Germany's Black Forest is home to cuckoo clocks, shimmering lakes, rich cherry chocolate cakes and small half-timbered villages frozen in time (such as Gengenbach). It is also home to Germany's best known waterfall in Triberg Falls. Tumbling in small steps down a rocky path, the setting in verdant green forests creates a soothing scenic image.

As a child, I recall reading Mark Twain's wry and witty account of travelling through Germany, Switzerland and Italy in A Tramp Abroad. It was one of the books that captured my interest in travelling the world. Twain spent three months in Heidelberg mystified by the world's largest wine barrel and including a wondrous description of the semi-ruinous castle and its stunning location overlooking the Neckar River and the city itself. It goes as follows:

A ruin must be rightly situated, to be effective. This one could not have been better placed. It stands upon a commanding elevation, it is buried in green woods, there is no level ground about it, but, on the contrary, there are wooded terraces upon terraces, and one looks down through shining leaves into profound chasms and abysses where twilight reigns and the sun cannot intrude. Nature knows how to garnish a ruin to get the best effect. One of these old towers is split down the middle, and one half has tumbled aside. It tumbled in such a way as to establish itself in a picturesque attitude. Then all it lacked was a fitting drapery, and Nature has furnished that; she has robed the rugged mass in flowers and verdure, and made it a charm to the eye. The standing half exposes its arched and cavernous rooms to you, like open, toothless mouths; there, too, the vines and flowers have done their work of grace. The rear portion of the tower has not been neglected, either, but is clothed with a clinging garment of polished ivy which hides the wounds and stains of time. Even the top is not left bare, but is crowned with a flourishing group of trees & shrubs. Misfortune has done for this old tower what it has done for the human character sometimes improved it.

Deep in the bowels of Heidelberg Castle is the world’s largest wine barrel. The Heidelberg Tun or Grosses Fass holds over 220,000 litres (58,000 US gallons) and stands an impressive six metres high. To encourage partying, a staircase leads to a dance floor installed on its top so people could drink and dance all evening!

With elegant deceit, the path through the castle leads past a smaller barrel at around a fifth of the volume (beautifully made with no hoops to hold it together) that could easily be taken for the famed Heidelberg Tun.

The sad news is that the barrel spent most of its long life empty. Originally used to hold taxes (paid in the form of wine) from the local winegrowers - the idea of such a mixture of wines brings a headache at the very thought! Savage axe marks remain in the barrel from where Napoleon’s soldiers attempted to access the golden liquid inside. They were unsuccessful but ironically, the barrel was empty anyway.

While the focus of this battered fortress is its wine barrel, the panoramic views over the red-roofed university city of Heidelberg, the old bridge and the meandering Neckar River are glorious and highlights the prestigious location of the castle.

Along with the ancient cooper’s tools and a strange clock, opposite the barrel is a statue of an Italian man, Perkeo. As a dwarf and an odd-looking character of amusement, he was appointed as the court jester and Keeper of the Tun. For a man of such short stature, Perkeo was legendary for his incredible consumption of wine. It is strongly rumoured that he only drank wine in his adult lifetime. On being ill nearing his eightieth birthday, the royal doctor advised him to drink water and refrain from wine. Despite his protestations, he drank the water and died that evening in his sleep.

In Mark Twain’s epic A Tramp Abroad, he eloquently ridicules the large empty Heidelberg Tun as follows: It is a wine-cask as big as a cottage, and some traditions say it holds eighteen thousand bottles, and other traditions say it holds eighteen hundred million barrels. I think it likely that one of these statements is a mistake, and the other is a lie. However, the mere matter of capacity is a thing of no sort of consequence, since the cask is empty, and indeed has always been empty, history says. An empty cask the size of a cathedral could excite but little emotion in me. I do not see any wisdom in building a monster cask to hoard up emptiness in, when you can get a better quality, outside, any day, free of expense.

Perched on a grassy hillside overlooking Heidelberg, the castle dominates the city. Its war-torn history, splendid views, semi-ruinous state and adventurous stories make for an entertaining couple of hours exploring this grand castle. The focus on large barrels merely adds to the intrigue.

Other Germany Posts
The Fairytale Mining Town (Goslar)
A Timeless Promise (Oberammergau Passion Play)
Peering from the Eagle's Nest (Berchtesgaden)
Bacon Beer and Bishops (Bamberg)
The World's Largest Advent Calendar (Gengenbach)

The Harz mountains stand tall in the epicentre of Germany, rich in forests, rivers and historic half-timbered villages. Sliced in half by the East and West divide, this area attracts many less visitors than it warrants.

