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Return Schauinslandbahn If you want to enjoy the view, you have to get to the top. Southeast of Freiburg lies the Schauinsland, a mountain with an altitude of 1,284 meters. It is about ten kilometers from the center of the city, which is why it is also called Freiburg's local mountain. It rises directly from the Upper Rhine Graben, which is why strong winds sometimes prevail, especially on its western side. Because of its height, it is of course a wonderful vantage point. From here you can see the Vosges and the Alps. The view of Freiburg is equally fascinating. To the north, you can also see the Hornisgrinde, the highest mountain in the Northern Black Forest. To make the climb easier, there is a cable car that is 3.6 kilometers long in total. This makes it the longest cable car in Germany. From the Horben valley station in Freiburg, it climbs a total of 746 meters. For this purpose, the lift has 37 cabins. In addition to people (700 per hour), the cable car also transports bicycles and ski equipment. If you don't want to take the cable car to the top, you can also hike the Schauinsland and enjoy the fantastic view of the Rhine Valley from the top. The top of the Schauinsland is unwooded, a fact that goes back to mining. In the Middle Ages, silver as well as lead and zinc were mined in this mountain, which is why wood was needed to stabilize the tunnels. The wood was taken directly from the top of the mountain, which led to a real clear-cutting. Mining was stopped here in 1954. Since 2002, the entire peak area has been under nature protection. What you don't see on the outside of the Schauinsland is what is inside, and that is quite a lot. First of all, there are the tunnels that originate from mining. There are twenty-two in total and together they have a length of about a hundred kilometers. Today, no more mineral resources are mined and the Schauinsland serves as an excursion destination. Here you can visit a part of the former mine since 1997. Even more interesting is what can be found in the so-called Barbarastollen, which is located in the Hörnergrund near Oberried. Namely, there are film reels. Yes, you haven't misread, the gallery is full of reels. In fact, since 1975, it has housed an archive of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, in which documents of the Federal Republic of Germany copied onto film reels are kept, which are of important significance for history and culture. They are recorded using a special, high-resolution technique on special polyester thin film that lasts for a very long time. Within Europe, the Barbarastollen is the largest archive of its kind and is under special international protection by UNESCO.

Return Capercaillie A quite rare bird, not only in the Black Forest A rather shy fellow is the capercaillie, the largest chicken bird found in Europe. It can be recognized by its typical gurgling mating sound as well as by its considerable size. It is native to the Black Forest, as it is generally found at high altitudes. The capercaillie is a so-called resident bird, which means that it remains in one region throughout the year, i.e. it is not a migratory bird. Unfortunately, the capercaillie is on the Red List of endangered animals in Germany. In the Northern Black Forest National Park, however, its population has been stabilized and preserved. This is no wonder, because it is primarily forestry that is changing the forests in such a way that they are unsuitable for the capercaillie. But why is this so? For one thing, the capercaillie needs lots of light, broken-up forest areas. Since it is very heavy, it needs some run-up to get off the ground. Secondly, its diet consists mainly of berries, although in winter, when there is snow, it has to resort to the needles or buds of trees. Unfortunately, forestry increasingly afforests small clearings where the berries can grow, so that the capercaillie no longer finds a suitable habitat. This is not the case in the Northern Black Forest National Park. Established in 2014, the forests here are largely left to their own devices over a total area of 10,062 hectares. This leads to the formation of small clearings, which are beneficial for the capercaillies. These are not only important for the birds, but also allow many plants to grow unhindered. As with many bird species, male and female capercaillie can be clearly distinguished from each other. A rooster can grow up to one meter tall and weigh five kilograms, the hen only about half that. The plumage of the cock is gray to brown and shimmering green on the breast. The hen has brown plumage on the back and wings, interspersed with silver and black stripes. On the underside of the animal the coloring is lighter and goes more into the yellowish. The chicks resemble the hen in appearance. By the way, a capercaillie egg looks almost like a hen's egg. However, it has distinct brown spots. Capercaillies leave clearly visible and typical tracks in the snow, because their feet are built similar to snowshoes and have horn pins that grow sideways to the toes. Thus, the animals have good footing even in the snow. This is especially important because capercaillies cannot fly very well and move primarily on the ground. The courtship display, during which the rooster makes its characteristic gurgling sound, takes place during the spring months. The dance that the rooster performs is complex, consisting of various processes. He has his feathers erected into a fan, similar to a peacock. The roosters also defend their territories against competitors, occasionally even against humans. There are usually four animals per hundred hectares. You can gather interesting information about the capercaillie while hiking on the Wichtelpfad Feldberg. In addition to the capercaillie, the Black Forest is home to the cuckoo and the crossbill. The red kite has also returned to the area. There are gray herons and cormorants, hawks and owls.

