For the first two days on our recent hiking trip to the Palatinate, our base was the town of Bad Dürkheim, which is the main tourist centre of the area, beloved by mainly local visitors (German, Dutch, Belgian) for its pretty townscape, its lovely surroundings – miles after miles of vineyards – and its long…
Still Day Dreaming of Adventures and Glory? Continuing, in a fashion, from where I left with my last post (the final item on my “Summer reading list about hiking”), here is something which is not directly referring to hiking – actually, quite honestly, it makes no direct reference to hiking at all – but which…
When you read this, we will probably be on our way, exploring the hiking trails, castles and vineyards of southwestern Germany on the invitation of the Rhineland-Palatinate Tourism Board. More of that soon. We will be away all of this week and try to keep you up to date as much as we can, but…
Day Trip from Paris The Chateau de Fontainebleau Located approximately 30 miles south of Paris, the Chateau de Fontainebleau is probably the second most famous castle in France. The contrast to the undisputed champion, however, could not be starker: Versailles is so famous because it perfectly captures the personality of its “first owner”, the essence of…
What to See in Germany While I don’t think it is slanderous to call most, perhaps all, of its cities ugly, Germany’s old industrial heartland of the Ruhrgebiet is still a great place to visit. Mainly for two reasons: One, the Ruhrgebiet landscapes are nearly always interesting and can, occasionally, be downright idyllic – something that people…
Where to Eat in Germany German Culinary Institutions part II, and today, we’ll take you one notch up to a proper restaurant. (No offence, Profi-Grill, I still love you.) This one is a few kilometres down south from Wattenscheid to Cologne, hub for many a trip to hiking trails in Western Germany. German Culinary Institution…
Where to Eat in Germany A German Currywurst is a treat One great joy of hiking in countries (or regions) other than your own is that it gives you the opportunity of sampling the delicacies of the various local cuisines. And of establishing that one man’s “greasy spoon snack” is another man’s national dish. National dishes,…
Bricks in Buildings Architects in most European countries have always considered bricks second rate material, i.e. inferior to stone. As a consequence, there are fairly few “prestige buildings” across Europe – churches, palaces of the high aristocracy – that are made of bricks. The exception to this rule is the extreme North of Germany (and…
What is a Forest? Hands up everybody who spontaneously said “Something with a lot of trees in it.” Strange, isn’t it, how much we take certain things for granted without ever thinking much about them. Forests are there – because they have always been there, haven’t they? This is an idea that probably still…
Canals, Rivers and Lakes as Hiking Highlights Water is our most important resource, the only one – apart from air – that we absolutely and unconditionally cannot do without. We can survive for days, for weeks even without food, but if we do not drink, we die. No wonder that few idyllic landscape pictures, whether…