"When the Romans pushed over the Alps 2,000 years ago into the area between Lörrach on Germany's southern border with Switzerland, and Pforzheim to the north, they named the moody glades of deciduous trees and firs the silva nigra: the black forest. In many ways, though, the Schwarzwald, as the Germans call it, isn't dark at all. Guests on the terrace of the Romantik Hotel Spielweg in the Southern Black Forest gaze up at the white vapour trails left by planes crisscrossing"
"To modern metropolitan Germans, the region is often thought of as an antiquated and provincial backwater, the corner where Oma and Opa, or Granny and Grandpa, retreat to on their holidays to hike the marked trails, which cover about 15,000 miles. One of the oldest, the Westweg, goes from Pforzheim to Basel (and celebrates its 125th anniversary this year). Another route, the Geniesserpfade, winds through Baden wine country and its traditional inns."
The region was named silva nigra by Romans 2,000 years ago and stretches over 2,300 square miles with more than two-thirds covered in forest. The landscape combines deciduous trees and firs, dramatic skies, and rolling green slopes visible from terraces such as the Romantik Hotel Spielweg. The Black Forest represents both natural beauty and the setting for sinister fairy tales, while many modern Germans regard it as a provincial retreat popular with older visitors. The area offers about 15,000 miles of marked hiking trails including the Westweg and the Geniesserpfade. Local hospitality persists through initiatives like Schellsch halt mol and welcoming residents who open historic farmhouses to passersby.
Read at CN Traveller
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]