After leaving Berlin we spent the next two weeks visiting family in Germany. My Aunt married a German doctor and has lived there all her married life, so naturally my cousins are German.
Our first stop was Gottingen to visit my cousin Ellen and her family.
Gottingen is a lively university town and was where Ellen and her partner Peter studied medicine and subsequently met. It’s about the size of Tauranga, but that’s where the similarities end. Like all historic European towns, it is built tightly around a centre with cobbled pedestrian streets and a town square, making walking and biking an easy option. And there certainly were a lot of bikes in Gottingen. They seem to be the main mode of transport and the city is very bike friendly to match. Ellen is lucky to be able to bike a short distance to her Dermatology practice each morning, dropping Johanna at school on the way. However, you do feel for the motorists at times, they must have their wits about them with bikes racing out in all directions.
Narrow streets and a lack of parking for a 7.45metre-long van meant we opted to stay at a campsite rather than with Ellen and Peter. We found a great one very close to the centre of town next to a swimming pool complex. It was an un-manned campsite. You buy your parking ticket from the machine and on the back of the ticket is the code for the toilets. The electricity connections are coin operated, costing 50 cents a kilowatt. There were showers available in the swimming pools, 1 euro for 35 minutes. It was an excellent facility and great value for money, no wonder it was full every night.
We timed our visit around Ellen’s day off from work so we could spend time with her and her two daughters. It was funny picking the girls up from school and kindergarten as they don’t speak English and my school girl German is now only good for hello, thank you and good bye. Helene loves horses so I showed her a picture of one of the racehorses on my phone and that broke the ice. Over the course of our visit our language barrier proved amusing. We went swimming and I was with Helene, the 4-year-old, who was enthusiastically telling me a story in German and all I could do was say “Ja” and smile, she kept repeating herself and laughing so my response must not have been the right one. At least she found my stupidity hysterical. Similarly, I was helping Johanna with her mermaid jigsaw puzzle while Ellen prepared dinner. Johanna stopped, looked at me and told me something very earnestly, I smiled and continued with the jigsaw, she tapped my arm and said it again, this time a bit firmer. Not getting the correct response from me she said it again. “Ellen, please can you translate? Johanna is trying to tell me something.” She had been telling me it was time stop doing the jigsaw and that we could continue after dinner. The kids had it sussed. At the dinner table Helene was listening intently as the adults spoke English, then she piped up and mimicked Andrew perfectly. She’s a natural.
Our three days in Gottingen were great and we were lucky to get some beautiful late summer weather which made it even better. Most of all, it was lovely to spend time with Ellen, Peter and their gorgeous girls in their hometown.
From Gottingen, we headed three hours southwest to the small village of Wahlrod to visit my Aunt and Uncle. Wahlrod is a village of around 850 people in the Westerwald district, an area with a lot of forest and farmland.
Margaret and George have a lovely home and it was a nice change to be out of the van and into a real house for a while. Our bedroom was twice the size of the van.
Our first tasks were domestic. We had a mound of washing to do and the van needed a good scrub inside and out. We took the opportunity to use local contacts and arranged for the van to be serviced, as after 7,500 miles it was recommended. Andrew also got to work around the house mowing the lawn and digging compost, but not without making the faux pas of mowing between 1pm & 3pm. Apparently in Germany you’re not supposed to mow the lawns between 1 & 3 daily, or at all on Sundays. This also includes other “work” like washing a campervan – luckily, we were told this in time.
Over the next 10 days we spent a lot of time relaxing and enjoying the rural setting. We biked and walked along the many pathways cutting over fields and through the small villages scattered across the countryside. The nearby forest was perfect for the occasional run, and we also biked through it to find some hidden lakes that Dad had told us about from their last visit to Wahlrod. Apple trees are in abundance in this part of the world, and they were all heavy with fruit. The two horses next to Margaret and George’s soon got to know me as the apple lady and came straight to the fence when they saw me.
