The trains, unsurprisingly, are running dead on time as my suitcase clickety-clacks across Platform 3 of Frankfurt Flughafen Regionalbahnhof. Carriages headed into the city are packed with white-collar workers, off to their gleaming tower blocks in Germany’s financial capital to try and save the Euro.
I, on the hand, have more important things to take care of. Like Riesling. And Spätburgunder. Now I don’t normally choose nuns as drinking partners, but for the sisters of Abbey St. Hildegaard I’ll make an exception.
Germany in autumn is famous for Munich’s beery Oktoberfest – the biggest wedding knees-up of all time – but it’s the quaint village of Rüdesheim on the banks of the Rhine where my train screeches to a halt. Just 70 minutes from Frankfurt, and a few millennia back in time.
Tourist-friendly Rüdesheim is the Franschhoek of the Rhine Gorge, but unlike the heart of the Cape winelands it was the Romans, not the Huguenots, who brought wine-making to the steep slopes of this valley some two thousand years ago. Today, there are dozens, some say hundreds, of small wineries in town and scraps of vineyard fill every available patch of hillside.
But before I can set off exploring I need to drop my luggage, and in Rüdesheim all roads lead to the cobbled alley of Drosselgaße; a narrow lane lined with shops, restaurants and hotels. Including mine, the delightful family-owned Hotel Lindenwirt.
Lindenwirt’s offbeat wine barrel rooms – bunk beds in 8000-litre wooden casks once used to make Riesling – are a popular option for travellers on a budget, but I opt for a more comfortable room in the original building. Like much of Rüdesheim, the foundations date back centuries, but the building was restored in the 1940s after being destroyed by Allied bombs in World War II.
After lunch in the charming old-school dining room – apronned waiters offer traditional dishes like Wild Boar in Apple Sauce, or local Rudesheimer wurst, under heavy wooden beams and iron chandeliers – I wrap up against the spring chill and wander off up the hill. I have an appointment with those nuns.
The Benedictine Abbey of St. Hildegaard – home to 55 nuns aged from 25 to 94 – dates back to the 12th century and, although the current buildings were only completed in 1907, in many ways not much has changed. Daily prayers are still sung in Latin in the beautifully frescoed chapel, stern-looking sisters deal with visitors, and the hillside vineyards are a hive of activity.
The young nun guarding the wine-tasting booth insists I try each of their nine or 10 varietals of Riesling and Spätburgunder, so by the time I meander back down the hill I’m aglow with their holy spirit.
Back in the village, the market square is quiet, but on Saturday mornings and in the weeks before Christmas it comes alive with market stalls selling crafts, food and local wine. Dominating one corner, the serene St. Jakobus Catholic Church was built over 600 years ago and was a stop for the faithful on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage that once stretched all the way to Jerusalem.
The market square is a good place to start your wanderings, with interesting diversions in all directions. South leads you to the Rhine, where passing boats ferry passengers and freight all the way from Switzerland to Rotterdam. The Eagle Tower is a perfect piece of Late Gothic architecture, and was once part of the medieval city wall.
Follow another path from the square and a winding alleyway leads you to the Klunkhardshof, perhaps the village’s best example of the picturesque half-timbered style that lends Rüdesheim so much charm. Although similar to the English Tudor, the lower floors of most Rüdesheim dwellings were built of stone to guard against the regular flooding of the Rhine.
Wandering uphill, the pedestrian-friendly Oberstraße is also a popular hangout for tourists, with pavement cafes and popular wine bars spilling out into the street. A vine wreath above the door of a small restaurant beckons me in. Many of the restaurateurs make their own wines, and a quaint tradition still holds in town that when the proprietor has wines to sell a wreath is strung above the doorway.
The impressive Niederwald Monument
A few steps away, a wander through the offbeat collection of musical miscellany at Siegfried’s Mechanisches Musiekkabinett is worth it for the novel carillons and music boxes, but the main attraction of Oberstraße is the cable car up to the dramatic Niederwald Monument.
