Schwarzwald

“The Romans described the Black Forest as an impenetrable wilderness inhabited only by wild beasts and barbarians.” (source: Insight Guides-Germany)

I recall having heard fairy tales and numerous other stories about the “Black Forest”, so imagine my excitement when we decided to take a drive to Schwarzwald!

The Black Forest is about a two hour drive from our home and I must say, a very scenic drive! Since this was a day-trip, we decided to visit only one of the cities within this area—Triberg. Triberg also is known to the visitor as home to Deutschland's Hochste Wasserfelle, or the Gutach (Germany's highest waterfall). The town is also known for the “Haus der 1,000 Uhren” or “The House of 1,000 Clocks”...not to mention the Cuckoo clocks and the Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Cake).

Our first objective upon arriving in Triberg, was to hike up to the wasserfelle . I am not quite sure how high the falls are as one guide books states the falls are 531 feet and another states 338 feet, while an internet site claims the fall are 530 feet (I will stay with the 530 foot range). The trek up to the falls is a moderate to difficult climb. (I say difficult as there are some very steep areas one must negotiate—all trail of course!). The hike up is filled with scenic flora and fauna and even little “critters” (squirrels with little pointy ears!) which seemed to be happy to pose for pictures as long as they had a peanut in hand to distract them! The falls themselves seem to be “broken” up in increments some of which have small bridged areas which span the falls—excellent for picture taking!

Having “conquered” the falls, we walked thru the main thorough fare of Triberg and having come full circle, decided to stop and have a bite to eat at a one of the local landgsthof. (Descripton is for another posting for my friend in Lombardia!)

We did stop at Haus der 1000 Urhen, not to purchase a cuckoo but to merely look and admire the workmanship. The establishment was founded in 1824 by Josef Weisser and is still owned and operated by his grandson.

The ride back home we were once again struck by the beauty of Deutschland! From the Rhine Plain with it’s rolling hills and farmhouses to the thick, deep, dark forest with mountains rising to some 4, 000 feet! We made a vow to return one day for a longer stay so that we could explore the Schwarzwald in more detail and at our leisure.