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Bumbling around Europe on HLTA

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dimsum

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Hi all,

Here I am, in Amsterdam armed with a 21-day Global Eurail Pass (1st class, of course) and it finally dawned on me to ask any of the folks here for some off-the-beaten-path places to go...specifically places that won't be huge tourist traps.  I'm planning on visiting:

Holland - Nijmegen/Groesbeek, Arnhem
Norway - Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger
France - Vimy/Arras, Normandy area, Strasbourg
Germany - Munich, Hamburg, Rothenburg, Baden and Lahr (but the people I've asked aren't sure exactly where it is on the Eurail map)
Austria - Vienna

The only self-imposed restriction is that I don't want to see big cities just for the sake of being in a big city (ie. no Paris or Berlin) and to stay in Northern Europe if possible; it'll be hard enough to see that on HLTA! 

I know that I can combine a few of those on a day with the short distances involved, so maybe all those places don't seem so daunting.

Looking forward to the recommendations!
 
There's a lot of history to be seen in Poland. I plan on making at least Warsaw a stop on my next HLTA.
 
Dimsum said:
Hi all,

Here I am, in Amsterdam armed with a 21-day Global Eurail Pass (1st class, of course) and it finally dawned on me to ask any of the folks here for some off-the-beaten-path places to go...specifically places that won't be huge tourist traps.  I'm planning on visiting:


Germany - ........ and Lahr (but the people I've asked aren't sure exactly where it is on the Eurail map)

Looking forward to the recommendations!
Click to expand...



You may have to get off in Offenburg if you are going to Lahr.  Or perhaps Strasbourg.

It may be easier to rent a car in Frankfurt or Stuttgart and visit Hiedleburg, Baden, Lahr, Stuttgart and Rothenburg. 
 
George Wallace said:
You may have to get off in Offenburg if you are going to Lahr.  Or perhaps Strasbourg Straßburg.
Click to expand...
There, fixed that.  ;D
Anyway, Offenburg or Kehl (the German city on the German side of the Rhein.  Strassburg is the German city on the French side of the Rhine).  If you can't find Lahr, then just tell them you are heading to Freiburg im Schwarzwald.  That will get you there.
 
A few of my favorites are;

Xanten Germany.  Highlights, Roman ruins, some partial restorations and about half a coliseum.  The church in town is beautiful. (Don't pass up churches, amazing architecture and often crypts to see)

Monschau Germany, 13th century village, plus castle, essentially untouched by the wars due to location.  Not sure if a train will get you there.  A bit touristy, but well worth the look.  When I was in Geilenkirchen this was a must stop for our guests.

Burg Eltz, castle perched on a rock.  Many castles on the Rhine.

Brugge Belgium, beautiful city, complete with canals and water tours.  Good beer, famed for lace and chocolate

Valkenburg NL, semi-demolished castle to tour, Underground tours of mines (Velvet Caves) with charcoal murals and a genuine escape/seige tunnel from the castle.

Koln for the utterly incredible Gothic Cathedral and a huge Roman museum.  Both just a few steps from the Bahnhof so you can tour and hop on for next stop.
 
By "Koln" Eurowing certainly must mean "Köln", or as we know it, Cologne. 
Anyway, if you're really into seeing something cool:
If you make it to Lahr, take it to Bundesstraße 415 east.  It will "split" to the right past Reichenbach, where you will take Landstraße 102.  Follow it to Bergstraße and turn left there.  Keep following it as it veers to the right, where it becomes Schwarzwaldstraße.  Find somewhere to park there.  Then follow the paths up the hills.  Up there, along the paths, if you follow the signs, you will find an old ruin.  It is amazing.  Keep walking until you come to a Gasthaus, accessible only by foot.  The food is amazing, and have an Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu for me.  It is one of the thousands of hidden gems in Germany.

Or you could just stay on the 415 and go to Geroldseck, the large castle/ruin that is very visible as soon as you make that long lazy left after Reichenbach, past the 102.

Alternately, to see some very beautiful Black Forest buildings/farms, just stay on the 102 past Seelbach.  The valley you enter as you take the 102 is called the Schutter valley, or "Schuttertal".  There is a town by that name further down there.  Be wary, though.  Once you pass Schuttertal, you're getting into deep-woods Black Forest.  And in there, you will have to watch for deer and other animals on the roads much like in Northern Ontario.  Seriously, the Black Forest is still "exotic", even to the Germans.


 
Amen.
Outside of Offenberg is Schloss Ortenburg im Kinzigtal, and just a bit further up the valley the walled town of Gengenbach.
Back in there in the land of "House of 1000 Clocks" (There are at least three of them), you'll find lots of great scenery.  There is the Black Forest Museum (Schwarzwälder Freilichtmuseum Vogtsbauernhof), waterfalls at Triberg, the Black Forest Trail, the Hochschwarzwald, the town of Tittisee, and higher up the Feldburg.  Frieburg is a university town, and great to visit, as is Karlsruhe to the north. 