Return St. Peter Baroque Church The special thing here is the library. A wooden church was first built in St. Peter by the Benedictines in 1100. The baroque church with its two onion domes, which stands on this site today, dates from 1720 and was designed by Peter Thumb from Vorarlberg. Its interior design includes 55 frescoes by Franz Joseph Spiegler depicting scenes from the life of the Apostle Paul and several sculptures by Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer. The high altar has the peculiarity that its external appearance can be changed. To do this, various motifs are slid onto the altar from a holder that can be rolled off. In this way, the altarpiece can adapt to different occasions within the church year. The former monastery of St. Peter also includes a library, which was also planned by Peter Thumb. The special feature: It has a walk-in gallery on which twelve figures stood at the time. They symbolized the various fields of knowledge for which books were available here. Today, however, six of them no longer exist. By 1806, the library had more than 20,000 books. Among others, a Koberger Bible from 1483 was kept here, as well as a number of manuscripts, some of which dated back to the tenth century. However, the book collections were moved elsewhere in 1806, as the monastery was dissolved in that year. In the meantime, there is a virtual form of the St. Peter's library, which has been maintained by several libraries and archives since 2009. Otherwise, it is worth mentioning about St. Peter that it is located in the Glottertal. This valley is not only quite idyllic, but also very famous since the eighties, because the soap opera "Die Schwarzwaldklinik" was set here. The building that represented the hospital actually exists in the upper part of the valley. It is the so-called "Carlsbau" from 1914, which was then as now in use as a clinic. Worth mentioning is furthermore the mountain Kandel, which rises with a height of 1,242 meters between the Glottertal, the Simonswälder and the Elztal. In the Glottertal, the so-called "Glottertäler Weißherbst" is also pressed, a white wine made from red grapes. In general, the Glottertal has a favorable climate, so that fruit also grows well there.

Return Bibeleskäs It is eaten, what comes on the table. Bibeleskäs is a speciality from the Black Forest. It was prepared by farmers in the past. For this, a rather dry white cheese was mixed with herbs and spices. The ingredients can vary from place to place, but salt and pepper are generally included, along with onions, chives and garlic. Usually, Bibeleskäs is served with potatoes or bread. The term derives from the dry, crumbly consistency of the white cheese. The word "Bibele" in Alemannic dialects means something like "knob". Generally, in the Black Forest, "Bibeleskäs" is also understood to mean "curd cheese" in general. Like all dishes of the peasants, Bibeleskäs is rather simple and cheap to produce. In fact, in earlier times, cooking had to be as economical as possible, since agriculture was only sufficient for subsistence and did not yield profits. Nowadays, however, the Bibeleskäs is very popular among locals as well as tourists. Furthermore, the Black Forest cuisine is known for various soups, including the wedding soup and the pike dumpling soup or the Baden snail soup. The most popular is certainly the "Flädlesuppe", in which strips of pancake dough are pickled and seasoned heartily. But "Spätzle" and "Maultaschen" are also popular here, as are "Schäufele", "Leberle" and "Nierle". Since the Black Forest has a Baden and a Württemberg part, the transitions between traditional Baden and Swabian cuisine are rather fluid here, which is why Spätzle and Maultaschen are almost as popular as in Stuttgart.

