There’s a book titled “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever.” Well, in the case of the Hessian town of Steinbach (Taunus) I’m going to take literary license and say “On A Clear Day You Can See Frankfurt.” Really, I’m not kidding; that’s how close the city of Frankfurt am Main is to Steinbach.
To be frank, there aren’t many historical buildings within Steinbach. Sorry, if you’re looking for those timber framed buildings that look like they’ve come straight from a fairytale — there really aren’t any.
OK, I’m sorry… there are a few and the oldest one dates to 1549. Another one is the Gasthaus zum Goldenen Stern (in English that’s the Golden Star Inn) and the Zum Schwanen (yup, the Swan Inn).
Hey, you might get to see only few half-timbered buildings, but you just had yet another German language lesson right here on mygermancity.com. ;-)
So, it doesn’t have too many old framework buildings, but it does have the Taunus, Roman ruins, and lots of meadows with fruit trees instead!
Those fruit trees have to get picked sometime and many of those delicious vitamin packed goodies can be bought at Steinbach’s Wochenmarkt (Weekly Market — see, another lesson). The saying is the early bird catches the worm, but in this case the early bird catches the best fruit — the market opens at 7:30am and shuts down at 1pm.
After your fruit buying day is over, come check out some Roman stone foundations. However, don’t get all excited thinking this was a Roman town — people have been here since the Stone Age, long before the Romans left their part of Italy.
Then get on your most comfortable walking shoes so you can hit the walking and cycling trails of the Taunus. If you get tired, you’ll find a quiet, idyllic spot over at the artificial lake (in Niederhöchstadt); have a picnic and think about all you’ve seen so far.
One thing to think about is how heavy the bells of the St. Georg Church are, weighing over 250 pounds, built in 1270.
With history like this, who cares that Steinbach doesn’t have too many framework buildings — it does have some things to offer, nonetheless!
