The world famous Schwarzwald (sorry, that would be the Black Forest) doesn’t always reveal its secrets all at once. No, it takes time to get to know all its parts. Then, you find a town like Furtwangen and want to yell to the world that you’ve found a precious gem.
First off, Furtwangen is a university town. Imagine all those young brilliant minds all within its borders. Then, there’s the fact that Furtwangen is on the German Clock Route, or Deutsche Uhrenstraße in German. This is where you’ll find the Clock Museum housing a huge collection of, well, clocks.
Please, Germany is known for being prompt — must be all the clocks that keep the country running on-time! ;-)
There’s more to Furtwangen than college and clocks. There’s an outdoor tourist museum and the Computer Museum is filled with all sorts of office machines and calculators.
Then there are the festivals! Carnival is one of the biggest festivals in the Black Forest. Watch a “witch” jump over fire, drink til you’re merry, and eat until you can barely fit into your “costume”!
Yeah, sounds fun, right? :-)
Clocks make their reappearance during the annual Flea Market in late August. Well, it’s technically the Antique Clock & Watch Exchange that coincides with the Flea Market. Either way, imagine 300 booths all laid out with all sorts of bric-a-brac. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure…
The Schwarzwald-Bike-Marathon is another big doozy, considered to be one of the most difficult in Germany. If you’re like me, biking 120 kilometers through the forest isn’t a good time. So, opt to climb Furtwangen’s observation tower instead. The view is excellent to say the least!
There’s also the Hexenlochmühle, one of those romantic water mills to see. And then a trek to the Martin Chapel (a source of the Breg & the Danube) is in order.
It might just be a good thing you’re not in college here — you’ll have the time to see it all and not have to do homework!
