Our last stop during our summer trip in Germany was to the small town of Gengenbach.
It's located on the Western edge of the Black Forest region of the country near the border of France and about an hours drive away from the city of Freiberg, where we had spent the previous day and night.
Gengenbach is a small town of only 11,000 residents but it has a really beautiful and picturesque old town center that is lined with large well preserved half timbers buildings, which makes it a particularly pretty little village.
Despite it being so pretty though, we didn't find it at all touristy.
It reminded me a lot like the town of Schiltach in that regard. It gave me the impression that it was mostly for the locals.
We didn't really see any gift shops or things of that nature, just local businesses mostly.
Overall, I think that is a good thing.
The only minor downside to not catering to tourists was that the entire town is surrounded by vineyards but we couldn't find any wine caves to do a tasting.
We did find a small boutique store attached to a restaurant that was selling local wines but it was quite busy with lunch service and I really didn't want to just pick a random bottle off the shelf without trying it first, so we didn't buy any wine in town.
This isn't a complaint against the town in any way though.
There are actually wineries located outside the city that do tours and tastings, so the option is there for those that wish to do so.
We often try to do a tasting in areas that are known for certain types of wines and always buy at least one bottle to bring back home to remember the occasion, sometimes many more than one bottle if the wine is good and the price is right.
But we almost never buy wine anymore without trying it first, except at home from the grocery store.
On trips, seeing the vineyard, doing a tasting and buying a bottle or two becomes part of the whole experience I think, and it makes the trip that much more memorable.
In Gengenbach the vineyard is located just on the edge of town so we hiked into it after having a coffee in the main plaza. At the top of the hill is a small chaple that's only about a 20 minute walk from the town center. It makes for a good destination to wander to. It also has a pretty good view of the city and the vineyards.
We saw a few red and green pear trees growing between the grape vines, which I thought was pretty neat as well.
I also saw this bicycle tire angel created by a local artist that I thought was pretty cool.
After the vineyard we headed back into town for one last look and we happened to come across this really pretty street that I can't remember the name of.
It was located just off the main plaza Square though so it's easy to find if you just wander around the area.
I liked the traditional row houses with their cellar doors leading onto the street and all the flower boxes in the windows.
It was a very photogenic location.
We headed out shortly after that, back to our car and back towards the French border, thus concluding our trip in Germany.