German Diaries Day 5 – Triberg and The Black Forest

It was an early start on the fifth morning, ready for another day on the road towards some new and exciting adventures. The plan was to work our way from the north west of The Black Forest to the south east, stopping for the night in a little village on the edge of Lake Konstanz; called Lindau. Before all that though, we were heading to Triberg to find some Black Forest Gateau and Germany’s tallest waterfall. With a claim to fame of waterfalls and cakes it is a little hard to resist, isn’t it?

Following the long and winding road to Triberg, we soon found ourselves in the middle of the forest; without a soul in sight. The drive should have taken us just under an hour and a half but due to the numerous pit stops, to try and get the perfect shot of the forest, it took significantly longer. After the fifth time of pulling over by the side of the road we had to have a stern word with ourselves so that we would have enough time in the day to make it to Lindau. If we messed about too much early in the day we wouldn’t have any daylight for exploring the villages later on, which would have been a massive shame. This was a lesson we quickly learnt in Iceland when we only had 8 hours of daylight to play with. Luckily, when we looked back over the photos we found there were some pretty great shots and the time-lapse on the go-pro was awesome. I just need to get round to editing it at some point…

Our first port of call in Triberg was to be Cafe Schaefer. According to my pre-holiday research, this was the cafe where the original Schwarzwald Kirsch Kuchen (Black Forest Gateau) was created. I’m not completely convinced that is true, most likely a ploy to get suckers like me through the door, but it was still worth a try, don’t you think? It tasted a little different than the cake I am used to as it was a lot sharper. I think this has more to do with the British palette preferring food sweeter than the German counterparts. It was very tasty and the plate was wiped clean (literally) in a matter of minutes.

With the namesake dessert devoured it was time to search for the second draw of the day; the waterfall. After spending a week in Iceland, mostly staring at the amazing waterfalls, my expectations were very high. If you compare this waterfall to those Icelandic monsters then you will undoubtedly be a little disappointed, but when you consider it is in the middle of a forest in a country that is mainly flat (excluding the alps of course) it is still quite impressive. Having all the trees towering over you, like sentries, as the water crashed down the hill is still pretty cool if you ask me.

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As we were visiting on a weekday in low season it was nice and quiet walking around. There were just two photographers with tripods that stood in the middle of every bridge and lookout for 10 minutes at a time, clearly doing a timelapse/long exposure, while smoking and blocking the path. I appreciate everyone wants to get the best shot they can for their own collection, or for their work if it is a job, but it is hard not to get frustrated when it is blocked for everyone for extended periods of time and you can’t get a shot without them being in view. This happened a lot in Iceland with people climbing the barriers and standing directly under the waterfall with tripods; completely ignoring all the signs stating the barriers are their for their safety and to preserve the natural monument, just so they could get one photo… OK, sorry about that. Rant over and back to the beautiful scenery.

On our way out, we found a small children’s playground and seating area which I took full advantage of by making a fool of myself… nothing new there! It was really fun doing slow mo recording of jumping off the large swinging bench. I am sure that isn’t what it was intended for but it is the first thing I thought of.

After all that excitement it was time for lunch… I know eating again! This time we went to a small coffee shop and grabbed a few little “snacks”. As a bus load of school children had arrived just before us we quickly grabbed a table by the window and I went up to order. Leaving me alone to order food, especially when I am hungry, is always a rookie move. I always order a lot more than I should, but at least with my inhuman appetite there are never any leftovers. I chose a ham and cheese sandwich for the fiancèe while I went for a fresh cooked Bratwurst with ketchup and mustard. Yum! I also saw a sign that said five cheeseballs for €2… How could I possibly resist. Everything is made better with cheese if you ask me. They were really tasty but not at all what I expected. The outside was covered in a crispy coating, with lots of salt and pepper, while the inside was almost like a dough made out of cheese. I have no idea what cheese it was, or how it was made, but it was amazing! I would definitely order them again and if you ever see them you need to try them for yourself.

With time quickly slipping away from us, we decided to get back on the road and make our way down to Lindau. It was a fairly long drive this time around and I was very glad when we finally arrived at the Gasthaus (Guest House). As we walked in the entrance, suitcase in hand, we were met with the now familiar sight of a room full of closed doors and no idea which was the right one. It was like a terrible version of a Crystal Maze challenge… To an Englishman like me, the natural instinct when confronted with a closed door is that it is off limits and I shouldn’t be going in there. This instinct was entirely unhelpful on this try!

After wandering around for a few minutes, and almost walking straight into the kitchen, I plucked up the courage and chose the biggest door to walk through. I was pleased to find the restaurant on the other side and not a German half naked in their bedroom; could have been really awkward otherwise. Checking in here was a true test of my German skills. Both the women there spoke minimal English, even less than my German, so I had to entirely rely on what I had learnt. After a lot of confusion about the time that breakfast started, my weary brain kept confusing sieben (seven) and zehn (ten), me muddled through and we soon had the key to our room for the night.

This is where I will leave the tale for today. Coming up next is the lovely Linda itself and the best dinner I had in the whole trip. Definitely don’t want to miss that one!

I hope you have enjoyed the telling of our Bavarian adventures and would love to hear from you in the comments below. Make sure you follow me to see the latest installment as soon as they are released. Lots more coming soon!

Ciao for now!

If you liked this don’t miss out on the rest of our German adventure:

Day 1 – Manchester to Munich

Day 2 – Harburg Castle and Nördlingen

Day 2 – Dinkelsbühl

Day 3 – Schillingsfürst and Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Day 3 – Würzburg

Day 4 – Bad Mergentheim, Heilbronn and The Black Forest

Day 4 – Baden-Baden and a tasty trout dinner

Day 5 – Triberg and The Black Forest

Day 5 – Lindau

Day 6 – Neuschwanstein Castle