Rhine River Valley & Baden Baden
En route to Baden-Baden on Sunday, we drove along the Rhine river valley road from Koblenz to Bingen. The road follows the loops of the Rhine through terraced vineyards, more castles than you can point a camera at and one quaint little town after another. Unfortunately, the cooler and overcast weather finally caught up with us, and there were not many opportunities to stop for photos, so the pictures don’t accurately capture just how scenic this part of Germany is – the most scenic drive we’ve had so far.
There are more than 40 castles and fortresses from the Middle Ages along this section of the Rhine.
After arrival in Baden-Baden, we had a quick lunch then took a walk to and through The Lichtentaler Allee. It is a historic park and arboretum, with a 2.3 km walking path along the bank of the Oos River.
Below: Some of the rose gardens.
A nod to Jarrah’s obsession with “Hannibal” (the TV series) and a close-up pic of the beautiful wild flower meadow within the gardens.
We were not expecting Baden-Baden to be so big. We thought we were coming to a small, quaint town with thermal spas in the middle of the Black Forest. You can see from the pics below, that it is anything but.
Haven’t checked the price of real estate, but I get the feeling it’s a pricey part of Germany.
More memorials on the pavements in Baden-Baden. “Gurs” and “Recedebou” were internment camps in France. Many from Gurs were later sent to and killed in Auschwitz. “Uberlebt” means survived, the others that just have “tot” (to) dates – not sure whether they died of natural causes, or were released. Not sure why they don’t say survived like some of the others.
On Monday we took another very scenic drive, this time through the Black Forest up to Mummelsee (17m deep lake). At just over 1,000 m above sea level, the temperature was quite chilly – especially seeing as we were dressed in shorts and T-shirts. We decided to have a hot chocolate to warm up and of course, where better to eat Black Forest Cake than in the Black Forest? However, we were both rather horrified by the amount of Kirsch (?) flavoured cream – either our memories are failing us or we get a more-cake-less-cream version in the Southern Hemisphere. Also realised too late that we probably could (and should) have shared a slice – they were huge!
We tried to walk some of our Black Forest Cake off with a walk to the Geroldsauer waterfalls in the Bachtal Valley. A lovely, tranquil walk alongside a river in dense forest.
Next was a ride on Germany’s longest funicular railway, to the summit of the Mekur Mountain that gives an amazing panoramic view of the Baden-Baden basin, the highest mountains in the north of the Black Forest and the Murgtal valley.
9 Comments
Diane Cooper
Simply stunning! The scenery is amazing! One of the photos looks like the wall mural I had in my bedroom as a teenager! Just gorgeous! Agree with the black forest cake though – looks like a lot of cream.
Audrey
Gorgeous photos as usual – Jarrah you capture not only the beauty but the soul of a place 🙂 I’m so glad there was light at the end of the tunnel!! And yes, far too much cream on that cake!!
Deb, Pep n Tayla
Have to admit your pics have totally changed my impressions of Germany – Despite visiting several times (but clearly not the right places and rarely seeing outside the designated swimming pool!!) I’m sorry to say I had no idea it could be so pretty.
And hearing that you have found nice wine too means it can go back on “must revisit one day” List (again, too many memories of the teeth dissolving soooo sweet Reislings like Blue Nun that I may or may not have over indulged in during my youth!!) xx
Sandy
Yes, I don’t remember much from our travels here 20+ years ago – with the exception of the Romantic Road and coming to the Black Forest – not quite sure where though 🙂 I do remember that we skipped Berlin due to arriving late and getting lost for a couple of hours! 🙂
Rieslings I’ve had are def not sweet – think that may be a think of the past (hopefully)!
Tom
Trivia of the day: The city used to be called just Baden, but since it was mistaken with a lot of other places in the region the name was changed to Baden Baden ( so, same word twice) in 1932. Smart, no?
Jarrah
….did you Google that?
Tom
A couple of years ago, yes.. the name drove me crazy so I had to find out
Sandy
One does have to wonder why they called several places “Baden” in the first place?! 🙂
Lynda
Simply gorgeous, flower meadow really beautiful Jarrah.