Central Europe - From Munich to Prague; Episode 3

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This is the 3rd ‘episode’ of another of 'our' travels.

The collective ‘episodes’ describe our journey from our arrival in Munich (known locally as München), Germany (3rd week of June) through to our departure from Central Europe at Prague (in late July) 2010. This ‘episode’ describes our little sojourn from Germany; through a little of France, into Belgium through Luxembourg before continuing in on Germany.


As always, if you want to 'see' more detail in an accompanying picture, click it to enlarge.

We've attached a few pics that give you a flavour of our journey, and some 'flow over' past the dialogue. Just ‘click’ on page 2, scroll down past the text to view.

A brief overview of our journey so far.

Episode 1 had us landing in Munich (München) where we'd booked a hotel for 6 nights. After acclimatising to the cold (10C), German culture and language, we did the tourist bit of taking in the sights of the city. Once comfortable, we visited Dachau, Regensberg and Nürmberg before picking up a hire car and heading eastwards. We also described our good fortune in getting tickets to the Passion Play at Omerammegau. And that concluded Episode 1.

Episode 2 described in detail the following week of our travels with a hire car; from Germany and over the mountains in Austria to Verona northern Italy, before heading back over the Alps to Switzerland, Liechtenstien, Austria and back into Germany by the Bodansee.

It´s all a bit surreal.

We used this heading on both the first and second episodes. Initially we used it to describe jetting across the globe and landing for overnight stays in far flung places. We used it again in the second episode to describe a brief sojourn from Germany, into Austria, into Italy, into Switzerland, into Liechtenstien, into Austria before returning to Germany and all in 300km.

This episode describes another surreal experience. This time, we had breakfast in France, Lunch in Belgium, afternoon tea in Luxembourg and dinner in Germany, again in only 150 km's. The trip from Italy to Germany was about 4 hours in the car. This trip was around 2 hours of driving. That evening we both found it surreal to visit 4 countries in such a short time.

Monday 5 July.

After the rain the day before, Monday opened into a lovely, sunny slightly crisp day reminding us so much of an early summer Melbourne day. Leaving Zwieselberg, we again drove into a dense, tall pine forest. Most of the tree trunks were between 450-600mm diameter. To us, this was an impressive forest. By the map, this was the western edge of the area known as the Black Forest - so called because the trees a very dark hue of green and little light penetrates the canopy.


We’d planned to head further west into Black Forest towards Baden-Baden,. But as we got onto the road depicted as the best drive in the Black Forest, we were amazed to find that it had been logged over the past decade; sections of recently logged, sections of (say) 10 year old trees, and some sections of younger trees. We decided to give this route the flick, and headed south towards the Rhine River valley (assuming there would be riverine scenery there). We didn‘t realise how high we were in the Black Forest as the (very) minor road kept going down, down, down, down; for 30 something k‘s. What a great choice. After 5 or so klicks, we entered mature forest. Not quite as good as around Zwieselberg, but really enjoyable for us (especially to walk on the occasional pathway).


Eventually we came to Oppenau, a delightful little town. It had lovely big shady trees, and most of the buildings had so many flowerpots/gardens that we had to stop and have a cuppa. What was really fascinating to us was the number of floral perfumes permeating the air. This town was a little different to the many other towns with perfumed plants in that the perfumes here were intoxicating. Reviewing the map, Judy noted we were within cooiee of Strasbourg “And, that’s in France isn’t it… I’ve always wanted to go to France”.


Decision made, we tore ourselves away from the floral perfumes. The road to the Rhine was an autobahn - the right hand lane being a semi-trailer ‘train’ - but once over the bridge it reduced to a one lane nightmare on the French side. We eventually made Strasbourg to find a wonderful Gallic atmosphere. We no sooner parked the car when Judy spied a Patisserie… we need say no more….
The cathedral is the dominating ‘icon’ of Strasbourg - and every central European village/town/city. With the front entry closed and scaffolding blocking directions, we eventually found an entry. We paid some money to enter and thought ”in Germany, all churches are free to enter!“ We entered what we thought was a side entry, with a circular staircase. It‘s not until we’d gone up about 20 stairs did we figure out that we had bought a ticket to the top of the steeple - some 66metres. After a laborious (and sweaty) climb, we eventually reached the top - to a great view over Strasbourg. On our way down another, different, circular stairway, we were treated to angelic choral singing; the choir was practicing and we were the beneficiaries. At the bottom we learned that the reason the cathedral front doors were closed was because of ‘siesta’, and would be re-opened in 15 minutes!!! As the weather had become warm, we enjoyed another ‘sorbet’ and amused ourselves in the shade.


We also decided that we’d move away from the German ‘influence’ Strasbourg, and head ’inland’. After ohh-ing and aah-ing at the cathedral, we found the ’info’ office which gave us maps of the region. As it is the ‘centre’ of the Lorraine region (and that sounded great), we headed for Nancy. Nancy is a largish city, and as we wanted some more detailed maps (the other ones didn’t go very far), we followed the signs to ‘information’. The ‘info’ centre is aside the city square (Wensceslaus Place) but most city streets are one way. We found ourselves doing an amazing city ratrace via narrow streets to eventually get to the centre. We had a wander around, and in a little public garden found the city fathers had built a nest for insects. We’ve seen birdhouses, but never insect houses.