Return Source of the Danube Brigach and Breg bring the Danube to way. The Danube, the second longest river in Europe, has its source in the Black Forest. But exactly where it is located is not entirely undisputed. In Donaueschingen, for example, there is a source of the Danube, which is located in the Fürstenberg Palace Garden. It is set like a round fountain and elaborately decorated. However, a proverb knows: "Brigach and Breg bring the Danube to way." Brigach and Breg are two small rivers that join in the Donaueschingen district. From the point of their confluence, the Danube begins. In fact, the water that comes from the source of the Danube in the castle garden also flows underground as a so-called Danube brook into the Brigach, so it does not reach the beginning of the Danube by a direct route. Apart from that, the Brigach and the Breg each contain considerably more water than the Danube brook. The Brigach rises at 925 meters above sea level near St. Georgen, namely at the Hirzbauernhof farm. It is 40 kilometers long. The Breg, the longer of the two rivers at 46 kilometers, begins at the Martinskapelle chapel not far from the town of Furtwangen, with its source at 1,078 meters above sea level. At the confluence of the two, the Black Forest merges into the high plateau of the Baar, where the young Danube flows off to the east. In its further course, it flows for 2,857 kilometers through European metropolises such as Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade, before it flows from the Black Forest into the Black Sea. But the "black" in the names "Black Forest" and "Black Sea" is not the only correspondence in name between the beginning and the end of the Danube. As already mentioned, one of its headwaters begins at St. Georgen, while on the Black Sea coast the southernmost arm of the Danube delta is called St. George's Arm. It takes its name from a small place called Sfântu Gheorghe, which is the Romanian spelling for "Saint George". Thereby, the place is located at the outflow of the Danube arm into the sea. Because of this, Sfântu Gheorghe can be reached only by boat. To make the competition among the sources to the point, the source of the river Inn has also been called the actual source of the Danube, which is due to the fact that it is higher than those of Brigach and Breg. However, when it meets the Danube, the Inn is shorter than the latter and is thus considered its tributary. In any case, the Romans considered the Danube to be under the protection of the source goddess Abnoba, after whom they also named the Black Forest, namely "Abnoba mons", which, however, was not the only Latin name for the low mountain range. Even if the source of the Danube in Donaueschingen is not the actual source of the Danube according to common understanding, it is still worth a visit. In its present form by Adolf Weinbrenner, it has existed since 1828. The decorations on its enclosure are by the artist Franz Xaver Reich, who also created a sculpture that can be seen here. It bears the title "The young Danube in the bosom of the Baar". Another work of art is by Adolf Heer and shows the mother Baar with her daughter Danube. You can also visit the Fürstenberg castle.

Return Hornberg Castle Ruin Always an adventure: knight's castles and palaces Who doesn't know the Hornberg shooting? It is not exactly clear what it was really about. The most probable incident is the following: In 1564, the then sovereign, the Duke of Württemberg, wanted to visit Hornberg. Therefore, the people of Hornberg wanted to pay tribute to him and fire salute shots from their castle upon his arrival. But since they did not know when exactly he would arrive, they started firing whenever they noticed something on the approach road. Thus two carriages and a herd of cows came along the way and each time the inhabitants thought it was the duke. The end of the story was that by the time he actually arrived, all the ammunition had already been shot. That was a long time ago and the former Hornberg Castle is now a ruin, the Hornberg shooting, however, is world famous. A fountain was built for it in the town. In addition, annual festivals are held to re-enact the mishap surrounding the squandered ammunition. After all, the town became famous because of this, since the Hornberg shooting also found its way into literature in the form of a saying. Another interesting feature of Hornberg is its location. The district is located at an altitude between 344 and 970 meters. There, the Reichenbach valley flows into the Gutach valley. The Reichenbach viaduct, on which the Black Forest Railways cross the side valley, is a landmark of the town. Hornberg is located on the river Gutach, a tributary of the Kinzig. There are several other castles in the Kinzig valley, such as Schenkenburg Castle in Schenkenzell, Willenburg Castle and Schiltach Castle in the town of the same name, Wolfach Castle and Fortress, and Husen Castle near Hausach. Hornberg has something else great to offer, namely the largest toilet in the world. You can't use it because it's about seven meters high, but it's worth a visit. Just imagine how wide the toilet paper must be. Photographer: B. Pieper