Margaret works with refugees and as she was taking an Afghan woman to Trier for her asylum hearing she offered to take us too. We jumped at the chance. Trier is 2 hours southwest of Wahlrod near the border with Luxembourg and in the beautiful Moselle wine region. Founded in the 4th century BC and taken over by the Romans in the 1st century AD, it is perhaps the oldest city in Germany. Margaret dropped us in the city centre and we had the morning to explore. It was a freezing cold morning so the first half-hour was spent in a café trying to keep warm. Being as old as it is, it is not surprising that Trier has some very interesting historic buildings. We were particularly interested in visiting those from the Roman times. The Porta Nigra was first on the list. Made of huge stone blocks, this Roman gate dates back to 160 – 200 AD and was built as part of the city wall. The name Porta Nigra, “Black Gate”, came from the colouration caused by a type of moss that covered the stone. We climbed to the top for a view of central Trier down to the market square.
The impressive Trier Cathedral is the oldest in Germany and stands above a former palace from the era of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. The first buildings were built in 270 AD and in the 4th century the palace was supplanted by the largest Christian church complex from ancient times. We visited while a church service was taking place and still being so cold outside, sat for a while listening to the singing. The large area the cathedral covers, including the square outside and the adjoining Church of our Lady, is a listed UNESCO world heritage site.
Also built during the reign of Constantine was the Basilica of Constantine, the largest surviving single-room building from Roman times. This cavernous structure was built to express the might and magnificence of the emperor. Now a protestant church the interior has been renovated in understated modern style that doesn’t seem to do justice to the age of the building, but does emphasise the size.
I was most excited about the 2nd century Roman Amphitheatre which lies outside the city walls and is surrounded by slopes covered in grapes. There were only a couple of other tourists there so we had the run of the place. It’s in excellent condition and is these days used for concerts and events. Underneath the arena is the area where the gladiators would have prepared to face the wild animals released above. Walking up the stairs into the sunlight we imagined the lions waiting and the crowds cheering. They were ruthless times.
After a morning of Roman history Margaret drove us back to Wahlrod taking the scenic route along the Moselle river. We’d never seen so many grapes, and all growing on such steep banks. The vineyard workers must have rock-hard thighs working on those hills. Margaret took us to a wine stall selling the famous Kröver Nacktarsch (“naked arse”) wine. The label shows a cellarman with a boy over his knee, trousers down and smacking the boy’s bare bottom. She explained the story behind it was that a cellarman had caught boys siphoning off his wine and had punished them accordingly. It is now a famous brand in Germany, and although probably not politically correct in this day and age, sure gets a giggle. It tasted great too!
Margaret was an excellent tour guide and took time to show us around their area. We visited the nearby Marienstatt Cistercian Monastery where we were lucky enough to hear the monks singing in the Gothic church, not before being told to “shush” for talking too loudly. The monastery has been there since 1220 and aside from the church there is a very good school on the grounds, beautiful gardens, and a brewery and restaurant where the monks still brew beer. After a walk in the forest that almost ended in us all lost, we headed to Hachenburg for Margaret’s guided walking tour. Hachenburg is the nearest main town to Wahlrod with a population of approx. 6,000. It’s been in existence since the 1200’s and the historic centre is beautiful with lots of well looked after old buildings, some dating back to the 1500’s. The town’s landmark, Hachenburg castle sits on the highest point overlooking the town. It’s more of a baroque-style palace than a castle, and its yellow exterior can be seen from miles around.
Margaret showed us an initiative that has been adopted in towns around Germany where bronze plaques are placed in the footpaths outside the former homes of Jews who were murdered by the Nazis, to remember and acknowledge what happened to them. The small town of Hachenburg has many.
Another day trip was down to Marksburg Castle perched high above the cute village of Braubach on the Rhine. It is the only hilltop castle on the Rhine never to have been destroyed, which is an impressive claim considering there is a castle found every 2.5 kilometres along the 65km section of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. I can never get enough of castles and this medieval castle is particularly beautiful, straight from a fairy-tale. After a very interesting tour through the castle by an overly enthusiastic guide we headed to the city of Koblenz.
