Hohenzollern to Alpirsbach, Germany
You won’t soon forget your first glimpse of Burg Hohenzollern as you drive down the Autobahn from Mössingen. It’s an impossibly perfect castle with towers and spires that seem to crown the hill far off in the distance.
I arrived at the gates just as the castle opened. The morning sun was warm but the air was still cool, perfect for a hike up to the summit. The House of Hohenzollern still maintains control of the fortress. The Prussian flag flies over the castle when the family is in residence (it wasn’t, so they weren’t).
The brilliant blue and gold ceiling of the chapel instantly reminded me of the castle in Meißen I visited last summer. I was also impressed with the massive statues of Prussian kings surrounding the lower walls. The final statue in the series was Kaiser Wilhelm I.
After taking in the sweeping views of the hills and valleys of the Swabian Alb, my eyes were drawn to the smaller details of the castle. I’ve always found door handles to be fascinating because the people who were here years ago grasped the same metal. The artistry expressed in handles also seems more accessible than the stained glass windows or gargoyles far above your head.
As I hiked back down the hill, I look up again at the fortress. How would it have felt to be a soldier bent on a siege looking up at this imposing view?
Back in the car, I set my GPS for the town of Horb am Neckar. If a town lies along a river, Germans tend to include it in the town’s name, thus Horb “on the” Neckar. It helps to clarify the specific town if there are more than one with the same name.
I had to take a photo of the sign in Horb pointing the way to the Krankenhaus (hospital). Just a bit later, I hiked past a Krankenwagen parked along the street. No Krank here!
My next stop after lunch was a short hike through Nagold. The town had several nice fachwerk buildings but there were stretches of modern construction in between. Perhaps Nagold suffered bombing during the war? Or maybe just haphazard modern advancement?
A few kilometers further on my drive, I hiked up an endless series of ramps and stairs to the top of the village of Altensteig. I worked for this view…
Altensteig seemed to have a more intact historic core to me. Perhaps the climb discouraged modern development? Whatever the case, I was thankful these views had been preserved. Here was another place that time seemed to slow.
But why am I hungry just now for a pretzel?
My next stop was Dornstetten. I cut my walk around town short because it appeared a storm was blowing up. The weather had been extremely warm here for April, which I appreciated, but I wondered when it would turn.
Although the front gusted through with sharply cooler air and a few drops of rain, that was it. I did see several umbrellas in a nearby Biergarten blow over to the dismay of the customers sitting underneath. Thankfully, no one seemed to be hurt although a few glasses were spilled. Schade.
The village of Alpirsbach in the Black Forest served as my final stop on today’s drive. The terrain had changed dramatically from the rolling hills and farmland of the Swabian Alb to the east. Here, you descended into a deep valley past towering pines to arrive at the village along the Kinzig river.
The name of the town, Alpirsbach, seemed familiar and sure enough, I hiked past a brewery. The logo for Alpirsbach beer depicts a jovial monk and indeed, the town’s church was right next to the brewery.
The storm clouds were causing it to get dark down in the valley beneath all those tall pine trees so I pointed my car back to Mössingen.
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