Return (Baked Black Forest) trout This is how fish tastes especially good. When you visit the Black Forest, you will notice that hospitality is very important here. This is especially evident in the many great restaurants that can be found in all towns in the region. The Black Forest cuisine is known for its many trout recipes. There are said to be a total of 29 different ones, all prepared with this type of fish. This is no wonder, since trout is quite common in the narrow rivers and streams of the Black Forest, so it is primarily fished. It is not uncommon for trout to be the subject of elaborate breeding. In this process, the young fish created by artificial insemination are first kept and fed in ponds and finally released into flowing waters. The ponds must have fresh, oxygen-rich water and are usually specially constructed for this purpose. Trout are often boiled blue. This involves boiling the gutted fish whole in salt water, with vinegar added. During the process, the fish skin takes on a bluish color. In blue boiling, the trout is not scaled. It is different with the preparation according to "Müllerinart" ("the miller's way"). Here the fish is first soaked in salted milk, then in flour, and then fried. It is served with lemon juice and parsley. The name "Müllerinart" has probably spread because of the use of flour. Anyway, you don't have to be a miller to prepare such a dish. But not only fish dishes are typically Black Forest. Other recipes also come from here, although they originally came from the farmers, who had to be thrifty with the food they earned. This is how the "Bibeleskäs", a curd cheese, "Schäufele", "Leberle" and "Nierle" were created. Nowadays, the Black Forest is characterized by outstanding gastronomy, especially in Baiersbronn. This is due to the fact that it is home to two three-star restaurants. In fact, there are only ten of these in the whole of Germany. Enjoy your meal. But what are these stars and what do they mean? Basically, you can think of them as school grades, ranging from one to three stars, with "three stars" being the highest award. The stars are awarded in what is known as the "Guide Michelin", a guide published annually by the tire manufacturer of the same name. The Guide has been published since 1900, initially only for France, and since 1910 also for Germany and Switzerland. Finally, from 1926 onwards, stars were awarded to restaurants, which brought the Guide to high fame. However, it does not always have to be a star restaurant if you want to eat well. It also tastes delicious in a Versperbeiz, a kind of pub, and there are many of them in the Black Forest.

Return Schäppel Does the bride have to wear it all day? The hat "Bollenhut" is without a doubt the most famous part of the women's costume from the Black Forest. However, there is a traditional headdress that is not only heavier, but also much more elaborate in its composition, namely the magnificent, round "Schäppelekrone". The largest version, weighing up to five kilograms and measuring almost 40 centimeters in height and diameter, is found in St. Georgen. It is documented there as early as 1517. In addition, Schäppels are found in St. Peter, St. Märgen, in the Elz and Wolftal valleys. Essentially, the Schäppelekrone consists of a wire frame. The individual decorations are attached to it, which are fabric roses, tinsel, tiny mirrors, coins, and glass balls or beads. A colorful decorative ribbon is also tied around the wire frame. Since the entire headdress is anything but light, it must be fastened several times to prevent it from slipping off the wearer's head. For this purpose, on the one hand, fabric ribbons are tied to the braids of the wearer. On the other hand, two ear bands are used, one meter in length and five centimeters in width, which are also decorated with beads and are wrapped around the ears before being connected to the braids in turn. But that's not all. The Schäppel costume also includes a so-called "Schurzbändel", which is usually a purple ribbon attached to a loop of the apron. In addition, purple hair strings are attached to the braids of the Schäppel wearer, which reach to the edge of the apron. Consequently, no woman could put on the Schäppelekrone alone, but always needed helping hands. The Schäppelekrone gets its name from the word "Schapel" from the Middle Ages. It meant "virgin's wreath" and thus it becomes clear that the Schäppelekrone is also primarily a bridal ornament. The headdress, also called "bridal crown" elsewhere, has developed from the simple maiden's wreath and varies greatly from region to region. In the Black Forest, with its early glassblowing workshops, a lot of glass in the form of small balls was incorporated into the Schäppelekrone. The Schäppelekrone was worn not only in St. Georgen but also in Simonswald. The girls received it for confirmation and put it on for the last time for their own wedding, a parallel to the Bollenhut. In St. Georgen, in addition to the Schäppelekrone, there is also the German Phonomuseum to marvel at. It is also interesting that the Brogen mountain in the northeast of the district forms a triple watershed, namely between the Rhine and the Danube on the one hand and between the Rhine and the Neckar on the other.

