Western Europe: Germany - Black Forest's Alpirsbach, Schiltach and Triberg

Buses are not my favourite mode of transportation, probably because the brain associated it with long distance rides in my uni days from uni to home and motion sickness. The nearest train station is in front of Vogtsbauernhof but it is much convenient to get around in buses from Gutach and I am totally ok with it! In fact I probably even taken too many rides on the trusty bus #7150 that I reckon one of the bus driver could recognise me. Though speaking of bus #7150, I realised sometimes the bus number was #7160 but as bus services are not regular, I flagged down the bus anyway and they did stop at the ones that I wanted to go.

I was being ambitious and thought I could fit in 3 towns, also considering distance from Alpirsbach and Schiltach isn't far, Alpirsbach was my first stop for the day.

Story has it that Alpirsbach is named after a cleric who exclaimed, "All Bier ist in den Bach! (All the beer is in the stream!) when his glass of beer clumsily slipped from his hand and rolled into the river. Such an apt name as presently Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu is brewed from pure spring water. I skipped the brewery tour because I am such a lightweight (ticket comes with 2 beers) and didn't feel like drinking then, especially just right after breakfast. The souvenir shop carries all sort of beer and beer products including shampoo, soap, etc.

This town is also the home to a 11th century former Benedictine Kloster Alpirsbach. I wasn't a good tourist/visitor at that morning because I sat this out too after being told that the explanation in the monastery is in German.

It is easy to get to Schiltach from Alpirsbach, either by train or bus. I took a bus as it was the next scheduled transport to get to Schiltach when I was ready to leave Alpirsbach. The bus actually passed close to the Marktplatz before getting to Schiltach Bahnhof.

Schiltach sits at the foot of wooded hills and on the banks of Kinzig and Schiltach Rivers. It is a charming town with beautiful half-timbered building, rafting and tanners.

It would be a lie if the promise of delicious Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte didn't tempt me.

I also successfully convinced myself that calories don't count on holidays, so I had 2 slices of cake accompanied by coffee all by myself. After all, why stop at one? ;)

First choice - Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, of course.

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte

I like the look of the crushed peanuts on the cake, so I picked the Frankfurter Kranz after I finished the black forest cake - light, moist, delicious.

Frankfurter Kranz

If I still had tummy space, I would go for the apple strudel. Oh, and one could access free internet hotspot courtesy of Schiltach town.

There are also some free museums in Schiltach - Museum in the Market Square which would give an idea of the history of Schiltach over 700 years ago. The other one would be Schüttesäge Museum, on route to the bahnhof. Schüttesäge Museum shows Schitalch's rafting tradition from trees, timber transportation by river, etc.

On I hopped to a bus again, this time to Triberg (again!). This was my second time to Triberg actually, the first was the day before when I arrived in Gutach.

From the bus

The story went like this, I arrived in Gutach on a Sunday and after I finished going around Vogtsbauernhof it was still pretty early before 4pm so I thought I could popped by Triberg for calling it a day. It slipped my mind that bus services on Sunday was even more less regular than the already not very frequent service. I took the last bus from Vogtsbauernhof to Triberg at 3:54 pm that would get me there by 4:21 pm.

As precaution, I asked the bus driver if there would be another bus to take me back to which he replied yes. So I happily got on the bus to get to Triberg. Upon getting off the bus, the bus driver very kindly reminded me that he would return in about 10 minutes and that would be the last bus... hahaha, I so need to rethink how I ask my question next time! Anyway, so I was back to Triberg again as the only place I have time was a shop across the road from the bus stop.

Triberg is the house of cuckoo clocks in Black Forest. Although it is said that masses of tourist visits Triberg I didn't really see truckloads of tourists but there were more visitors noticeable. No doubt it is very touristy but I have a soft spot for cuckoo clocks as I grew up in a clock shop.

My second visit was more fruitful comparatively which wasn't hard. One of the more nature based attraction is Triberger Wasserfälle. It is Germany's highest waterfalls, feeding from Gutach River and drop 163m down.

Side note: To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble. ~Bill Watterson