At 1000 years old, the world heritage-listed travel wonder of Goslar is a medieval masterpiece of narrow cobblestone streets, small canals, a glorious historic main square, the 1494 Hotel Kaiserworth (still functions as a hotel today) and 11th century royal castle. The active main square features an old animated clock that celebrates Goslar’s rich mining history on certain hours, a traditional town hall (including a vibrantly frescoed meeting hall), a handful of grand houses, a church and a fountain. Near the town hall is an old official textile measure where debtors and textile cheats (selling under-measures of cloth) were ceremoniously stripped to highlight their crimes. Mind you, on medieval standards, this is mild punishment indeed.

On a grassy hill is the grand mid-11th century Imperial Palace (Kaiserpfalz) with colourful frescoes detailing the town’s history, the tomb of Heinrich III (who built the palace) and his throne.

Just off the main square is an alms-house that has served as a place for the poor for 750 years. Seemingly unchanged over time, today the small rooms off the main hall are used by artists including glassblowers, potters and leatherworkers.

Less than a kilometre away is the location that gave Goslar is riches. For around 1000 uninterrupted years, silver and copper has been dug from the Rammelsberg Mine yielding an estimated 30 million tons of ore moved primarily by hand. Descending the shafts of this mine via ore train and foot highlights the savage and dangerous conditions of mining in past times. Huge waterwheels helped moved the ore to the surface. The mine only closed in 1988.




While there are a variety of museums and historic houses around Goslar, this is another delightful town where it pays to discard the map and simply wander the small canals and quiet cobblestoned backstreets. It is easy to imagine the local population having done so for many centuries.

Other Germany Posts
A Timeless Promise (Oberammergau Passion Play)
Peering from the Eagle's Nest (Berchtesgaden)
Bacon Beer and Bishops (Bamberg)
The World's Largest Advent Calendar (Gengenbach)

Combining infamy and stunning natural beauty, the tiny town of Berchtesgaden is a German travel wonder. Surrounded by dazzling turquoise lakes, towering snow-capped mountains, brooding dark green forests, cute steep-sided churches and tumbling falls, Berchtesgaden seems unsuited to its sinister past.

Perched on the appropriately named Eagle’s Nest (Kehlstein), one of Hitler’s most faithful generals built a remote and highly secure meeting place for Hitler during World War II. Only accessible via a twisty mountain road and a final lift deeply embedded into the bedrock, the Kehlsteinhaus now serves as a tea-room with tasty, calorie-rich snacks. With staggering panoramic views of the Bavarian Alps, Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest House is more suitably sited as a fancy hotel or tea-room than a location to hatch battle plans and invasions.

Off the mountain is an outstanding and detailed museum called the Dokumentation Obersalzberg, rich in documents, photos and video footage of the Nazi war regime along with a section of the underground bunkers designed to protect the elite German senior officers.

A local salt mine can be entertainingly toured dressing in old mining gear and sliding down a wooden chute polished by thousands of slithering backsides into the mine area into a salty underworld. Travelling via a small mining train and riding a raft across a briny lake, the valuable salt was dug from these pits for over 500 years. Strange salt formations have been carved and lit a misty orange colour to add to the overall mining mood.

A highlight of the area is to ride a small silent electric boat that cruises along the deep emerald waters of Königssee in an amphitheatre of snow-capped alpine majesty towards the onion-domed church of St Bartholomä. Looking more Russian Orthodox than traditional church, the red domed whitewashed house of worship reflects across the gentle ripples of this glacial waterway. A short walk leads to the tumbling Röthbach Falls and another emerald lake.

Combined with the natural beauty of the Berchtesgaden National Park, the small town of Berchtesgaden is often a visitor’s last glimpse of Germany before rolling into the heartland of Austria. As a final taste of Germany, Berchtesgaden represents a superb last course, combining a major element of twentieth century history with an area of intense and lasting natural wonder.

Other Germany Posts
A Timeless Promise (Oberammergau Passion Play)
Bacon Beer and Bishops (Bamberg)
The World's Largest Advent Calendar (Gengenbach)

In 1633, a traveller walked into the travel wonder of Oberammergau unwittingly carrying the plague and causing the death of many of the local population in a short time. Seeking a higher power to secure itself from the Black Death, the citizens swore to God that they would re-enact the story of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection every ten years for safety from this savage disease that had obliterated other towns and communities. Oberammergau escaped the clutches of this savage disease and the well-known Passion Play began its long run.


