Traveling to Bad Dürkheim

As a German teacher I'd always look at the picture of the Bad Dürkheim Riesenfass and wish I could have seen it.  Well, now Jack and I have visited the town and eaten in this gigantic actual wine barrel!

It was built in 1934 to be the biggest in the world.  It held 1.7 million liters wine and was used for 20 years, then sold to become a restaurant.  Of course we had to get their wine sampler tray.  It was fun!

Of course we did all that after we hiked to the Hardenburg castle ruins (built 1205!).

We spent two hours exploring the different levels and listening to an audioguide with fascinating details.

We spied the Benedictine Cloister Limburg across a valley on another hill.  The travel brochures made it sound like a quick hike.  Well, it wasn't.

Jack snapped this of me after the last push up a very steep part and when I didn't realize the cloister was right beside me!  We had to really hurry up and then back down this steep hill because the bus at the bottom only came a few times on that Saturday.

It was older (1027) and much smaller than Hardenburg, but still interesting.  

And we made the bus back to the city of Bad Dürkheim, where we enjoyed a good meal in the Riesenfaß restaurant and sampled the wines of the area.  

If a German city has Bad in its name it signifies a spa.  Here there is a "saline" built in 1847 to produce salt, but was later used for it's health benefits - walking around it is just like walking along the ocean; you breathe in salty air.  And the spas around use the salt in their baths.  

It burned down in 2007 and was rebuilt for a cost of 5.5 million Euros, plus 1 million for the solar power plant!  The brine is pumped to the top and drips down through the brushwood; water evaporates and salt is concentrated.   A gorgeous park runs from here through the city.  Delightful!