hello and greetings from Saale-Unstrut today we are visiting the northernmost of germany's 13
wine growing regions which sits along the 51st parallel north the wine history here dates back
over a thousand years with the first vines being cultivated by monks in the year 998 a.d and it's
as picturesque a destination as you can find this is a place where terrace vineyards come
spilling down the hills where medieval castles sit atop cliffs and where churches stand guard in
the heart of the old town we've said it before and we'll say it again germany has some pretty magical
destinations to discover so without further ado the following is our travel guide to Saale-Unstrut
for visitors looking to have an action-packed and wine fuel day good morning good morning
guys greetings once again from germany today is such an exciting day because it is all about
wine tourism here exactly so we have arrived in Saale-Unstrut and we are going to be here for
only a day but we have an action-packed schedule we do that's going to include some wine tastings
staying at a wine hotel yes we're going to be visiting freyburg visiting the cathedral in
nambuch and also did i mention staying at a wine hotel where we're going to be drinking
more wine (wein) apparently this wine hotel has a 24-hour bar and you access it with your card
yeah just wind by the glass it's pretty amazing exactly and i'll also mention in the afternoon
we're going to be visiting a forge master and creating a little souvenir of our own
so we've got that fun activity coming up yeah but anyways we've just arrived the day is just
getting started so we're going to bring you along and have fun on this little adventure let's do it
so we started the morning with a guided walk through the town of freyburg
which is considered the wine capital of the region we found the town to be super walkable and full of
charm with lots of cheerful pastel shades vines crawling up the side of buildings and rooftops
with eye-shaped windows that kind of made it feel like you were being watched from above
we also popped into saint marion for a visit which is the lutheran church in the center of town
it is considered the little sister of naumbu cathedral which we will show you later in the
day but back to the sightseeing one thing that really caught our attention during our walk was
that we were surrounded by vineyards vineyards and more vineyards yes we knew we were visiting
a wine town but i don't think either one of us expected the vines to be right in the town and
so accessible all right how are we doing over there we've had a great walking tour
of the town so far so many historic buildings to visit but what impresses me the most is just how
the vineyards come spilling into the town like we are right on the we were just walking down
a path and then we suddenly came upon this we looked up and like wow it's spectacular
it just gives this town such a a distinct a distinct backdrop i would say yeah
and speaking of wine that morning we also visited hotkepien mum a winery that dates back to 1856 and
specializes in sparkling wines hot gepin mum makes up nearly half the market for sparkling
wine in germany and they're also one of the five largest producers of sparkling wine in the world
they do offer tours in german but another option if you don't speak the language is to just visit
the shop and peruse their various sparkling wine offerings because certain bottles can only be
obtained at this particular location well today's our lucky day we got a special sparkling orange
lucky day okay so we just visited which means little red riding hood um this place
specializes in sparkling wines this is kind of like their main headquarters here
and we've just acquired a very special bottle gold seal apparently you can only get it from here you
can only get this bottle over here so right here so yeah we'll tell you more about them later today
once we're back in the hotel we've got this to try and we've got the wine (wein) at the hotel
to also try it's gonna be a boozy day so if you're a wine lover i think you're gonna enjoy this video
all right guys so we drove up to the abbey church of saint bonifas and honestly i think these may be
some of the best views we have come across like this is truly impressive behind me you've got
the whole valley with the river that flows through that's how the region gets its name
from the saale river and the unstruct and you can see cute little villages and towns
freyburg where we were this morning is just back there and yeah it is so so charming it was well
worth the drive check out the views we get of the town from here and there's a beautiful bike path
that i would love to do someday to go visit the vineyards maybe with my dad would you imagine the
two of us doing that oh yes the two cyclists and the family we'd probably be taking naps along the
along the trail after every bottle this is probably a good time to tell you that cycling
trips are really popular in this area so if your idea of a really good holiday is cycling through
scenic countryside hopping from one winery to the next and stumbling upon a few castles along the
way well this is the place and it has hundreds of kilometers of bike paths along the zale
and unscott rivers but as for us we were here to drink some wine so let's take you to our next stop
for lunch we visited hertzoglihel weinberg which is a terraced vineyard that has been
preserved in the style of a baroque vineyard from the late 18th century
it sits at the foot of the unstruct river and it has neurenberg castle watching over it from
the hilltop this may very well be one of the most scenic vineyards we have ever visited some of the
grapes you can find in this vineyard include pinot blanc sylvaner and pinot noir plus they
also offer a picnic lunch to accompany their wines which makes for a really nice quick meal on the go
so lunch time and we are having a picnic at a vineyard how's that
oh this is amazing we've got olives both colors black and green we've got slices of salami
stuffed peppers with cheese little tomatoes well and some bread to go along with it and
the star of course is the peanut butter the very famous wine from this area let's try that
oh and they gave us a nice big glass gotta love that it's above the line look at that
beautiful beautiful tasting dry white wine (wein) from here so sam is normally a red
wine drinker this is unusual for you to be trying some white i'm learning to appreciate
whites more on this trip we've been i mean germany is famous for its white so
i wouldn't say it's an acquired taste i love wines of all flavors and colors yeah this is
this is definitely a good one so let's also try a little bit of a bite here
it's a perfect way to spend an afternoon here in germany sipping on wine
