Europe Through the Back Door – Two Wheels Edition
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| Rheinfells, Schauffhausen Switzerland the beginning of the Rhein River |
Unfortunately his
tours go to the small places, but now due to their size they stay in more
upscale places, a demand by the primarily US consumer. Also, he has made some
places so popular, they are on the radar screen now. I know Rick took a swipe at Tripadvisor and Booking.com back
2 years ago because they are in our mind the most efficient aggregators of tourism
information and accommodations. He viewed them as travel Nazi’s, and I gave hom
our feedback. I mentioned back in 2011
the entrepreneur in Sighisoara, Romania used Booking.com exclusively as his
booking agent and for the 15% cut they took, it was cheaper than him hiring
staff to manage his bookings and website. Booking.com did it for him.
In 2013 we stopped in NeuRavensburg Germany, just outside
Switzerland and that evening happened across a small village gathering of
people who came to a social gathering place to hear a Hamburg “BigBand” and
enjoy some drinks and food on a warm early July night. The village was maybe
100 people large, so we stood out. And the host purposely sat English
speaking villagers with us so we could enjoy and converse with them. They all
asked “Why are you here?” And of course it was partly we are just passing
through, and we are curious.
This year we have taken it a bit further. For two separate
days we have purposely stayed in non-tourist towns, Uhlingen- Birkendorf
at the Gasthaus Zum Schwanen,
and today in Stuhlingen at the Landgasthof
Rebstock. Both are in Germany, technically in the Black Forest, but very close
to the Swiss border.
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| Zum Schwanen |
These places ; U-B in particular have maybe 100 people
maximum in them, Stuhlingen probably 500-600. They are very German, little or
no English spoken unless you approach a young person which we did in U-B. The
meal we had last evening was excellent, Gasthaus’ being both pub/restaurant and
Hotel and small, maybe 8 rooms at best. Very nice rooms, very good food,
reasonable prices on everything and fresh ingredients, farm produce (oh the
cheeses are out of this world!), and spectacular beer. Our host at Zum Schwanen
tells us we are the first Canadian’s to stay at his place. It’s nice to be the
first at something! Our walk through the village which is on a hill overlooking
the Swiss Alps, has million dollar views, and the smell of fresh cut hay, and
yes some manure. There is even a board in the village that has everyone’s last
3 digits of their phone number on it. And German beds are the best to sleep in.
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| Family Schwanen |
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| At Rheinfells |
Today, in the rain, we drive to Stuhlingen, which is right
on the Swiss border. We decided to go to Schaffhausen, back in Switzerland, to
see the Rheinfells, Essentially the Falls where the Rhein river begins its
journey from Lake Constance in Switzerland, to the North Sea and has been the
economic throughfare for barges dating back to the middle ages at least. There
as we enter the motorcycle parking a couple wave to us, and call out, “We loved
Niagara Falls!”. We laugh as they walk away.
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| Petra (Peewee) and Berndt |
A few minutes later we are down by the falls and they come
back up to us and ask if we’d like them to take our picture, so we agree, and
then begin chatting and taking pictures of each other. They are from Berlin and
have recently hosted an American on motorcycle, and while they aren’t currently
riding bike, they own Honda Valkyries’.
They have a lot of interest in Canada and have visited a few times
before so we exchange cards. We hope they come so we can show them our neck of
the woods.
So how did we find these great little places? Well I looked
at a map that was about the riding distance we wanted for one day ( 300-350
kms) and then checked on Booking.com for larger centres around there. Based on
the ratings you can tell the good establishments and we booked them. Go to the
map view of the places and find ones that aren’t in the big centres but a ways
away. They have both been wonderful, with this last one even opening up the
garage to park inside since it’s raining again.
So what I’m getting at now with the internet,
the information available using resources like Rick Steves, and Booking.com and
Trip Advisor you can source very good reasonable accommodation, not far from
the main centres, but that allow you to have a personal experience that can’t
be recreated by buying a ticket. Our son and daughter-in-law have experienced a
similar feeling by travelling off season and visiting the Christmas markets in
European cities. Either way allow your curiosity to take you to new off the
beaten path or back door locations. And while we are on motorcycle this is a
travel tip that works for anyone.
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| Landgasthof Rebstock |
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| Rebstock Family |
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