The most romantic village on the Ahr(rrrgh), River, Altenahr(rrrrgh), was one random flip in the Lonely Planet book away from our most recent weekend road trip. The Ahr(rrrgh) is smaller than its siblings, the Rhine and Moselle, sometimes no wider than 10 meters.
The sleepy town of Ahrtenal is nestled between the craggy peaks giving way to rolling hills and steep vineyards. Unlike the more popular Moselle and Rhine rivers, it is red wine that is produced in this region which makes the Ahr Valley unique. The quality is high, but the yield small, so very few wines ever make it beyond the valley.
To fully appreciate the landscape that surrounds Ahrtenal, we hiked one of the many steep trails that begin at the town's center.
We climbed to the black cross to have a breathtaking view of the town, river and castle ruins in the distance.
We continued our ascent until we felt we were truly on top of the world (or at least as high as we could get).
We enjoyed two days of hiking, running and simply relaxing in this beautiful village where we were we truly were the only two tourists in the whole town.
On our drive back to Wiesbaden, we stopped in the larger Ahr River town of Ahrweiler for a few hours. This is a very unique town in that it is one of Germany's few walled towns that can only be entered in one of the four gates.
In the center of the town, is a beautiful bright yellow church decorated with floral frescoes from the 14th century and luminous stained glass windows.
This weekend, we will be having quite a different experience as we will be going to a very well-traveled part of Germany - the Bavarian Alps - for a ski adventure at an American resort. Updates of our adventures will come next week. Aufwiedersehen!
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