Todtnau – Black Forest (Schwarzwald) Germany

Surrounded by southern Black Forest mountains and grassy fields is the village of Todtnau with a population of 5000 people.

Todtnau is popular with day trippers on motor bikes or hikers during the summer.  In winter there it is an excellent base for skiers with an abundance of accommodation and good access to the main ski slopes in the Black Forest.

St John’s Church on the edge of the forest and at the end of the main street in Todtnau.

The biggest attraction in Todtnau, especially for families, is Germany’s longest toboggan run called the Hasenhorn roller coaster (Rodelbahn).  Open all year round, the panorama is magnificent on the chairlift ride up the mountain and as you fall downhill on the three kilometre coaster track, you can control your own speed to take in the view of Todtnau below.

Hasenhorn roller coaster or toboggan ride as seen from the centre of Todtnau.

The ride is free for one ride per day if you have the local tourist card KONUS which is given to you at your accomodation and includes free public transport.

This website link has a video of the ride and more information.

Mountain bikes can be hired and the idea is to take the bike up the same chairlift for a challenging bike track run back down.

Nearby is the Todtnauer waterfall  which is the highest in Germany with a drop of 97 meters.  Not spectacular but worth seeing on a hot day or hike around the forest nearby.  There is also rope climbing available here. The track to the falls is easy to walk and there is a bridge crossing midway.

Todtnauer Waterfalls from the bridge across midway.

The view looking at the road back to Todtnau from the waterfall.

Related posts:

Hinterzarten, Black Forest, Germany

Schauinsland

Black Forest, Germany introduction

Titisee, Black Forest, Germany

Stuttgart, Germany – Mercedes-Benz and Porsche Museum

Black Forest (Schwarzwald), Germany

Have you heard of the old story-tale Hansel and Gretel? Or of Black Forest cake?

Maybe you are wondering if the forest is really black.  It’s not, but it does get dark in some places where the pine and fir trees grow most abundant. The reason why it’s called the Black Forest relates to Roman times when the forest was much denser and thick with flora.

Only a fraction of the forest still exists today after heavy logging through the years and erosion from storms and pollution. Stretching for 200 kilometres it runs along the German and French border almost to Switzerland.

Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Only a fraction of the forest still exists today after heavy logging through the years and erosion from storms and pollution. Stretching for 200 kilometres it runs along the German and French border almost to Switzerland.

The Black Forest is a popular holiday destination due to its spa towns, nature, lakes, mountains, skiing and hiking was invented here to name a few attractions. All year-round there are things to see and do. Nature definitely shows off each season with completely different scenery.

The southern region is mountainous and extremely tourist friendly with a large   variety of accommodation available. Many of the hotels offer a free card to guests for free transport and admission to many of the attractions. Otherwise there is an excellent transport infrastructure for day-trippers to come enjoy the recreational possibilities.

Where to go in the Black Forest? OK I’ll tell you….

• Titisee
• Hinterzarten
• Todtnau
• Schauinsland

To be continued.

Zagreb. There is more to Croatia than the Adriatic Coast

When I told people I was going to visit Zagreb, I was asked “Why Zagreb?  Go to the coast to Split or Dubrovnik”.  A friend who had been to Zagreb told me it was “depressing”.  I had no expectations arriving by train from Vienna and was soon to learn that Zagreb is an underrated destination.

I didn’t realize it had once been a stop-off for the Orient Express. The posh Esplanade Regent Hotel next door had been built especially for the train patrons. The tourist office at the station had referred me to the concierge at the Regent to buy the Zagreb Card. I looked out of place waiting in the lobby with my backpack admiring the marble columns and elegance.

I stayed at a hostel on the edge of the city – near Crnomerec tram stop – where an improvised flea-market had been set up by housewives. A low wall displayed second-hand colourful cardigans and sweaters, raided from their cupboards to sell in desperation.

Crnomerec tram stop flea market

Feeling ravenously hungry after check-in, my hostel host referred me to the Nokturno restaurant, which was a short tram journey into town close to Jelacic Square. Jelacic Square is a popular meeting place under the statue of General Ban Josip Jelačić riding his horse.

General Ban Josip Jelačić statue

Dolac farmers market, behind the square, has both inside and outside areas selling vegetables, eggs, meat, fruit, cheeses and flowers, lots of homemade breads and cheeses. Bring an empty bottle and vendors will fill it with home grown wine. Souvenirs can be bought here, such as wooden ornaments and t-shirts.

Dolac farmers market

Down the narrow, dead-end street named Skalinska, I found Nokturno overflowing with customers. Serving generous sized Italian dishes at a bargain price, my capricciosa pizza was more like a large then the ordered small and most definitely tasty. I was to come back to eat here each day.

A funicular railway, touted as one of the steepest and shortest in the world, operates between Lower and Upper Towns. Next to the funicular in Upper Town is the Museum of Broken Relationships. It has a permanent exhibition of donated items that once meant something to someone. Objects such as photographs, garden gnomes, an axe used to chop up furniture, torn love letters and smashed phones, tell emotional stories which are sometimes funny, sometimes doom and gloom.

The Zagreb Mummy is on display in the Archaeological Museum. Her name was Nesi-hensu from Thebes, Egypt. The museum is crowd-free with an extensive collection of artefacts to admire filling in half a day.

The Zagreb Mummy

The Mimara Museum houses a huge collection of art, thanks to local collector Ante Topić Mimara donating 3,700 pieces, dating from the prehistoric period up to the 20^th century. The collection includes works by the best – Raffaello, Caravaggio, Canaletto, Rembrandt, Van Goyen, Rubens, Velasquez, Goya, Holbein, Gainsborough, Renoir and Degas.

