Today is yet another day bumming around in Upper Franconia — this time in the town of Eckersdorf, located right next door to Bayreuth.
Don’t take that the wrong way, I’m not complaining in the least — and if I ever get bored in Franconia, I’ll be hanging up my keyboard forever. That’s not very likely to happen, considering there’s always something to get excited about — be it Franconia, or just Germany itself.
One of the things to get excited about in Eckersdorf is Schloss Fantaisie, once just some aristocrat’s summer home. Within the palatial estate is the Rococo garden, now known as the Garden Art Museum — a grand way as any to spend some time outdoors.
For those of you who aren’t the outdoorsy type, I gotta tell ya, you might want to rethink that around these parts. The Teufelsloch (Devil’s Hole) nature reserve is a great place to start — and you want to know something else? This natural landscape was created some 200 million years ago.
Not too far from the Devil’s Hole is the Lettenwinkel, which might be an old abandoned quarry, but it’s still a great place to experience the wonders of nature.
Now that I think about it, the Wanderweg Salamandertal can do that too. Nature meets the written word along the Jean-Paul Trail, a German writer who was known to be quite the avid hiker. How can you not be inspired to write when you’re wandering around the Franconian Switzerland?
I, however, am quite the avid party-goer — so I’m excited about Eckersdorf’s many festivals and cultural events. Summer is the busiest time of all, with July hosting the Summer Festival, Pfarrfest, and a Kerwa — followed by three more Kerwa (church festivals) in August.
You will have to wait for Autumn for the two Wine Festivals, one in September, the other in October. Plus, there’s also an Advent Market at the end of November — a great way to bring in the Christmas season, wouldn’t you say?
Another thing I get excited about is pretty architecture, so it’s no wonder I love places like the St. Ägidius Church, built way back in the 1790s. The Forest House, once a Jagdschloss, has been around since 1776; but the oldest place is the Laurentius Church, built a thousand years ago. Ok, not technically, since the original was destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War conflict. Also from the Middle Ages is the Fähnleinsbrunnen, a fountain erected when Henry IV stopped on a pilgrimage in 1077.
It seems there’s a lot to get excited about here in Eckersdorf, which is why I’ll never, ever hang up my keyboard. ;-)