Even as religious observance has eased in many places in modern times and medical knowledge dramatically improved, Oberammergau avoids tempting fate and continues to fulfil its pledge of almost four hundred years, completing this stunning production on the years that end in zero. Indeed, apart from a war in 1870 and World War II (where religious plays were banned), the play has been completed every decade with the next due in 2010.

As per tradition, the play is solely conducted by the people of Oberammergau with the population studiously growing their hair and beards from the previous year to have the appearance of biblical times. The stagehands, musicians, technicians and costume makers are also drawn from the local populace. Indeed, it is clear who is in the play by simply wandering around town as the hair styles look like a flashback to the sixties and seventies.

The staging is an epic affair with the play running for five hours with a generous interval for dinner over a season of five months. It is conducted in the superb open-air Passion Theatre (audience is under cover) with a dramatic backdrop of the Bavarian Alps. One notable element of the play are the tableaux vivants that see significant biblical scenes frozen like a photograph with the actors remaining motionless on stage while a description of the setting takes place.



To support the popularity of the play with people travelling from all over the world to view it, nearly every house is converted into some form of accommodation and hotels for miles around are packed for months. I stayed with a family whose father and son were both performers, the father assisted in painting the backdrops while the mother helped sew the outfits. The friendly family only provided accommodation during the play though there was no sense of what must have been relief in getting the privacy of their own house back on the completion of the play’s season. Town life also continues with businesses and schools operating as normal adopting schedules to fit around the play’s afternoon start.

Located in southern Germany only a short distance from Germany’s highest peak, the town is a picture postcard of half-timbered houses with flower boxes bursting in colourful bloom and glittering churches, ornately decorated in gold. Many of the houses are adorned in detailed frescoes called lüftlmalerei, covering both religious and non-religious themes. While the most celebrated example is the Pilatushaus, two stunning secular examples are found in Ettalerstrasse. The familiar Hansel and Gretel and Red Riding Hood stories are told in wonderful detail across the front of two houses as if reading giant comic books.

Several shops highlight the thriving woodcarving industry. Exquisite, detailed hand-carved figurines, bowls, plates and toys sit alongside machine-made commercial offerings meeting every conceivable price point. Woodchips lie on the floor as the owners patiently chip away at their latest creation. If you have a favourite saint or biblical character, it is inconceivable that your desires could not be satisfied among the huge religious collections.

In many ways, Oberammergau is a typical modest and picturesque German village. With its alpine setting and verdant surrounds, it oozes a timeless charm. More importantly, a town made a solemn vow and continues to hold its promise very dearly in eternal gratitude for the saving of their ancestors.

Other Germany Posts
Bacon Beer and Bishops (Bamberg)
The World's Largest Advent Calendar (Gengenbach)

Note
Passion Play photos courtesy of Passion Play, Oberammergau. Tickets for 2010 are available now.

Deep in the Black Forest in south-west Germany, lays a timeless gem of half-timbered houses and cobbled streets. Delightfully untouristy, this medieval travel wonder is a mixture of city gates, narrow laneways, and steep-roofed, romantic houses with scarlet and white blooms dribbling from their window boxes.

In the 24 days up to Christmas, the salmon-pink baroque town hall (rathaus) in the triangular-shaped main square becomes the main feature. Early each evening in the shadows of a huge central Christmas tree, one of the town hall’s 24 backlit windows (two rows of eleven plus the two roof windows) is ritually unveiled showing a colourful festive image – undoubtedly making it the world’s largest Advent calendar.

Behind the town hall, the plain exterior of St Marien’s church is in stark contrast to the richly decorated interior. The walls and ceiling are covered with detailed, colourful frescoes from various stories of the bible and the altar is lit in a shimmering golden light.

This small town is rich in such traditions hosting a rousing street carnival, traditional in this area, called fastnacht or fasend, where participants in garish outfits and large wooden masks dance down the streets in a large parade.

Ease back in one of the small cafes and feast on hearty country lunch from the neighbouring farms or indulge in a large calorific slice of the famed black-forest cake. Enjoy the slow-paced, historic and elegant village of Gengenbach, especially over December with the giant illustrated Advent calendar.

Notes
Photo Source: Advent, fastnacht

Gengenbach Vacations