As you know we live in a charming town with the Rhine Falls, and stunning views of the Swiss Alps. However, no place is perfect, and there are a few reasons why we would like to find our new home, so recently, I've been going to various villages in our canton to experience their atmosphere and see where I could feel good. We enjoy our 'small city life' a lot, so we didn't even think about going to a bigger city. Over the years we made friends with people in so many places from the canton Schaffhausen that we're sure we will feel at home in any of them.
Yesterday, I went to Trasadingen which is a village in the region of Klettgau with production of amazing wines. The village is surrounded by vineyards, and there are plenty of hiking trails around there that I would enjoy on my daily walks.
It's literally about 100 meters to get from Trasadingen to Germany which I didn't know yesterday. It was funny as I was walking through the vineyard to get to another part of the village (or so I thought), and when I got there I have noticed more and more cars with the German license plates. After a few minutes I realized that there were actually no Swiss license plate which was so weird, so I checked the GPS and realized I crossed the borders 馃槉 That's the reality of living in a border region - you never know in which country you are.
Let's walk around the village!
With less than 600 inhabitants, Trasadingen still shows the architecture of traditional Swiss houses preserved over centuries. Many houses date back to the 19th century and the centre of the village is like visiting a carefully preserved museum.
The history of the village dates back to the Roman times as already then there was a road through this place.
What I really like about these small villages is the sense of community that you get there. When I was walking around I came across a few people who all greeted me and asked me if I needed some help. I don't think that I looked lost, but they all know each other, so they knew that I don't live there. This might be disturbing to some, but we both like it.
Also, our friend who lives here told us that the village organizes many events during the year, and that people like to get together and help each other. This is how I remember my hometown from when I was a child, and the older I get the more I think about how nice it would be to live like that again.
There are many corners with such cute details. If I lived in this house, the room with those fuchsia shutters would be my favourite 馃槉
The heart of the village is a small square next to the church.
I came there a few minutes before 13:45, so I stayed until the bells started ringing. That might sound strange, right? In Switzerland, the church bells ring every 15 minutes, and then they also ring several times a day for about 5 minutes. I'm not even going to talk about the constant ringing on Sunday! We live between two churches with such loud bells that I hear them with closed windows and TV on. If we move somewhere else I want to make sure that it will get better, not worse. The bells of this church are apparently much smaller as the ringing was not so bad.
Once I was happy with the bells, I could move on 馃槉
Even such a small village can become world-known, and no, it's not because of its wines although those have some popularity too. It's because of the TRA radio beacon. Every long-haul pilot who flies over Europe knows this system. This navigation system is one of the most important waypoints in the airway network. Radio beacon
This house in the middle was my favourite. I think it's because of those cute curtains 馃槉
Not too bad, right?
I have noticed that egg decoration only when I was looking at the photo at home. I guess it is supposed to be Easter decoration, but it doesn't look very festive. Or is it a real gigantic egg in its nest? Just kidding!
I couldn't resist to check out this old building...
It dates back to the 15th century and it belonged to the monastery in Rheinau. One part was used to collect the taxes for the monastery, and another part was used as a wine cellar. I thought that paying taxes to the religious institutions was a recent thing in Switzerland, but it turned out to be a centuries long process.
And we finally approached one of the vineyard trails! I could get used to those views 馃槉
This tree looked so lonely in the field, so I included another tree in the frame too 馃槉
Imagine this place in summer...
At this point it started to rain, and I was so far from the car...
I would get soaked anyway, so I continued walking slowly.
The wine is produced in this region for centuries, but it took a long time to develop techniques to master the production that was brought here by the Romans in the 3rd century. It was only after the monastery in Rheinau was founded that the vineyards were planted and the production started. The tradition is closely linked with the Christianity and guidelines of the monastery.
Sometimes I find myself walking on some trails that are much longer than expected 馃槉 Luckily, it wasn't raining so much...
Almost back in the village...
I had enough time to think about if I could imagine myself living here, and you know what? I think I could! It might be a bit smaller than what we are used to, but it is also only 30 minutes drive to Zurich or a much shorter drive to Schaffhausen, so it's accessible and easy to get to a city whenever we would like to.
But there are still other places to see, so who knows 馃槉
See you next time...
