Franconian Hospitality

We woke up early the next day - in the same clothes as last night - nice! We had a train to catch so we could catch another train and connect to yet another train so we could get to a tiny hamlet in rural Germany named Bamberg that has been there since the 13th century. Good times. Now don't be surprised if you haven't heard of Bamberg - it's a beer thing.

So feeling as hungover as a sailor on shore leave we trundled off with our ever increasingly heavy packs (I'm sure someone hid a few bricks in there overnight).
The train ride was a chance to catch up on a bit of sleep but that didn't happen. It's very picturesque countryside and we had to keep an eye on station names to make sure we got off at the right stop.

After about 7 hours and 3 trains we arrived in Bamberg and set off in search of a room for the night. Apparently, the centre of town where the Visitors' Centre is a 15 minute bus ride and a 15 minute walk away from the train station - pack is feeling heavier. On the bus we got chatting to an older German woman who was very helpful and led us most of the way to where we needed to go. For the record she was the tallest woman I've ever met - damn near 6' 6"!
Somehow lunch stayed where it belongs (in Lina's tummy)

Our traveller's luck was definitely on. We arrived at the Visitors' Centre and were sorting out our accomodation when in walked the lunchtime rush. I hope none of them needed accomodation because the girl told us we got the last double room in all of Bamberg. And of course it was at the top of the steepest hill in town. Our packs by this stage were feeling like concrete.

Lucky for us there was a bus that could get us to the top of the hill. Did I tell you how much I love buses? After trying to read our VERY dodgey map and wandering sort of in the right direction we were saved - the local postie - he'll know where it is! We were thrilled to hear our hotel is just at the bottom of the alley we're standing next to. Nice room too - a bit more expensive than what we were used to but we had an awesome view of the castle from our balcony.

A couple of hours later we woke up ready to go investigating. Of course by now the clouds had come in and the rain with it. Not to worry - we came to expect rain now - after all it was bloody summer! Luckily our hotel was pricey enough to have complimentary brollies.

Now most of you will be saying "where the hell is Bamberg and what is its significance?". Bamberg a town in the province of Franconia in the north of what used to be known as Bavaria. With me so far? The immediate region around Bamberg is also home to around 200 breweries :) Kappiche? The town itself has 14 brauhauses/brauries all of whom serve only their own beers. Its also the home of rauchbier (or smoked beer) and the Weyermann Malting Co. which exports their products all over the world. Home brewers like Weyermann.

We spent the afternoon checking out the main commercial area in the old part of town. This is the area that dates back to the 13th century and is built on the banks of the River Regnitz. In fact the town hall is built halfway across the main bridge spanning the river - those crazy Germans! It even has a row of houses named Little Venice because of the resemblance to the architecture and their close proximatey to the river. It would be even more scenic if those clouds would blow away.

The local stores are full of antiques and locally hand crafted items. It really was like going back into a piece of history, the cobblestone streets were gorgeous and Lina soon learnt why Europeans always wear flat shoes. Of particular note in the antique stores are the hand carved wooden figurines and the settings. There's quite a few souvenier stores there too which we were a little surprised to see. The place is relatively difficult to get to unless you have your own transport that we wouldn't have thought tourism was a major drawcard for the region. At least the Japanese haven't heard of it yet but they wouldn't know a good beer if it leapt off the shelf and yelled "Bonsai" at them.

Speaking of good beer we spent a little time at a brauhaus called Schlenkerla. Anyone who knows about beers of the world would have heard of this place. It's been there for just over 600 years and serves one and only one beer - Rauchbier. It is served from a 50L wooden cask using a tap that is hammered into place and poured using gravity. Very old school. Schlenkerla is also one of two breweries in the region that smoke their own malt and they won't sell it to anyone. Good on 'em!
We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon wandering around the establishment and sitting outside in their biergarten drinking "liquid ham hocks". You've got to try the beer to understand. The rain started to fall again so we made our way inside only to be told there were no seats. It was now Friday evening so thinking about it we should have made a move inside sooner (who knows what day of the week it is when you are travelling). We were eventually seated at the one of the old raw timber benches where we met Dieter and Marianna. Dieter is a retired gent about 60 odd who speaks very good English and Marianna is his wife who seemed to understand a fair bit but wasn't confident enough to speak much English. Still - it was better than our German! It turns out that Marianna loves to cook and Dieta loves to eat. Sound familiar? We spent the evening with them and shared a meal and a several litres of rauchbier, (it gets even better by the litre) well it does for those of us that could look at beer after the previous night. It was getting late so we called it a night but not before Dieter offered to pick us up the next day and take us to one of the original biergartens 15km into the surrounding forest. Cool.

The next day we decided to go on the brewery trail so we headed off to the Visitors' Centre via the local cathedral and adjoining rose garden. On the way we picked up a big decorative beer stein and stopped off at Schlenkerla again just to get a few photos. No beer this time :( Since it was only 10am the place was pretty empty and that was perfect for wandering around taking photos of the brauhaus and sneaking into a few places we probably shouldn't have been. We even got chatting with Matthiaus Trum a likeable bloke about our age who it turns out is the 6th generation of Trums to be brewmaster there. We probably could have stayed a lot longer but we had many other places to visit so off we went.

At the Visitors' Centre we found out there are two trails you can do. One on the east bank - that's the side with Schlenkerla and another brauhaus around the corner from our hotel; and one on the west bank. They both have 7 brauhauses each so we went the west trail as we'd already been to Schlenkerla and planned on finishing near the hotel anyway. We paid our 20 euro and received a backpack, a 250ml printed glass and a book of vouchers for free beer! Woohoo!

Along the way we ran into a trio of poms who are members of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale). We saw them a few times along the route as we were all going in the direction and shared a couple of beers with them. About the 4th or 5th brewery was closed and the sign out the front said they would open again at 4.30pm. How could we read German so well? We couldn't! A couple were coming out of a nearby building and asked if we needed help (we must've looked like tourists?). Not only did they translate for us, they asked where we were headed next. Turns out our next stop was about 1km away so they told us to hop in the back of their Volvo and they drove us to the front door.

We met up with Dieter and Marianna later in the afternoon and drove into the forest and arrived at Kreuzbergkeller. The idea behind places like this is back in the day the beer that was brewed in the surrounding breweries was stored for a maturation period over the winter in the ice caves in the surrounding hills. This is known as "lagering" (that's German for storing - hence the beer type "lager"). In the Autumn the beer would then be transported back to town for the locals. Some bright spark then thought instead of bringing the beer to the people, let's have them come to the beer. So a few benches and serving facilities later saw the birth of the bierkeller (or beer cellar).

On our visit, the weather kept many people away so it was very quiet. It made for an idealic setting though with seating for hundreds - wooden benches of course - and the wind rustling through the massive trees that would have provided shade if it was sunny enough. A very pleasant way to spend a few hours. After a meal it was time to say goodbye, so Dieter and Marianna dropped us off at our hotel and we made our way to our last stop where we ran into the poms again. They were green with envy when we told them where we had been and shown them the photos. We turned in reasonably early as we had to catch a train to Koln in the morning.

Visiting Bamberg was a real highlight for us both. Not just for the amazing beer scene and the town itself but for the people we met there (and in Munich). Before travelling to Germany, Lina and I expected the German people to be abrupt, stand-offish and short. We couldn't have been more wrong. Those in general that we met along the way, and a few in particular, showed that they're in fact very warm, helpful and always ready with a smile or a laugh. That revelation has been one of the most pleasing and rewarding things about the entire trip.
As Dieter said "You can't beat Franconian hospitality."