Tag Archives: Germany

Hiking in the Nahe Valley

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This year (2020) being what it is, a “proper” vacation was not an option. Instead my parents, two friends and myself decided, to go on a vine-themed trip in relative proximity, with a first stop near Bad Sobernheim, at the Nahe river – and a second one at Eltville at the banks of the Rhine river.

We spent our full day at the Nahe river with a full day hike of about 24km. First making our way from the hotel to the river, then along the river and up the Heimberg along the vineyards and to the observation tower on top of the mountain (or rather hill). Below some photographic evidence.

Back Home

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With travel restrictions and social distancing rules now step by step easing up, it was time for a trip back home to my parents and the village, I did grow up in.

Obviously we had to adjust our activities to these weird times – and ended up doing some walks and hikes in the vicinity – featuring some nice views of mountains, fields, pastures, meadows and villages down in the valley. While no real adventure, a very welcome break from my solitary walks around my fairly flat new home. Below some photos …

Corona Spring

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Well – this spring did not quiet go as expected. Per my original plan, I was booked for another epic trip, starting with a couple of days in Sydney, followed by a jump over to New Caledonia and then an expedition cruise to Palau via the Solomon Islands and the east coast of Papua New-Guinea … and then came Corona.

Needless to say – my trip got cancelled and I found myself looking at a completely changed situation and world – social distancing did become the norm, travel was impossible and the focus put on home – with most of the time spent at home …

The exploration did continue though – as I spent plenty of time for walks in and around the forests and fields in the vicinity – starting with the already known trails and roads, to eventually spread out further and explore some of the more hidden or further away areas. Below some photos, that I have taken in the two month period between mid March and mid May. Some locations are a short 15 minute walk away from my flat, while others require a more involved 45 minute walk (one way).

Wining at the Main River Bend

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For my birthday my parents had given me a voucher for a wining trip to Volkach at the bend of the Main river in the Franconia region.

It was now – the weekend before we Christmas – that we finally made it to Volkach for a weekend of sightseeing, walking through vineyards, cellar tours – and of course the one or other tasting. Below some photographic evidence …

Heidelberg by Steam Train

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I have been a member of the friends’ association supporting the local volunteer fire brigade for years. With this year marking the 125th anniversary of that association, the management committee here had decided, to invite its members to a very special excursion as a sort of anniversary celebration.

The idea had been a trip down into history, which was brought to live by a trip on an actual steam train. As such – this morning, we made it to the local commuter train station, where we were picked up by a 1943 produced steam locomotive.

From here we enjoyed a trip of around three hours, making our way via Darmstadt, Bensheim and Weinheim to Heidelberg.

In Heidelberg we had about four hours, to explore town, its nice setup at the Neckar river and the world-famous views of the castle and the old town.

At about 17:00 we had to be back at the train station, to board the train and get back to Rodgau again via Weinheim, Bensheim and Darmstadt.

Below some impressions from both the train, train ride – and of course the mandatory shots of Heidelberg.

Into the Allgäu

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This long (Pentecost) weekend saw me having a small family reunion in Germany’s Allgäu region. We spent the full weekend in the CenterParc resort (so no photos here). On the way back however we decided for a detour towards the Alps and had a stop at a longtime favorite of my parents – the Tegelberg (i.e. in direct vicinity of Neuschwanstein castle).

We decided to take the ropeway up the mountain for some incredible views over the region. After a short walk around the mountain station we made it down again, to continue our way home.

Saxon Wine

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This weekend saw me heading out to the Elbe river between Dresden and Meißen. Wine has been cultivated in the valley here for centuries – and this weekend (following  hint from a friend) there was an open winery event, with many wineries open to the public including special programs, offers and entertainment – and a (not overly well organized) shuttle bus between wineries.

This wine growing region here is one of the smallest in Germany – and given that, its output and its (relative) geographic isolation (in the far east of Germany), the region and its wines are fairly little known in the rest of the country.

So the weekend turned out a major exploration … the one side of course being the (for me completely new) landscape of the Elbe valley from the river up to the steep slopes of the surrounding hills … and then on the other side the viticultural output of that landscape.

The landscape did barely disappoint – the wines were as one would expect, when blindly going on a (massive) wine tasting … some were bad, some fairly average, some good – and the little rest simply amazing.

Below some evidence of the landscape … for the wines, better go and judge yourself – these three might be (in my view at least) good starting points: DREI HERREN, Weingut Schuh and Weingut Vincenz Richter.

Heading North

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It’s a long story, of how I ended up doing this trip to the far North – and this story actually started on the Southern side of the planet … somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean on the way to South Georgia and Antarctica during my second Antarctica trip.

One of the lectures during that trip did look into glaciology and – while focused on Antarctica – also included photos from Greenland. One of those photos was specifically awe-inspiring and the lecturer linked it back to the ice fjord near Ilulissat in Greenland. She also mentioned, that – given global warming – anyone with a desire to go there, should do so quickly, within the next five years (i.e. by early 2018).
Back on that trip for many of us things were clear and we signed up for a cruise in the summer of 2014 that would visit the area. As it turned out that specific tour had been well overbooked and I ended up on a wait list.
A year did pass and I was still wait-listed. At that time the program for 2015 had just been published, so I decided to go ahead and already secure a booking for 2015 – in case things would not work out well for 2014.
Needless to say … 2014 did not work out. The folks, I had booked with in Antarctica, did go without myself – – but at least I had a confirmed booking for 2015 and would get to see Greenland – and (as I had to realize) so much more.

Per the original itinerary the trip was supposed to start in either Berlin or Düsseldorf with a charter flight to Greenland. This however got changed and the flight was now to leave from Hamburg. A perfect opportunity for me to come back to Hamburg (I had been here last in 1999 for a job interview) and a proper starting point for a journey further North.

It was also a great opportunity to catch up with Maren, who – living in Hamburg – was one of those, who I had met on that trip to Antarctica and who had been able to be part of the 2014 Arctic trip. She was my host for a few days prior to me continuing to Greenland.

We managed to cover Hamburg’s main attractions, from a (mandatory) harbor cruise, which also included the Speicherstadt (literally city of warehouses), the Miniatur Wunderland, the Reeperbahn and the St.Pauli quarter; we also did a cruise on the inner and outer Alster Lake.