Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
www.alpirsbacher.com
; Marktplatz 1; tours €6.90; 2.30pm daily)
are in German,
though guides may speak English. Two beers are thrown in for the price of a ticket.
A few paces north, you can watch chocolate being made and scoff delectable beer-filled
pralines at
Schau-Confiserie Heinzelmann
(Ambrosius-Blarer-Platz 2; 9am-12pm &
2-6pm Mon-Fri, to 5pm Sat)
.
All the more evocative for its lack of adornment, the 11th-century former Benedictine
Kloster Alpirsbach
(adult/concession €4/3.30; 10am-5.30pm Mon-Sat &
11am-5.30pm Sun)
sits opposite. The monastery effectively conveys the simple, spiritual
life in its flat-roofed church, spartan cells and Gothic cloister, which hosts candlelit con-
certs (
www.kreuzgangkonzerte.de
) from June to August. It's amazing what you can find
under the floorboards, as the museum reveals with its stash of 16th-century clothing, cari-
catures (of artistic scholars) and lines (of misbehaving ones).
The
tourist office
( 951 6281;
www.stadt-alpirsbach.de
;
Krähenbadstrasse 2;
10am-noon & 2-5pm Mon-Fri, closed Wed afternoon)
can supply hiking maps and, for
cyclists, information on the 85km Kinzigtalradweg from Offenburg to Lossburg.
Schiltach
07836 / POP 3880
Sitting smugly at the foot of wooded hills and on the banks of the Kinzig and Schiltach
Rivers, medieval Schiltach looks too perfect to be true. The meticulously restored half-
timbered houses, which once belonged to tanners, merchants and raft builders, are a riot of
crimson geraniums in summer.
Sights & Activities
Altstadt
Centred on a trickling fountain, the sloping, triangular
Marktplatz
is Schiltach at its
picture-book best. The frescoes of the step-gabled, 16th-century
Rathaus
opposite depict
scenes from local history. Clamber south up
Schlossbergstrasse
, pausing to notice the
plaques that denote the trades of one-time residents, such as the
Strumpfstricker
(stocking
weaver) at No 6, and the sloping roofs where tanners once dried their skins. Up top there
are views over Schiltach's red rooftops.
Because Schiltach is at the confluence of the
Kinzig
and
Schiltach Rivers
, logging was
big business until the 19th century and huge rafts were built to ship timber as far as the
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