Sightseeing includes a lot of cool looking religious references. Like St Mark’s Church which is surrounded by embassies, guards and parliament. It is a recognisable symbol of Croatia with a roof mosaic similar to the national flag.

St Marks Church

Also, Upper Town has the skyline-imposing Zagreb Cathedral. Inside is the tomb of local hero Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac. In Zagreb there are a lot of tears to witness when it comes to religion. When I visited the Cathedral it was busy with old ladies and schoolchildren solemnly filing past the Cardinals tomb crossing themselves and weeping.

The nearby Old Town Gate has a shrine to the Virgin Mary. Locals light a candle and sob at Mary’s portrait. The painting is considered sacred as it was the only survivor of a past massive blaze.

Zagreb has one of the most beautiful cemeteries in Europe. Opened in 1876, Mirogoj Cemetery is a ten minute bus ride to the north of Upper Town and is surrounded by tall, leafy walls. It is well-kept with flowers and candles on almost every grave and impressive arched tomb arcades.

Mirogoj Cemetery outside walls

My three days in Zagreb went fast and was unexpectedly enjoyable. I was surprised how green Zagreb was with decent slabs of parkland around town. In three days, I explored little of what Zagreb has to offer and plan to return in Summer.

Related posts:

Mirogoj Cemetery – Zagreb, Croatia

Bosnian Pyramids

Sarajevo – Bosnia and Herzegovina

Stuttgart, Germany – Mercedes-Benz and Porsche Museum

For a place that was once decimated by Allied bombing raids during the war, Stuttgart has re-built itself to be an industrious working class city.  Although not high on the tourist hit-list, Stuttgart is the home of car manufacturing giants Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. Each company have a museum to show off their innovations.

Not being a car driver myself, nor care about cars, I willingly accompanied a friend to compare museums.

Mercedes-Benz Museum

Mercedes-Benz Museum

Currently celebrating 125 years since the first Mercedes-Benz prototype, there was a 40 minute wait in the queue to get in. Staff could have improved their friendliness skills as they seemed unnecessarily stressed.

Admission price includes an audio guide with uncomfortable earphones which I discarded before the end.

Like a scene from The Jetsons cartoon, a pod-like elevator whisks you up to the eighth floor to the start of the exhibition.  The first thing you encounter upon exiting the elevator is a stuffed horse, a symbol of the movement from horse and cart to the automobile.

The elevator to the start of the exhibition. Fits around 12 people at a time. Perhaps the reason for waiting time

Beginning with a pioneering automobile display, the exhibition is chronologically ordered according to a timeline and themes. Such as the ‘Gallery of Helpers’ displaying emergency vehicles, and the ‘Gallery of Champions’ where you will find the bus that transported the 1974 World Cup winning German football team with kids running up and down the aisle inside.

The museum winds down walking ramps between each floor. Surrounded by glass walls, there are views of a Mercedes-Benz test circuit and sponsored football stadium to photograph.

In the ‘Gallery of Celebrities’ I was surprised to find the first ‘Pope-mobile’. Built originally to protect John-Paul II from the weather, the next model became necessarily bulletproof.

The first Pope Mobile

The highlight for me was the ‘Races and Records’ section on level 2. Various racing cars and trucks are placed on a mock racetrack around the wall. This surrounds a display of the evolution of driver clothing and trophy collection.

The racetrack around the wall

Wannabe space-age racing car.

The museum has lots of space for visitors to move. There are plenty of things for kids to touch, videos to watch, multimedia interaction, crash test dummies and over 160 cars.

Porsche Museum 

The Porsche Museum

Opened in 2009, the Porsche Museum is housed in an architecturally stunning building with an underneath silver, mirror-like surface. Held up by stilts, which are the interior escalators, it showcases approximately 80 vehicles in rotation. Each vehicle is ready-to-roll via a car elevator to participate in races or daily life.

Instead of a horse, here we begin with the first VW Beetle designed by Professor Ferdinand Porsche for the Nazis. Professor Porsche, although born in Czech Republic, was a Nazi Party member and designed military tanks for Germany during the war. In 1945, he spent 20 months in a French prison, without trial, before his family paid for his release.

The museum is easy to navigate and stylishly designed with everything shiny and bright. The cars are colour co-ordinated to stand out in the predominantly white and black interior. What I liked best was the ingenious way the trophies are displayed with them hanging from string off the roof.

Trophy display hanging from the ceiling

While standing in a spot with the audio guide, the aptly named ‘sound shower’ intergrates with a projected vehicle scene on the wall.  A Harley Davidson motor, Porsche aircraft motor or tractor sounds awash you.

Porsche museum all shiny and bright

Before leaving, you can peer in and see a workshop where restoring and preparing for racing cars can be seen.

As much as I want to love Porsche museum more as their staff were superior, Mercedes-Benz was more impressive.

Mercedes-Benz Museum www.mercedes-benz-classic.com

Tues to Sunday 10:00 – 18:00

Tickets: 8 E, 4E.

Tel.: +49(0)711-17 30 000

Transport: S1 line to NeckarPark

Porsche Museum http://www.porsche.com/international/aboutporsche/porschemuseum/

Tues – Sun 09:00 – 18:00

Tickets: 8E and 4E.

Tel.: 0049 (0)711 911 20911

Transport: Newwitshaus (Porscheplatz) train station on line S6.

Related posts:

Hinterzarten, Black Forest, Germany

Titisee, Black Forest, Germany

Todtnau, Black Forest, Germany

Black Forest, Germany introduction