We ventured away from Nancy to Toul for an overnight. As we were in the province, we had to have a Quiche Lorraine. What a delight; small (about an Oz sized meat pie), delightfully light, and definitely not ’eggy’.

Tuesday.

The interior of the hotel we stayed in looked like what we see in films of 1930’s Parisien hotels. We didn’t feel like buying breakfast so we hoofed it to the town square - which was round (like an English Georgian centre) - for croissant and coffee / tea.


Toul is set inside the ‘original’ city walls (original for what era, no one would say ), and was quite decrepit; no maintenance appears to have been done to buildings for yonks, some being empty, and some actually falling down. As we departed, we could see that the ‘povs’ lived in the city centre, while the ‘haves’ lived on the outside. Someone must have passed a regulation pertaining to buildings in the walled area that was uneconomical to service. Mmmm!!!


We decided to just amble along in the car, heading towards where the scenery looked good. Little did we know till we came to Verdun that we were driving through Ardennes; a site of horrific loss of life during WW1, and referred to these days as The Western Front. In Verdun, the ’battles’ claimed nearly 1 million casualties (on both sides). Clearly, the French have ’moved on’, and there is now little to show other than numerous War Cemetery’s.


We ended the day in Sedan, having driven through Mousson (a walled city that somehow largely bypassed destruction in both WW1 & WW2. The entry gate is really narrow, and is said to have originally been built by the Romans and the shape/size/structure not altered over time. All this ’history’ makes the ’new world’ seem so young.


We stayed the night at a guesthouse in the outlying village of Floing, coz Judy said the day had been a beautiful flowing day. Little duid she know that that night we’d have the most remarkable meal. In a beautiful French provincial restaurant, we were the only guests that night. The place came highly recommended, and the hosts lived up to that reputation; in fact, the chef/owner spent more time chatting with us than doing his work. The food was heavenly, and the tastes ever so sublime and the recommended wines just perfectly matched. Mmmmm!!!

Wednesday.

We awoke to another sunny day, and looking like it was going to be warmer, and while awaiting the owner to return from the Boulangerie (bakery), we indulged in fresh cherries straight from the tree. Yu-uuuhm! The baguettes were so fresh and made the home made rhubarb jam taste sensational, and they served the coffee in a soup bowl sized mug.


We left Floing via the sleepy little villages of Illy and Olly to cross the border into Belgium (10k’s away) and headed for Florenville (needing info maps) where we came across an amazing market. You name it, it was being sold here. Aside from a map/s of Belgium, we wanted to visit d‘Orvill. With maps in hand, we visited the Cistercian-Trappist d’Orval Abbey where the monks brew beer and (Port Salut style) cheese for sale. The abbey had initially been a Benedictine monastry, and a well patronised one at that (going by the literature), before falling into disuse. Later, the Cistercian order took over before the site was ravaged by Revolutionary forces. The ‘old’ part has been made into a museum, while a new monastry has been built on and alongside the ruins. For us, on a beautiful day, the place was totally enjoyable.


A few miles down the road, we stopped at Virton, and found the pedestrianised town a delight. We decided on lunch and had savoury crepes and a d’Orval dunkels (dark) beer; the best to date by far. After an hour or so, we again mosied along and found ourselves in Arlon where there is a large cathedral - St Martins - and is also home to the Ferrero Rocher chocolate factory (not that we were interested in going there for samples). We also learnt that Arlon is in an area once belonging to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and is still referred to as the Luxembourg region (of Belgium).


A mile or so down the road and we were in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. WOW!!! Is there money here!!! Our rented VW Polo looked just so out of place! We stopped off at a park, and had afternoon tea under the shade of large Horse-Chestnut trees. How civilised we mused.


A while later, we hopped back into the car, and went to go to Germany (about 15 minutes away). On our way in, we noted that fuel was 20c cheaper so went onto the circle autobahn to refuel. Bad move! - we got caught up in a traffic jam that took half an hour to crawl through. Oh well, that’s life!, we thought and resolved to by-pass the problem on our way to Germany.


Despite our resolve to by-pass the traffic, losing our way on backroads probably ‘cost’ as much time as sitting in an autobahn ‘parking lot’. But, at least we saw local activity. That’s an aspect we were becoming quite knowing about - the autobahns aren’t designed for scenery, and at the high speed there’s little time to notice any that may occur. Hence, where we could, we were taking back/side roads. That said, we were also getting lost (sometimes for the better, sometimes not).


As we wanted to float down the Rhine the next day, we headed for an autobahn for Mainz. Just short of Mainz, and the day getting later, we ventured off the autobahn looking for a Gasthof. We eventually found same at Lohnsfeld (a tiny tiny village near a tiny town called Winnellie), and at the local pub ran into several Americans who worked at a nearby US Airforce base - that we learnt was the stopover point between Iraq, Afganistan and northern Africa to the US.