Return Black Forest Farm Everything under one roof The typical farmhouses of the Black Forest are found mainly in the southern part of the mountains. They are mostly large, their roofs pulled down low and usually inclined at 45 degrees. This circumstance testifies to the snow load that the buildings had to bear in the harsh winters, as well as to the strong winds, to which the shape of the roof was intended to offer as little surface for attack as possible. In summer, on the other hand, the overhanging roof, sloping on all four sides, protected the buildings from the sun's rays. The basic features of this construction method probably originated in the Alpine Rhine region, i.e. in northern Switzerland. The roof of a Black Forest house is also called a "crippled hip roof". This has the following reason. If a roof is pulled downwards to all four sides of the house, thus forming a kind of canopy, it is called a "hipped roof". If it does not end at the same height on two opposite of the four sides, but higher up than on the other two sides, it is called a "crippled hip roof". Hipped roofs ensure that the entrance to the house remains covered and thus free of snow in winter. Traditionally, straw or wooden shingles were used to cover the roof. It is supported by a ridge pillar. The foundation of the house was built of stone and formed the basement. All the floors above were built with wood, requiring up to four hundred beams per house. First, a framework of planks was created, which stood vertically and ran through all the floors. This was then connected to each other by horizontal elements. However, this construction method had one disadvantage: most of the materials used were combustible. Thus, even today in the Black Forest, a lightning strike can cause an entire farmhouse to burn down completely. To contain the damage from a fire as much as possible, many Black Forest farms have a fire pond. Farms in the Black Forest are so-called "single-roof farms", which means that they house the entire farm business within one building. In most cases, they were built not far from springs to secure the water supply. Since it was in turn too wet in the valley bottoms, this meant that the houses rarely stood on mountain tops or in depressions, but were built on the slopes. In the Black Forest, regional differences have developed in the way farms are built. This is due to the geological and climatic conditions of the respective locations. In a wide valley like that of the river Kinzig, one did not have to fear the same snow load as in a narrow, higher lying one. Therefore, thatch roofing was more common at lower elevations, while shingles were preferred at higher elevations. In addition, houses that stood on a slope could be equipped with a special feature, namely several entrances on different floors. In total, seven types of the Black Forest house occur. The oldest and most original form is the Höhen- or Heidenhäuser, of which there are two variants, differing only in the way the building is oriented to the slope. The Gutachtäler and Kinzigtäler houses are quite similar. They mostly differ from each other in the ground plan. Kinzigtäler houses are found not only at the river Kinzig but also at the Schutter and Rench rivers. The Zartener house is also found in flat valleys. In contrast, the Schauinslandhaus and the Hotzenhaus are buildings for steep slopes. The Hotzenhaus is recognizable by its roof, which is clearly lowered on all four sides. There is also a so-called "shield" behind the outer wall, which is a corridor. It serves to keep the outside cold from the living quarters. The Schauinsland houses, on the other hand, are relatively small. In the open-air museum Vogtsbauernhof in Gutach you can visit ancient farmhouses. The central building has been on this site since 1612 and is an example of the Gutachtäler farmhouse type, which is probably the best known. Around it, other historic Black Forest farms have been faithfully reconstructed to show the diversity of their architecture. Thus, there is also a Kinzigtäler house that once stood in Oberwolfach, the Lorenzhof from 1608. In this type of house, the stables are on the lower floor, since the building in the wide valley does not offer access from the outside to the upper floors. The Hippenseppenhof from Furtwangen-Katzensteig belongs to the so-called Höhenhaus or Heidenhaus types ("high or heath houses"). It was built there as early as 1599.

