Two for the Road

Matt finished his last post teasing that we were going to ascend into the Swiss Alps to find fondue. Despite finding a place with the speciality on its menu, and writing in our reservation that that’s what we were coming for, sadly when we arrived there was none available. As it turns out, other than for ignorant British tourists, there just isn’t a demand for a huge, melted pot of cheese for locals in the summer months. We got stuck into some steins of beer, bratwurst and spätzle instead. We also enjoyed some fantastic views of the lake and town in the funicular ride up to the restaurant, so we can’t complain.

Stopping in at Treichler bakery on the way home we picked up a piece of the famous Zuger Kirschtorte, a cherry tart which was created in Zug over 100 years ago. It’s made of layers of nougat, meringue, sponge cake and cream, and is flavoured with the cherry brandy. We’d also heard it was a favourite of frequent Zug visitor Audrey Hepburn. After our big lunch, we took our slice to go and thought we’d save it as an after-dinner treat. Some hours later we opened the box and simultaneously took a big spoonful. It’s awful. It’s not just flavoured with cherry brandy, it’s like the whole cake had been stewed in the stuff like a big baked teabag. You honestly could have wrung it out. I guess Hepburn’s good taste didn’t extend into gastronomy! Our advice is to give it a miss if you find yourself in the area.

Our next stop was Colmar. After a pretty painless journey out of Switzerland taking us through Zurich and Basel we arrived in a very quaint town, famous for being full of historic charm and – who would have guessed it – wine. Naturally, after checking into our accommodation, in a very old building next to the cathedral, we headed straight to a local watering hole to try the local wares, along with a charcuterie board. We made sure to have an early night though as we had big plans for the following day.

One of my most used items during our travelling have been my earplugs. They’re special ones for sleeping, and unlike the cheap foam ones you can buy in Boots, or get free at a gig,they stay in my ears all night and are super comfy to lie on. Matt, famously a heavy sleeper, who has slept through many a thunderstorm and earthquake, hasn’t really found himself in need in ear defence to drop off. Until now… We’ve never stayed quite so close to a belfry, and as such weren’t quite anticipating the volume and frequency of the bells. Colmar Cathedrals bellringers apparently quite nocturnal, with bells waking Matt at 11pm, 2am, 5am during our three nights there. You could say he was rung out. I on the other hand slept like a baby.

Aside from its historical charm, one of the reasons we chose to stop in Colmar, is it has an open top bus called the Kutzig, which departs from Colmar and loops the local countryside. We found the bus left a lot to be desired. It was tiny, uncomfortable and ran consistently late. As a mechanism to see some of the beautiful Alsace region, it was great for a couple of stops, but I’m glad we didn’t sign up for more than one day on it!

We spent our time at two stops: Kayersberg and Eguishem. At Kayersberg we visited the Domaine Weinbach vineyard where we tried lots of local Riesling and Gewurtztraminer, before walking back into town for some traditional lunch at La Winstub Du Chambard.

Moving on to Eguishem, we saw storks roosting on top of the local church, wandered the winding streets and sampled some more Alsace wine before catching the bus back to Colmar. We’d heard before we visited that Colmar had been named one of the most beautiful towns in Europe and while lovely, we thought the other towns we saw on our Kutzig tour were just as lovely. If you ever come to the area you just can’t go wrong!

Next, we crossed the border into Germany and another wine region: Pfalz. We’re staying in a town called Bad Dürkheim, which is famous for being home to the largest cask in the world, which houses a restaurant. Discovering this fact accidentally while planning the interrailing part of our trip may or may not have been the reason we came here. We’ll leave you to decide.

The town‘s ‘Bad’ name though comes from that German word meaning ‘bath’ and hints at its history as a spa town. The other major sight of the town is it’s Salinen, a 300 meter long and 18 meter tall structure, which looks like some kind of old agricultural silo. It’s actually a structure designed to evaporate salty natural spring water into the air, giving those who walk next to it a opportunity to breathe in the vapours, supposedly healing bronchial ailments. While we can’t vouch for the validity of these claims, it was refreshing to walk next to the structure, and it is amazing that it still exists and functions. Also, unlike the spa towns we’ve visited elsewhere, which always seem to have a sulphuric (egg smelling) taint, this place actually smelled sort of woody and herbal, which left it head and shoulders above some of the other healing waters we’ve encountered while travelling.

We’re staying in a charming little house on a steep little street about 10 minutes out of the centre, and it’s nice to have a little more space here. Most of our recent apartments have just been one room, so this feels palatial by comparison. We also have a proper kitchen, a washing machine and tumble dryer on site which we’ve made full use of – absolute luxury! We did of course have to eat out once while we were here, obviously in the big wine barrel. We got to sit in a little booth which was itself a wine barrel, and we enjoyed some German classics including currywurst, pulled pork with red cabbage, and you guessed it, more local wine!

To counterbalance our less healthy choices, we also went for a bit of a hike yesterday, up to a viewpoint on a hill which overlooks a beautiful castle, as well as a bird’s eye view of the town. We also came upon the site of a roman quarry on our walk which had some ancient carvings still visible on its walls, alongside monuments to Kaiser Wilhem and Bismarck.

Bad Dürkheim is lovely, and alongside its huge wine barrel and salt air dispenser, its other quirks include lots of window shutters being by little people shaped brackets, wine themed sculptures and other interesting public art, and one of the banks has a vending machine for wine, beer and cheese inside!

After some delicious cakes and bear shaped pringles this afternoon, we’re packing up to move onto Amsterdam tomorrow, it’ll be a bit of a full circle moment, as the famous canaled city is the first place to which Matt and I holidayed together, a little over 12 years ago!

Iris