Black Forest - a lot to discover from tradition to high tech
The Black Forest is a mountainous region in southwest Germany, bordering France. Known for its dense, evergreen forests and picturesque villages, it is often associated with the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. It’s renowned for its spas and the cuckoo clocks produced in the region since the 1700s.
The Thyssenkrupp Elevator Test Tower
In Rottweil, the oldest city in Baden-Württemberg, Thyssenkrupp has built a test tower which was completed in 2018. The tower is 246 meters high and is therefore Germany’s highest visitor platform. Technically, the tower is pretty impressive, as the Thyssenkrupp engineers were probably more interested in testing elevators with dizzying speeds of up to 18 m/s. Conveniently, however, the tower is open to the public (currently still with Corona restrictions, but still) and offers a brilliant viewing platform at 232m with a really cool view. The website is unfortunately still only in German: https://testturm.tkelevator.com/global-de/
The next stop: Steim’s vintage car collection in Schramberg
The private collection with about 130 vehicles gives an exciting overview of the history of international car manufacturing of the last 115 years. There are indeed some real treasures to discover, such as a Maybach Zeppelin from 1932 as well as the Mercedes 300 of former German President Heinrich Lübke from 1959. There are also some American classic cars to admire. I especially liked the decoration. See: https://auto-und-uhrenwelt.de/en/the-museums/car-exhibition-steim
From Schramberg via the Black Forest High Road to Schiltach
Schiltach is a picture-book town: half-timbered houses from the 16th- 19th centuries characterize the townscape. The entire old town is under monument protection and is one of the best known and most beautiful destinations in the Black Forest. I actually met a surprising number of tourists there, although I always wonder why we make it so difficult for foreign tourists to find their way around. In the Black Forest, people speak German! A walk through the old town is beautiful, but also a bit like a dreamy journey into the past. However, Schiltach is the perfect spot to try a piece of the famous Black Forest Cake.
