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| Did I mention there is a church built directly into the side of the mountain? |
Half of the enjoyment of visiting Idar-Oberstein was finally being able to drive in the countryside with the top off of the Jeep. Nice weather seems pretty rare in Germany. Even when it's sunny, it can still be pretty cool and windy outside. Last weekend was the perfect weekend for a Jeep expedition.
To get to Idar-Oberstein, you have to drive primarily through winding country roads. Since off-road driving is illegal in Germany, except in designated 4x4 parks, narrow country roads are about as close as we will get to true Jeeping in Germany. The gemstone mines are situated high on a hill above the town, which requires you to drive up some small, tight switch backs before you suddenly find yourself in the middle of an abandoned American military base. The base, Strassburg Kaserne, is now a local hide out of hoodlums and was never re-purposed by the Germans. On our way back, I had to make Greg stop to take some pictures of it, because I'm certain it's only a few years until the base where we live will fall into the same disrepair.
Parking is located just beyond the ruins of Strassburg Kaserne. It's a short walk through the forest to the mines. The employee in the guest shop was very quick to usher us over to grab a hardhat and start the tour. The tour is 5 Euros and given in German, but they provide you with a headset in English for no extra cost.
The only other mine I've ever visited was the Dahlonega gold mines in middle school, and I don't particularly remember anything about them other than "panning" for gold at the end of the tour and being given a couple of flecks to take home. The Steinkaulenberg mine felt a bit more authentic than the gold mine ruins of Dahlonega. The tour guide pointed out spots where individuals had dug out 1 square meter tunnels to search for stone. Everywhere you walked, there were gemstones lining the walls and ceiling. Many of the miners were actually immigrants from Brazil or Germans who had returned from mining operations in Brazil, so the culture of the area was a little different from that of the rest of Germany. They have some interesting types of food that are found primarily only in Idar-Oberstein. Before we left, we had to stop by the rock shop to pick up a few gemstones mined directly from the Steinkaulenberg mine. There is also an area to dig for your own gemstones, but you have to bring all of your own gear. Maybe some other time.
After the mines, we headed back into town. Along the way, we saw a group of teenagers casually sneaking into the abandoned military base housing. When they saw us driving through, they immediately sat down and started talking and pretending as if they just came out for a nice picnic in the middle of all the vandalized buildings. Yeah, right.
Idar-Oberstein was having a fest last weekend, so the town was crowded with locals and tourists. After we ate, we decided to walk through the city museum which primarily just displayed rocks and gemstones. Greg refused to walk up the 200+ stairs to get to the church build into the cliff, which is understandable considering our past bad experiences with climbing staircases in Germany. On our way home, we took a detour to check out some hiking trails in the area. It was getting late, so we didn't start hiking, but we got some ideas of future places to visit in that area. Maybe next time we get a nice weekend we can head out to do some hiking.
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| A little slice of Colorado in Germany... literally! |
Our second 4th of July in Germany is approaching! For the time being, we don't have any more trips planned other than our cruise this fall. Work has been extremely busy for both of us recently. It appears we will just be hanging out locally for the next few months.
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