Across the border in France is Mulhouse with an excellent Automobile museum, Cité de l'Automobile - Musée national - Collection Schlumpf‎ , if you want to see a hundred plus years of Bugatti automobiles.

You could probably spend a week or more in this corner of Germany/France, and still miss a lot, such as the castle at Haut-Koenigsbourg‎, outside of Orschwiller, France.‎  Unless you want to go to Rothenburg ob der Tauber and that is still within a few hours drive from Lahr/Baden.

Baden's spas are relaxing, if you wanted to center your wanderings from there.


Too many suggestions for that part of the country.

It will also soon be time for all the little towns and villages to have a Fest.  Never on the same weekend, thank God.


[Edit to add links.]
 
Dachau http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_station and Bergen-Belsen http://books.google.ca/books?id=TNt9IVBVeNQC&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=bergen+belsen+bahnhof&source=bl&ots=k5Zles2uEt&sig=VxCt0RY6Vm9NH1j6Kg2ximk0cWk&hl=en&ei=dB1cTKyfDIOC8gaLvY31AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=bergen%20belsen%20bahnhof&f=false are worth the side trip and of course if you get to Poland there are many other similar sites.  Oberamergau and Eagle's Nest also worth it.  If you head toward Straßburg area don't forget the Maginot Line http://www.europebybike.org/travels_by_bike_in_europe/maginot-line/map-maginot-line.html.  If you cross into Switzerland, then Interlaken is an excellent destination even outside of ski season http://www.panoramio.com/photo/862939.

As for Lahr Bahnhof - http://www.tripwolf.com/en/guide/show/186121/Germany/LahrSchwarzwald/Bahnhof-Lahr
 
Problem with the Lahr Bahnhof, is that the trains don't always stop there/not all trains stop there.  You will have to carefully check the timings.
 
HLTA is essentially done now.  Thanks for all of the recommendations...of course, randomly wandering around Europe would end up in some pretty unbelievable situations, and I didn't end up going to half of the places that were mentioned.  I did, however, get to see a lot of Munich, Holland, southern Norway, a bit of Belgium, northern France and Vienna.

It's hard to say which one was the best, but since I ended up hostelling in a great place in Munich and met a lot of Canadians (including an old next-door neighbour from 10 years ago), I'd have to say Munich is up there.  Note to anyone going there for HLTA, they have a bunch of free or cheap tours through this group called New Munich; I went on the Dachau and the Munich City tours and both were outstanding.  They also have things in different cities and would have loved to know about their Amsterdam stuff when I was there.

Again, thanks for the help!  If anyone is thinking of doing HLTA or just going to those places I mentioned, I may be able to help or at least tell exactly where I stayed, etc.
 
Did you make it to the Arsenal? Absolutely fantastic museum on the south end of Vienna.

My favorite part of the city was Stephansplatz. Everything was very close together and the Hofburg and Schönbrunn, Tiergarten Schönbrunn were quite a sight to see. Made a pit stop to the Spanische Hofreitschule to see the stallions.

I actually went to the Wiener Musikverein, never went to something like that before and enjoyed it.

Regards
 
To take a step back here, I would just like to write that I am very jealous of you.

If a bucket list is what you want to do before you die, then I guess a ball-and-chain list would be things you wanted to do when you were young before you got bogged down with work and a family.  It's not that family is bad (it's just good in different ways), but doing that trip at 25 would be infinitely more fun than doing it at 55 when your kids move out.

What you're doing right now is something a lot of people want to do but never end up doing, so enjoy those weeks.
 
Der P:  I actually didn't make it to the Arsenal.  I didn't really research Vienna all that well, and only knew of Schonbrunn from one of my friends back at home.  That being said, Schonbrunn was absolutely amazing; even better than Museum Quarter or Hofburg.  I didn't have time to go check out the museums; too much time in Munich making friends in the Augustiner and the Hofbrauhaus in Marienplatz, which I guess is a sort of museum.  Stephansplatz would have been great, except the cathedral was in restoration and you didn't see most of it (just those weird murals of what it would have looked like that covered the scaffolding.) 

Petamocto:  I totally agree, and this was exactly the reason why I did this when I did (not exactly 25, but not far off either.)  I'm glad I didn't do this right out of university, where all I'd be doing is spending 18 days in a beer garden in Munich. 

I'll have to return sometime; alas, HLTA is done and it's back to the warm place. 

 
Dimsum & Petamocto,

I was lucky enough to have my first posting to Lahr in 1986.  This allowed me as a 23-25 year-old to travel Europe for 3 years sampling its wonders.  Well, at least the first 2.5 years until I met my darling wife-to-be.  My suggestions were based on my extensive, memorable sojourns.  I enjoyed Munich both as a single guy and as part of a couple.  Every trip there regardless of intention always ended with a detour to Dachau to remind me that despite the beer houses all was not well-balanced in Germany's history.  As for Vienna - despite its charm and variety it seems like there was always something 'worth seeing' closed, my main visit there included the inaccessible Lipzzanier stables.

Dimsum, I trust you made some wonderful memories.  Stay safe during your time back in the land of dust & sun
 
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