Return Rafting On round logs to the Netherlands: rafters in the Black Forest The rafting trade in the Black Forest is very old. It is documented as early as the beginning of the 14th century, especially on the Kinzig, a 93-kilometer-long river that forms the border between the northern and southern Black Forest with its striking valley and abundance of water. It rises near Lossburg in the Freudenstadt district, then flows through towns such as Alpirsbach, Schiltach and Wolfach before its valley becomes wide and deep from Hausach. It finally flows into the Rhine at Kehl. By then it has overcome a difference in altitude of 548 meters. There was also rafting on the Enz, the Murg and even on the Dreisam and Wiese. Especially in Schiltach and Wolfach, rafting was one of the most important economic activities from the 14th century on. Trees were felled in the Black Forest, where wood was plentiful. The delimbed, barkless trunks were either thrown into the river or, if there was no body of water nearby, they were let slide down into the valley on so-called "Riesen". These were slides that were also made of logs. In the heyday of rafting, the Riesen were very numerous. Today there is only one reconstructed one, and that is at the Glaswaldsee near Bad Rippoldsau. In the water, which was specially dammed for this purpose, the logs were joined together with the help of so-called "Wieden", wooden ropes, to form huge rafts, which then glided downstream, usually with the drained water. Their dimensions were not to be underestimated, up to six hundred meters long and six meters wide, and therefore anything but easy to steer. Especially at weirs and the whirlpools that occurred behind them, the rafts were heavily stressed and it was not uncommon for the rafters to get caught in the water. At that time, there was no alternative means of transport that could have carried so many logs at once. The rafts carried the wood along the Kinzig river to the Rhine, and there to Strasbourg, Karlsruhe, Mannheim and Mainz. The Rhine rafters even took it as far as the Netherlands. Especially in Amsterdam, the logs were used as foundation piles for house construction. A considerable part of the piles still existing today are former Black Forest trees. This is the origin of the name "Holländertanne" for fir trees, which were very strong. In the 15th century, rafting had its widest expansion on the river Kinzig to Alpirsbach, on the tributary Schiltach to Schramberg as well as on the Wolf to Bad Rippoldsau. It was not until the advent of railroad traffic at the end of the 19th century that rafting on the Kinzig lost its importance, mainly due to the construction of the line from Hausach to Freudenstadt, which was completed in 1886. But this is not the only reason for the disappearance of this craft. Rather, there was hardly any wood available at that time, as the Black Forest was mostly clear-cut. It was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that reforestation began. Nowadays, rafts still travel on the Kinzig, but they no longer transport wood. Rather, hobby rafters emulate the former activity. In addition, there are raft museums in Wolfach, Gengenbach, Calmbach near Bad Wildbad and Schiltach (Schüttesäge Museum), which recall this traditional craft, and a raft park in Wolfach.

Return Bannwald Just let nature be nature Usually, forests in Germany are managed. This means that there are foresters who monitor the growth and condition of the trees and intervene if necessary by cutting down diseased trees or trees infested by pests such as the bark beetle. In addition, healthy trees are felled in order to process their wood. In a ban forest, things are different. Here, the forest can grow as it used to, that is, before human intervention. Consequently, there neither are foresters nor any management. This has several effects. Different tree species can grow unhindered. Old trees fall and rot, thus forming new nutrients for the soil. This also creates small clearings that provide habitat for other plants and animals. In the undergrowth, animals find hiding places and can create shelters. Some bird species prefer the broken trunks as nesting sites. In the Black Forest, several areas are considered ban forests, covering a total space of 4,600 hectares. The best-known ban forest is located in the core zone of the Black Forest National Park near Baiersbronn, but it has existed since 1911. It dates back to a 1908 recommendation by Christian Wagner, then a professor of forestry, to preserve the forest, which was already quite pristine at the time. Initially, the area amounted to about 86 hectares. Later, in 1998, the ban forest was expanded to 150 hectares. It is the oldest natural forest reserve in Baden-Württemberg. With 102 hectares, the Feldsee forest on the Feldberg massif is also considerable. If forests are only used economically to a very limited extent, they are referred to as protected forests. There are a total of 11,500 hectares of these in the Black Forest. The term "Bannwald" ("ban forest") is quite old. In the Middle Ages, the word "Bann" described the fact that only the respective sovereign had a right to use a place. All others, for example farmers, were "banished" from it. Thus, "Bannwald" has the meaning that no one has a right of use to the piece of forest. Especially in Baden-Württemberg, the "ban" applies completely; any kind of use is prohibited in a ban forest.

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