Black Forest Holiday - May 10

Tuesday morning came bright and early with the sun touching our glass-fronted room a while before we actually got up. Not that we really slept in during our week at the hotel, for various reasons: We usually went to bed early after a day spent walking and in the very good and clean air there; we did not wish to be late for breakfast, and we wanted to get going early enough to have plenty of time for our walks and anything else afterwards.

Our resident spider getting ready for breakfast.

Again, we left the car where it was and walked directly from the hotel, but in a different direction. When we'd been here in 2017, we had walked to a smaller lake nearby (Schlüchtsee - sounds similar to yesterday's Schluchsee, but is very different really) and to the village of Grafenhausen. We repeated that walk today and enjoyed it very much, the weather being perfect for such an outing and the walk itself being on rather moderate terrain with hardly any steep bits (and, at "only" about 16 km, also at least 10 km less than what we'd done the day before).

My little dream cottage in the woods! It belongs to a wildlife protection organisation and was shut; I took a picture of it back in 2017 as well.

Schlüchtsee

Walking on to Grafenhausen

The road leading to Grafenhausen

Again, I took a very similar picture last time I was here in 2017.

Townhall and maypole in Grafenhausen's centre

Walking back the way we came

Back in time for coffee at the hotel and a quick turn in the sauna - which we had all to ourselves! - we then had to decide where to go for our evening meal, as the hotel's own restaurant is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. 

They had given us a list with recommended places, none of them close enough to go on foot. So we drove to one of the places on the list - only to find it completely full. We rang the next place on the list and found out they had enough space for us, and drove there on the narrow lanes through woodland and fields, making the entire journey towards our meal much longer than anticipated.

Our hotel's restaurant where we had breakfast and (apart from Mon and Tues) dinner.

This was our table for most meals.

Common room / lounge. I really like the style and feel of that room.

But the meal was excellent, and on our way back to the hotel afterwards, we saw the most beautiful evening sky (sorry, no photos, as the car was moving and the scenery changing too quickly).

Have a look at the above menue, displayed at our hotel. It is purely vegetarian and consists of four courses. For ONE person, it costs 72 € - that is, of course, without any drinks. 

We know that good quality food does not come cheap, and we are prepared to pay accordingly, but this struck us as a bit much, and neither of us ordered a full menue there. I had the vegetarian main course one evening (aubergine), and it was delicious and very filling. But forking out 72 € for "just veg"...? 

Compare this with the 51 € we paid that Tuesday evening for our complete meal for two at the restaurant we found on the list of recommendations - drinks and all! It was not a cheap place, either (Haringer Hof), and we were served well in clean and comfortable surroundings - this picture on their website shows the room were we sat.