Koblenz is situated where the slow-moving Moselle River meets the more rapid Rhine. Deutsches Eck (German Corner) is the name for the point where the two rivers meet and a huge statue of William I, the first German Emperor, on his horse, dominates the area. The national flag and flags of the 16 German states fly along each side of the corner symbolising unity. We couldn’t get too close to the actual “corner” as it was closed off for a rock concert.
Koblenz was bustling with tourists, with boat cruises coming and going and tour buses lined up along the waterfront. We took the cable car across the Rhine and up to the expansive Ehrenbreitstein Fortress overlooking the city. This fortress has a long history, with fortifications of some form being on this site since the 10th century BC. Unfortunately, the displays in the fortress were all in German, but the view was outstanding.
Food featured highly during our stay. Margaret is a great cook and was kind enough to create some authentic German dishes for us to make sure we sampled local fare. The Germans do great sausages and the cheese is divine. On one occasion, we went to the local hall for a community get together and the tables were laden with the most amazing cakes, all handmade by the women in the village. Germans do great cakes. It wasn’t just German cuisine we experienced. We were invited for lunch by one of the Syrian refugee families that Margaret works with. They were great hosts and put on a huge spread for us. Lucky we’re doing lots of walking to compensate.
Andrew was fascinated by the recycling machines they have in supermarkets and George was only too happy to show him how they work. You feed plastic and beer bottles into the machine which reads the barcode and calculates the refund, and at the end you receive a voucher for the total refund amount that you redeem in the supermarket. We got 4 Euro off our shopping! He loved the machine so much he wanted to drink more beer to have bottles to feed it – well that was the excuse.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Wahlrod and were very grateful to be shown around and hosted so generously. It makes such a difference getting a local perspective rather than just being a tourist. However, the road was calling so we said our good-byes and headed up the Rhine.
Being back in the van was a bit strange after 12 nights in a house but we soon got back into the swing of things.
We made our way along the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, the 65-km section of the River Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen listed as a World Heritage site. It’s a very beautiful part of the world with grapes growing in vast quantities on the steep slopes and castles scattered along the hilltops overlooking the river. There are no bridges across the Rhine in this protected area, so if you want to cross you take one of the many car ferries that operate from various locations along the river. We did just that with Margaret after visiting Marksburg Castle, but stuck to the one side when in the van.
Our destination was Rudesheim at the furthest most point of this World Heritage listed stretch, on the opposite side of the river from Bingen. We stayed for 3 nights and despite uncooperative weather had a fabulous time. It’s a very touristy town, all the river cruises stop here and the place was buzzing. We started our stay with a wine tasting of local wines and ended up buying a couple of bottles of stunning red wine from grapes grown across the river.
There are bike paths all along the Rhine and we spent a day biking from village to village and admiring more of those lovely castles. The next day we left our bikes behind and went on foot. On the hill overlooking Rudesheim is a huge statue of Germania looking over the Rhine towards France. This is the Niederwalddenkmal monument and was built in the 1870’s to commemorate the foundation of the German Empire following the Franco-Prussian War. A cable car runs from the town up to the monument and we were lucky to get a break in the weather when we rode it, although the wind was icy cold. The ride takes you high above the vineyards and gives a spectacular view up the Rhine. From the top the view is even better, and after admiring it for a while we walked a few kilometres through the leafy forests of Niederwald park, along the hilltop to a chair-lift that took us down into Assmannshausen, a small wine-making village. We had lunch at a cute little inn and then took a boat back along the Rhine to Bingen, then back across the river to Rudesheim.
And so, after three weeks in Germany we are off towards Switzerland, via Strasbourg in France. We haven’t seen the last of Germany. We plan to be back in June or July next year as we make our way to the UK near the end of our European adventure.