local wine i should add and having a nice tasty snack
afterwards we couldn't resist going to neuenberg castle for a closer look so we drove up to the top
this castle was built around the year 1090 by the turingian count ludwig the leaper and yes there is
a story behind his name according to local legend which may have been quite embellished over time
after stabbing a ruling count and then being incarcerated ludwig the leaper leapt from a castle
tower into the river where a servant was waiting for him with a boat and his favorite white horse
named swan where he made his perfect escape sounds like the stuff of german fairy tales i know
but either way it was a cool castle to visit with equally impressive views
next up we continue to the nearby town of naumbuk to visit the cathedral which not too long ago
was recognized as a unesco world heritage site also known as the cathedral of saint peter and
saint paul this is considered one of europe's most important cultural monuments from the high
middle ages and what makes it unique is that it's the only church in the world to contain
two choir screens from the high medieval period the main attraction is definitely the west choir
which features 12 statues depicting the church's top donors dating back to the mid 13th century
these statues were crafted by a medieval stone sculptor now only known as the noun bulk master
the most famous statue of all is uttar which is said to depict the most beautiful woman of
the middle ages and rumor has it she may have also been the inspiration for the evil queen in
disney snow white during our guided visit of nambu cathedral we got to climb up a spiraling staircase
that led to the attic which then led to one of the towers where you can enjoy views of the town below
so
we also toured the cathedral treasury vault which is one of the largest romanesque
vaults in central germany and houses sacral works of art all in all a really cool visit
then for afternoon activity we drove to a broken lunch medium for a foraging workshop
all right sam this is right up your alley here tell us what are we doing this afternoon
i remember like about half a year ago we were we were in a hotel and we were like binge watching
forged in fire for the first time i'm not making a sword but i am going to make a small
device and i'm really excited i don't have any skill in this area so i don't know if
it's going to turn out but i'm willing to try that's for sure okay so for this next activity
it probably makes sense if i show you the little tote which says
means handmade and like in this area they're really trying to promote like craftsmanship
and just the arts like artisanal things that you can create
so you can come as a visitor and take part in workshops so right now we are visiting a forge
and sam who is a huge fan of that forging tv show is going to have the chance to create
something i don't even know what you're making but you're making something so hopefully i don't know
well you've got the look yeah it feels good it's very sturdy i'm gonna need it
i'm sure there'll be things you know flying all over the place
okay
so we took part in the forging workshop but i want to mention that there are all sorts of workshops
and experiences to choose from as part of the han gemacht program that means you can meet with
candy makers beekeepers woodworkers and whiskey producers so there are all sorts of experiences
to be had based on your interests and if you haven't figured out what sam was making by now
it was a fireplace log poker i honestly thought he would be making some small ornament
but the forge master lucas put him to work and guided him through the whole process
the end result was a really cool souvenir with a unique travel story behind it
sam show us your creation your fire poker well i had a lot of help but the end result
is definitely impressive this is going to be taken back to canada
and put to good use yes and the fireplace yeah when we go to the the cottage later in october
with with your whole family take it with us and the name for this in german apparently is
fire director fire conductor fire conductor yeah fire director there you go very cool log poker or
something yeah yeah that was a cool activity hence the show i've put in the work awesome
home for the night was the freilhan wine hotel in freiburg where of course we had to sample
one final glass of wine all righty good evening everyone good evening guys
time for one final cheers guess what in this hotel it's one o'clock at any hour
any hour you want probably coolest feature in the whole hotel
is downstairs in the lobby where there's a diy wine bar you basically just put in your room key
you choose the wine you want white rose red all local german wines from this particular region
and they're all fantastic by the way enjoy you can do your own guided tasting basically you can
drink to your heart's content wake up at three in the morning a little bit of insomnia yeah go down
there get yourself a little glass why not i mean i probably wouldn't recommend that approach but yes
technically you could so i'm gonna show you what i got i went for well a white as you can see
it's so late in the day i do not actually remember the grape i selected pardon me same here i got a
red um this is my second red my second german red of my life and they've both been fantastic amazing
taste like complex taste but a smoothness of like almost like a merlot and aside from the wines
we may have had what was our our most fun day of the entire trip honestly today was
great like looking back on everything we did just the variety of activities what we saw
the vineyards the cathedral sam getting to do the forge master thing yeah like it was super cool
and we obviously had a guide taking us around but if you wanted to do this on your own you
can definitely rent a car because all the distances of what we covered today were super
short everything was really close by and oh we need to mention dinner tonight we had dinner at
the hotel's restaurant which is 51 degrees yeah that's apparently because you can grow
wine producing grapes up to the 51 degree latitude here in northern europe yeah i'm not gonna lie
best meal of the trip for me that was amazing that um that steak was like on point they cooked it to
perfection and that was juicy and they had just an amazing herb butter that was melted on top oh
and for myself i got the gnocchi with pumpkin and radishes and mushrooms and it was so delightful
the sauce was so creamy and the handmade gnocchi were just absolute perfection
so a wonderful meal a wonderful time in town yeah couldn't recommend this part of germany more
like go go do some slow tourism in the wine (wein) wine region yes of germany
very much worth it very much worth it
good night good night we're done
you