was the place where were would stay. But it did not have the information we needed as we were looking for a specific name which it did not have. We then asked a person where the place was and she was quite mystified but suggested another road. That turned out to be not a pleasant experience as we encountered a seriously grumpy man who I think was saying we could not drive the bit of road we were on (there was nothing suggesting that). We then tried Google maps but that took us to a place where there was hosted accommodation but not the one we wanted. A lovely woman gave us the address and even offered us alternative accommodation if we came back again. We will take her up on that if the opportunity ever arises.

Finally, we got to our accommodation which is hosted by a very nice and obliging couple.

They run a wine bar there so we had a glass of wine whilst looking out toward the grape vines flowing down the slope. In fact, this seems to be a major wine growing area. I had a Muller Thurgau, a wine I have not had for nearly thirty years. It was very nice but the star one was an off dry Riesling.

For dinner we walked into the village. Being Easter Monday most places were closed. We came across a restaurant that had been recommended by our host and decided to eat there. It was quite an experience. The menu was in German (of course) and we had to resort to Google Translate to figure out what each of the dishes was. Bev had sausages and I had schnitzel. Neither dish was haute cuisine, but it was tasty. They came with no salads or vegetables. However, I didn’t need any. We wandered a little further into the village and then ambled home whereupon a very tired Bev fell asleep doing something on her phone.