Jan 9, 2023

Martinshotel Near Mainberg Castle, Germany

This Christmas holiday, while visiting my four siblings in my hometown area of lower Franconia, we decided to stay in this newly renovated historic building, which was turned into a hotel in 2021.

The hotel itself is in the center of the village (Mainberg, a district of Schonungen), and the castle sits up on the hill overlooking the Main River and other villages.

The hotel entrance reflects where the old meets modern.

Martinshotel in Mainberg

We had a splendid time there. The rooms are spacious and arranged in a modern way. We had our breakfast in a beautiful ambiance (this room is a wine pub in the evenings).

From the parking lot, you can see part of the castle. It is a good 10-minute walk there, which we did on this overcast morning of New Year’s Eve.

I can highly recommend this hotel. The service is excellent. Mr. Martin, the owner, speaks English as well, and this made our stay more comfortable for our non-German speaking friend, who had come along from London.

If you want to know more about the hotel, then visit Martinshotel.

Oct 16, 2022

German-American Volksmarch Commemorative Plates from the 1970s/1980s

As I have reached the age of downsizing, I take more frequent trips down to the basement. We have been in one location for the past 27 years, but I swear, some of the current basement finds must have sneaked in at night. I have no idea how they ended up here.

Yes, the reference Hambach (in green) to my hometown village is clear.

Spvgg stands for Sportvereinigung (game association)

Before these plates move on, I want to share these period pieces with you.

German-American Volksmarch 1978
German-American Volksmarch 1979
German-American Volksmarch 1980
Jul 16, 2021

Mainberg Castle near Schweinfurt

Some of you might have heard that Germany has been hit by severe flooding in the past few days.

A week ago, we spent the weekend in my hometown area to attend a family reunion, and we were blessed with a day of blue skies and sunshine amid a long stretch of dark and gloomy days.

Here we came down Mainberger Straße on our way to attend our get-together in Hausen/Schonungen. The Main River, on the right hand side of the tracks, has not been affected by the constant rain falls yet. Most of the flooding is happening in the far western part of Germany.

Mainberger Straße Schweinfurt

A hotel, overlooking the Mainberg Castle, is in the works right now. The Martin Family purchased a former farming estate on ‘Grundstrasse’ in Mainberg, and the hotel with Café and ‘Weinstube’ is supposed to be up and running by the summer of 2022.

This is an article in German about the project: https://www.mainpost.de/regional/schweinfurt/mainberg-die-martins-und-ihr-hotel-projekt-art-10486991

Mar 7, 2019

Dambach-la-Ville in the Alsace

On our way back to Oberursel, we stopped for lunch in the village of Dambach-la-Ville (about 10 minutes from Sélestat). It was Sunday, and very quiet. The only people we saw were a handful of tourists like us heading to the restaurant opposite the church.

This must have be the quietest place on earth. No voices (from neither people, nor animals), no car traffic, no sounds coming from any of the homes. It seemed the residents had all left for the weekend. This was the case on an early Sunday afternoon in late February.

The village (based on all the signs we saw) offers much wine-tasting, hiking routes, and places to stay overnight. Next time, we’re heading to the Alsace, we will spend a few days in Dambach-la-Ville. The village lies on the eastern slopes of the Vosges, and offers quite a few hiking trails.  I’ll even try it – the shortest one is a one-hour trail. I can manage that.

This is one of the many half-timbered homes in the village.

The roads in this medieval wine village were deserted on this Sunday in February.

 

To learn more about this village, visit Dambach-la-Ville, Alsace.

Apr 2, 2013

Good Beer Area and the Wireless

We spent the past Easter weekend in the heart of Germany, namely the region Franconia in northern Bavaria.

As usual, we met my siblings over dinner in one of those rural guesthouses, where local cuisine and often home brewed beer is served. When I opened my iPad, this popped up:

Good Beer Area

We had a good laugh on this one – the guesthouse on main street in this small village of Hausen with a population of 636 residents – uses English. Quite modest is its claim of Good Beer Area. They should call it Best Beer Area.

A typical pub interior

 

Brauerei Martin in Hausen

Quoting Frank Zappa:

“You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.”

 

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