We had the funnest time of our 24-day journey in a little town that, I dare to say, 99.9% of visitors to Germany have never heard of. Frankly we were also among that 99.9%, before we arrived at a medieval festival in an almost anonymous town in the Black Forest. It's the annual Altstadtfest at Gernsbach.
The Germans are of course world famous for festivals. The Bavarians have their Oktoberfest, and at this southwest corner of Germany, in the shadow of the Black Forest, the locals have their own creative excuses for a fun-loving harvest festival in mid September. Think hogs roasting over an open spit, medieval axe throwing and, of course, beer kegs that flow abundantly all day and night.
The town of Gernsbach itself possesses a well-preserved historic core of half-timber buildings dating as far back as the 16th Century, as well as some of the friendliest people anywhere. Seeing two clueless foreigners in town, the locals invited us into the Zehntscheuern (half-timber building on the right) for a peek inside their beloved heritage barn of ancient logs and rammed earth. Those who spoke English were delighted to learn that we've come from faraway Canada, and invited us to revisit the Altstadtfest in Year 2019, for their town's 800th anniversary.
Previously I had only heard of these legendary German festivals where the whole town would start drinking from morning till night. But when we came across the alluring aroma of the communal pig roast, we immediately sat down with a gigantic stein of the region's local brew, not realizing that the pork wasn't going to be ready for another 2 hours. So yes, we started our drinking at 11:00, though that wasn't my original intention.
With 2 hours to kill we visited another popular and unique drinking place, a little wooden float on the river modeled after the makeshift timber rafts that transported Black Forest timber down to the Rhine for centuries. This modern day version was fitted with a small engine to carry us up and down the riverbank, along with a little crowd of locals enjoying their beers and Radlers. I managed to escape the raft without ordering any drinks, but couldn't resist a nearby stand selling organic, handcrafted Honey Beer. And this was all before lunchtime.
Kids had a little olde time fun on a swing carousel that wasn't technically different from Disneyland rides, except this one was powered single-handedly (literally!) by a very strong man. Older troublemakers like myself would participate in an axe-throwing game where the goal was to hurl hand-axes at a wooden target on the side of the Town Hall. I managed to get 3 out of 6 axes to lodge into the target, and walked away with the prize of a little shot of a Jägermeister knock-off.
Lively festival music was provided by troupes of musicians wandering the town's cobblestone paths, as well as these museum-worthy barrel organs hand-cranked by the townsfolk. There also seemed to be a sizable Italian population in town, pumping out Italian party music just outside of the medieval ramparts.
Elsewhere in town the local orchard farmers were busy cranking out jugs after jugs of organic Süßmost for the masses. This stand was swarming with honey bees attracted by the syrupy smell of crushed apples, a testimony to the absolute freshness and sweetness of the pressed juice.
Every 30 minutes or so we would follow the alluring aroma of charbroiled meat and fat dripping to the communal pig roast, only to be told to wait a little longer. That's when we spotted a little stand making freshly hand-tossed Flammkuchen, the Black Forest's answer to the pizza. The extremely thin dough was spread onto a wooden board, topped with sour cream and strewn with the traditional toppings of onions and Speck, then fire-roasted in a custom-made oven.
Roasted-to-order and ready in minutes, our Flammkuche came out of the oven looking somewhat like its famous Italian cousin, but with an even thinner and crispier dough. The acidity of the sour cream balanced out the fattiness of the Speck really well, and of course you can never go wrong with roasted onions. This alone would make an excellent light lunch, but we've got something better in mind ...
The pig roast was finally ready shortly after 13:00 ... and not just one, but FOUR WHOLE ROASTED PIGS to feed the entire village! I can't describe in words the seduction of this sight and smell here. We lined up like the rest of the village, and paid 6 Euros for a sandwich stuffed with charbroiled, drippy, artery-clogging goodness.
And look at the thunderously crunchy skin -- this was among the best pork cracklings either of us have ever had. We had to specifically ask for it as the skin was not originally part of the sandwich. The table of young Germans next to us saw our example and asked for another piece, and soon after the chefs decided to put out a heaping plateful for everyone for free. Needless to say we went back for seconds, and came away with some of the most vivid memories of our trip, as far as our tastebuds are concerned!
Our whole lunchtime was spent hopping from stall to stall, sampling various local drinks and German street snacks while absorbing the Oktoberfest-like atmosphere. With our last remaining bit of stomach room we headed for the spätzle stand, where the workers were busy frying these handmade noodles on an oversized iron pan.
The local variant turned out to be a Swabian specialty known as Krautspätzle, a sauteed version made with Speck and a heavy dose of Sauerkraut. At a measly 3.5 Euros this was probably one of the best lunch deals at the festival, though on final count we somehow splurged for a grand total of 26 Euros between the two of us. And why not?
