Gremma's Travels: Pretty Black Forest Towns (Schiltach, Wolfach and Gengenbach)

Cute little bear having a nap in the sun

Stocking up on night and day at an
Apotheke in Wolfach

The drive to Schiltach was really pretty. Lots of winding road, through forests and up and down mountains. On the way we came across a sign “Bearen Park”, which I initially mistook for something or other pork. We soon worked out it was a Bear Park, so we stopped for a look. There were loads of bears, and also some wolves in a gorgeous fenced off forest area. The bears were having a grand old time, roaming, looking for food, sleeping in the sun (which had finally come out), and swimming in the river through the middle. We also saw just the single wolf who pretty quickly padded off into the forest, swiftly and silently.

We stopped in Wolfach for lunch, another super pretty town, with a really lovely main street. After the old towns in Lindau and Freiburg being car free though, it was a bit strange to see cars around, and of course they mean the pictures are nowhere near as nice.

Schiltach was on another level when it comes to pretty old towns. All the houses were half timbered (basically the framing made out of timber, then filled with something, leaving the timber visible), and were sprawling across the hillside with the black forest as a back drop. We were welcomed into our hotel (Zur Alten Brucke) by the extremely friendly Michael. He grapsed us each by hand, and pulled us in for a massive hug! The hotel was really old, but clean, and had a little beer garden next to the river through town. Perfect. We went for a walk through town during the “cake hour”, and had ourselves a glass of wine next to all the locals eating cake.

We ate at the hotel for dinner as it was easy and I still wasn’t well. It ended up being great – freshly caught local Black Forest trout salad for starter, followed by this rolled pancake thingy stuffed with herbs and with different toppings, like cheese, ham, mushrooms, onions etc. I forget the proper name for it.

The next morning we woke up to mist through the forest, which soon burned off to a gorgeous day – our first proper day of sunshine for ages! We went for a 11km walk through the forest, and although challenging as it pretty much went up and over a mountain, it was really beautiful and we’re super glad we did it. Arriving back in Schiltach hot and sweaty, we decided a drink and a snack in the beer garden would be a perfect way to end our visit to Schiltach and get us sorted for the drive to Baden Baden, and indeed it was!

On the way to Baden Baden we also stopped at another small town called Gengenbach. It was super pretty as well, with more half timbered houses, but once again the cars were allowed in the old town. We went for a stroll through some of the back streets and came across two of the friendliest cats which followed us for a while, begging for more cuddles. Made me really miss our Duncan!