Towering above the village, this impressive bronze statue commemorates the unification of Germany in 1871. Despite its imposing size, the intricacy of sculpture is outstanding and it’s well worth finding a bench to appreciate the fine metalwork found across the 38-metre statue.
The monument also offers wonderful views out across the Rhine, and below me the Riesling vineyards tumble down towards the river. Riesling rules around here, but the region is also becoming famous for its Spätburgunder, known in South Africa as Pinot Noir. The tiny hamlet of Assmansshausen, a few kilometers upriver, makes the best red in the area and a pleasant walk through the forest makes a good break from the crowded cobbled streets.
I wander through the forest of beech, cherry and oak trees in the footsteps of Johann Goethe, Germany’s iconic poet, and the composer Johannes Brahms; both regular visitors to this corner of the Rhine. The woodland is also home to wild boar, deer and fox, but today it’s only the Spotted Blackbird that flits through the trees. Sadly, the hermit who once lived on a lookout here has long since passed on.
Forty minutes later the path emerges at the chairlift down to Assmansshausen. Cosy cellars and terrace restaurants abound here, and it’s a fine place to stop for lunch and a glass or two of Pinot Noir.
At the town pier, a few steps from the main square, I jump on board one of the regular ferryboats plying the Rhine. Rüdesheim is a short trip upriver, but a day-trip downstream through the Rhine Gorge is not to be missed.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Gorge is home to stunning scenery and centuries of European history. Vineyards cling to the prized south-facing slopes, while medieval castles that once charged lucrative tolls now lie in ruin along the river that flows beneath the famous rock of Loreley.
If you start your day early enough, a hop-on-hop-off ticket allows you to explore the historic towns of Bacharach, Kaub and St. Goarshausen, but if you’re feeling lazy simply get there early to grab a seat along the rails and watch the scenery flow by.
Our boat returns home in the late afternoon and after a quick Rüdesheim coffee – fortified with the local Asbach cognac and topped with cream and chocolate – I swop the river for the rails and head back to Frankfurt.
'Handkäs mit Musik’
The bars around the ornate railway station are filled with locals watching the football, but I venture to the narrow streets of Old Sachsenhausen. The atmospheric bars here are famous for the locally fermented apfelwein, usually enjoyed alongside ‘Handkäs mit Musik’; a pungent yellow cheese served with onions.
The music that wakes me up on Sunday morning is the tolling of the city’s half-dozen church bells, calling the faithful to Mass, and of the city’s many spires the Gothic St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral is the most impressive. Built in 1239, this was where the German kings were crowned for nearly 300 years. Incredibly, while World War II bombs flattened Frankfurt, the tower of the ‘Dom’ survived.
A few steps from St. Bartholomew’s, the cobbled Römer Square is the rebuilt heart of ‘old’ Frankfurt, with an attractive mix of half-timber houses and gabled city halls. The Römerhof comes alive at night, when pavement cafés and biergartens spill out across the cobbles.
Although the city is a financial centre it has also become a hub for art and museums, particularly on the south bank’s ‘Museum mile’. If you’d rather be outdoors, the riverside promenade is just as lovely on a bright summer morning, with cyclists, joggers and lovers out in force.
Art museums, rich architecture, fine wine, opera houses and stunning scenery; as I board my train back to Frankfurt Airport I can’t help thinking that it’s all a far cry from sweaty men in lederhosen chugging back another litre of beer in a hot Oktoberfest tent. Make mine a Spätburgunder any day.
Travel advisory
- Lufthansa flies daily from Johannesburg to Frankfurt year-round, with an additional daily service from Cape Town to Frankfurt during summer. To book, visit www.lufthansa.com or call 0861 842 538
- Plan your visit to Frankfurt and the Rhine Gorge on the German National Tourist Board website: www.germany-tourism.de.
- South African passport holders require a Schengen visa to visit Germany. For information on how to apply, go to www.pretoria.diplo.de.
First published in Garden & Home magazine; October 2010
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