On Thursday we decided to walk to a nearby castle, Hambacher Schloss. The route out of town quickly started going up at a rather steep angle (Mike and Tami agreed we would be pushing bikes if we had them), and just kept going up. At one point we got directions to a shortcut from a local. It might have been a shortcut, but it was still steep.
The beautiful path through the woods
FINALLY we got out of town on a trail that leveled off and followed the contours around. That part of the walk was wonderful. The forest was very clean — no underbrush like we would have at home. Also, there were a lot of chestnut trees. Lots and lots of chestnut trees. In fact, there were signs indicating this was a chestnut trail. In places there were chestnuts all over on the ground.
Chestnuts… or Tribbles?
There was also a lot of fuzzy chestnut debris around that looked like hundreds of Tribbles, for any trekkies out there. Every once in a while we could hear chestnuts falling from the trees. They make quite a racket as they plunge to the ground. There were also many birds singing. Simply delightful.
An interactive display, of sorts
After about 2.5 hours we reached the castle. The castle itself was not that much to see. When it was restored, it was also modernized for event use. While we were there the main hall was being set up for a concert. There was a small museum on the history of the castle (it seemed to be tied to the democracy movement in the 1800’s). However, museum visits go quickly when you can’t read the signs.
Hambacher Schloss
We stopped at the castle cafe and had chestnut soup for lunch, which seemed appropriate given the chestnut forest we had tramped through. We were very thirsty from our hike, but the only water we could find was very expensive sparkling water. We each got about three gulps.
The best thing about the castle was the view back over the valley. All the little towns were spread out before us, giving us a much better idea of some of the places we might be going in the next few days. The vineyards were also spread out before us with great variety in color so that it looked like a huge patchwork quilt.
A quilt of vineyards
The walk back went much faster, given that it was going downhill rather than up, and even though we spent a while gathering chestnuts for later roasting. The chestnuts were everywhere on the trail in the woods and we soon had plenty for roasting later. It did start raining partway back so we did have to stop at a weinstube when we got back to town. To dry out, you know!