Thursday.

We got up early and arrived in Mainz in time to just catch the sightseeing boat down the Rhine. Given the GFC, there is only one and it isn’t cheap. Oh, well, it’s iconic and that’s what money is for (isn’t it?).


While the riverboat could cater for hundreds of pax, few were on board. We were able to find a great ‘table’ under cover, and sat back to ‘enjoy’ the ‘show’. We’d read that the section from Mainz to Koblenz was the ‘highlight’ section, thus dictating our decision. Not long after departing Mainz, the river topography began to change (at the village of Bingen); with the hillsides ‘closing in’. In fact, this section of the river passes through a series of gorges as it winds its way through a mountain range. This ‘blocking’ topography enabled for fortresses and castles to be built along the route so that a strongman could take command of river traffic.

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Without going into detail about the relevant strongman at any given time (king, duke, or whatever), there are dozens of forts / castles. But, also relevant is that until the reformation, the church itself was the ’strongman’, and so there are also many monastry’s along the Rhine.


Obviously, many of the older buildings are now in ruins, but not all. And, with a quite steep topography along this section, even today there are few towns. For us, it was a great and scenically enjoyable journey.


We’d paid for a trip to Koblenz, but only after some way into the journey did we learn that the boat only travels as far as Boppard. The ticket seller failed to inform us of this, and were we insisting on going to Koblenz, then the next boat was some 6 hours later. We decided to have a bite to eat and take the train back to Mainz to pick up the car and so by-pass Koblenz.


We journeyed on in the car and found ourselves in Bad Durkhiem for our ’overnight’. For us, Bad Durkhiem was sensational. Again, a pedestrianised central area, but this time surrounded on 2 sides by the most amazing set of parks. The town ’centre’ had a band playing ‘60‘s classics‘, and the many people were eating / dancing / etc / etc. We found a great little Italian eatery, and enjoyed the food, the ambience and toe tapping before heading to another Gasthof for the night.

Friday.

Mainz (and Bad Durkhiem) are at the western end of the Palitinate - an area in Germany that has considerable historical meaning for both the ’old’ imperial empire, and also forces that emerged to fashion Germany into a democracy (with all that that entails). Put simply, the bigwigs of the Hohenzolern family from Romania came and muscled their way in (initially being called Bishop-Princes , then Crown Princes, eventually Emperor‘s and then ending the dynasty by assigning themselves the title of Kaiser). Over time, they consolidated themselves into the area of Swabia (to the south of Bavaria) and then into the west of the Rhine (southern side to parts of France). In the period after the French Revolution, the family lost part to France in the Franco-Prussian war. The locals upset at the money hungry and dictatorial family decided that the tripartite elements of the French republic ought also apply to Germany. This area heralded a free speech movement that eventuated in the overthrow of monarchy in Germany


But, aside form the historical-political aspect, the region is particularly beautiful with many large forested areas.


We meandered through the region, finding a town called Frankenstein, and then another called Killer (we kid you not) before eventually lobbing at the university town of Tublingen. That area didn’t have too many Gasthof’s, so we bedded the night at nearby Rottenburg (which wasn‘t) in a village called Bettingen.

Saturday.

We’d passed Hohenzolern castle the previous Saturday (rain day) after ‘discovering’ Sigmaringen Castle and wanted to visit. The Hohenzolern and Sigmaringen families were initially the same, so we wanted to take a bopeep. As you may remember from our last ‘blog‘, the Sigmaringen family ‘controlled’ Swabia (in an alliance with the Hohenzollern’s) and still live there today.


Hohenzollern castle is atop a massive cone shaped hill and can be seen for miles (except when there is rain). It’s sort of fairyland looking, and we later learned that when the Hohenzollern family took control of Prussia, they chose to reside at Potsdam. But, to maintain a ‘presence’ they built a castle here on an old castle ruin (from earlier Hohenzollern occupancy times). But, this was no ordinary castle, this was huge and for sheer spectacle. It was built only for official functions. So, the gentry would take off from Prussia during summer months to go hunting, and the Hohenzollern's would get them to this castle for a bit of hunting, but also mainly to ‘solve’ current dilemma’s (no wonder the locals didn‘t like the family too much, especially when it was their taxes that built and maintained it).


With the day fast expiring, and us needing to return the car to München, we headed north. We stopped off for a bite to eat at Ulm, with the most massive Cathedral. While the nave is huge, each aisle (the bit beside the nave body) is alone bigger than any Australian cathedral!


With an element of sadness, we returned the car to München and bid our farewells to our ‘transport’ for the past fortnight. For us, the car allowed us to see and experience places that were decidedly off the beaten (and tourist) track. And, in nearly every circumstance, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.


And, on that note, we’ll bid farewell to you till the next blog.

Cheers

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ps




This journey is presented as a 5 part series (saga?).

You can move to the next 'episode' by scrolling back to the top and 'clicking' on NEXT.




Alternatively, link to ...

http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-515585.html

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Photos

Ulm Cathedral - side nave
There are 2 'equal' side naves, making it a huge gothic building