Bill for Two Persons
| Large Beer | 4 Euros |
| Honey Beer | 4 Euros |
| Pressed Apple Juice x 2 | 2 Euros |
| Pork Roast with Bread and Cracklings | 6 Euros |
| Flammkuchen | 6.5 Euros |
| Krautspätzle | 3.5 Euros |
| TOTAL before tips | 26 Euros (CAD$36.4) |
The party was still rocking when we temporarily left for an quieter afternoon walk at a much more famous destination. The neighboring spa city of Baden-Baden is only a 25-minute bus ride away, and plus ... transportation is all free if you stay the night within the town of Gernsbach!
Unlike little-known Gernsbach, the hotspring resort of Baden-Baden certainly needs no introduction. The Romans had already discovered the curative powers of its waters 2000 years back, and today it seems to be a favorite playground of Russian billionaires, judging by the Russian brochures at the local real estate agents. Much of the 18th and 19th Century town centre is now occupied by the likes of Louis Vuitton and Gucci, with many stores sporting multilingual staff catering to Russian and Chinese clientelle.
The extravagant Kurhaus and Casino are probably the most recognizable landmarks in town, though we've come for something entirely free-of-charge ... a beautiful walk along the Lichtentaler Allee and its 2 km long manicured garden. The ornate metalwork on the streetlights and footbridges were among my favorite images of Baden-Baden.
Our original plan was to stay overnight at Baden-Baden and relax at Friedrichsbad's hotspring spa, but that was before we learned of the annual Altstadtfest at Gernsbach and decided to stay in the smaller town. There's also another deciding factor -- overnight guests in the neighboring villages (including Gernsbach) get free regional transportation courtesy of the KONUS Gästekarte program, while guests staying within Baden-Baden do NOT! This alone saved 26 Euros between the two of us the next day as we continued our way towards central Black Forest.
We ended up spending only a few hours at this posh hotspring resort, before shops started to close and we opted to go back to the festive atmosphere at Gernsbach. Our return bus would wind through a heavily wooded area that would become my lasting image of the Black Forest -- a land of dark coniferous trees, so densely overgrown that the late afternoon sunlight could hardly penetrate through. One can see why so many legends and folklores have been born from this mystical region.
Meanwhile at Gernsbach, the street party started to swing over to the Biergartens and the collection of small but rowdy Gasthäuser by nightfall. Searching for an authentic meal we followed a group of Germans into the 120-year-old local institution of Restauration Brüderlin, just around the corner from the town hall.
Gracing the seasonal menu at every restaurant in town was the local Neuer Wein. We're now getting used to this refreshingly sweet, half-fermented white that's synonymous with the Autumn season here in the West of Germany. And at the cool price of 2.5 Euros per quarter litre, why start with anything else?
After our multi-course feast of street food at the Altstadtfest we craved for a lighter dinner. This Kartoffelsuppe turned out quite rich and enjoyable to the soup lover in my wife, though it was certainly nowhere as amazing as the Porcini soup we had the previous day at Heidelberg.
My wife really surprised me by ordering this plate of Matjesfilets, the local variant of soused herrings served here with potatoes and sour cream. The meat was slightly on the fishy side though, and was certainly nowhere as good as Dutch herrings IMHO.
The best deal of the evening was the 3-course Altstadtfest Menu, consisting of a green salad, the pictured roast beef in cream sauce and an ice-cream for dessert, all for the rock bottom price of 11.8 Euros. Our entire meal of one soup, one salad, two main dishes, a dessert and two glasses of wine ended up at less than 29 Euros, only marginally more than our lunch of street food and beer. That's one thing I really love about the Black Forest ... money stretches much farther compared to the French side of the border!
Bill for Two Persons
| Kartoffelsuppe | 4 Euros |
| Matjesfilets | 8 Euros |
| Altstadtfest Menu | 11.8 Euros |
| Neuer Wein x 2 | 5 Euros |
| TOTAL before tips | 28.8 Euros (CAD$40.3) |
A word of warning for anyone planning to attend the Altstadtfest -- hotel rooms got booked up 5 months in advance! We got turned down by four or five different hotels and pensions, and at the end the tourist association hooked us up with a small family-run hotel known as Gasthof Jockers.
The little gasthof was a godsend, offering us a cheap, clean and cozy double room with a private bathroom, situated right at the heart of the old town. This place would have been fully booked ... except they haven't yet discovered Internet booking as of 2013, and only reply to email requests (in German) about once a month! I think this place is still stuck in the 1990's, much like the CRT TV and the abdomen exerciser at the top of the closet.
Breakfast consisted of the typical German fare of Aufschnitt, local cheeses and bread rolls. But then again, even more important to us was the complimentary KONUS Gästekarte, giving us free transportation over the entire Black Forest all the way to the French and Swiss borders. This would get us to our next base in the Black Forest, to our farm stay at Gutach for the next two nights.
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