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St. Martin / Palatinate (Sep 2009)
Both of us, sweet bumble bee and bad old wolf, are fond of drinking a glass of wine or two (or three...) when the weekend comes around - but only when it is a good wine and its name is not Chateau Migraene ...
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For this reason we usually buy the wine which we drink at home from the winegrower directly. After having had wine from the Moselle in recent years, we decided to change to a Palatinan wine this year. Thus we rented an appartment in St. Martin, located in the centre of the Palatinan wine producing area. End of Sep 2009 we packed our things and went (by car) to the lovely Southern Palatinan Wine Road for the incredible period of 11 days. |
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In early autumn you can nourish yourself healthy and diversified in Palatinate without spending one cent for food. A big variety of fruits of mother nature is growing along the walks and in the forests - and to everybody's joy they are free to be taken and consumed. |
peas plums grapes apples walnuts medlars almonds chestnuts hazelnuts mushrooms blackberries |
We did NOT taste medlars and mushrooms:
All the more we tasted grapes to the extent (app. 1 kg per day):
| For our total hikes during this 11 days of vacation we would have deserved the "IGNEOUS HIKING AWARD FOR SMOKY FEET" as we walked alltogether about 140 miles - more than 12 and a half miles per day... |   |
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Our hikes commenced in the morning time and were completed in the afternoon. As destination we had always chosen a snuggish beer .. uuh .. wine garden where we would rest our oppressed feet and get some medicine against fatigue. This could - for example - be a pint of new wine. |
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Some time later, around 4 pm or so, we visited one or two cellar door operations to taste some grape varieties. Eventually, only the best and most delicious wines should make the way back to Dusseldorf with us. |   |
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| After the wine sampling we had a big grin in our face while making our way to a good restaurant to have diner. |   |
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But in no case we were standing out somehow - most of the other tourists had the same big grin in their face at this time of the day... |
| And the upshot was - well, have a look: | |||
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| Other than days with wine tasting, we had days spending with day trips by car to the one or other point of interest. We had gathered lots of informations on the environment of St. Martin in the run up to this vacation. We decided to visit the following tourist features: | |||
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Bad Duerkheim. When you stand in front of the biggest wine barrel in the world you feel like being an ant. On the other hand this barrel does not contain wine but a rather expensive and uncomfortable restaurant. Thus I rather prefer a bottle of wine in my cellar than this barrel filled with a tourist trap. Bad Duerkheim also offers a casino which we only visited to have a look. Gambling is no option for us. |
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| Bad Bergzabern - Center of "Bad Bergzabern District" which is constituted of app. 20 villages and hamlets, all of them picturesque nestling in forests and fields. |   |
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It really is a charming little town with lots of small shops. Unfortunately no single BIBA-shop was available - hard luck for bumble bee. But we had some opportunities to get an ice cream and took our chances! |
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Hambach Castle - a very important point of interest what the German History is concerned - was of course worth going. Around 1835 the first democratic steps on german ground were made here. Hence this place is seen as the birth of the German Democracy. At time of our visit being under re-construction, we refrained from having a guided tour through the castle. | ||
| A walking tour around the so-called Holiday Parc near Hassloch was another day trip destination. We did not visit this amusement parc itself. The rollercoaster should be the biggest attraction according to the parc description. But similar rollercoasters can be visited on each ordinary parish fair. Additionally, entrance fees are much too high for an amusement parc of such size. |   |
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| For eleven days we enjoyed the wonderful indian summer with a real warm climate. And - certainly - the bumble bee again laughed herself a guy: the P-A-N-N-I-E-R G-U-Y: |
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And - certainly - the wolf cooled down his feet again... |
... and a few bottles of wine found their way to Dusseldorf.
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