To Palatine: Rechtenbach and Dörrenbach

Time for another day trip with the campervan! Our destination this time was close by the southern end of Palatine’s wine region. Schweigen-Rechtenbach is an artificial double village on the German Wine Road. Schweigen has already been described in a previous blog entry: https://karlsruhedaytrips.travellerspoint.com/227/ - this is where the Wine Gate is.

We headed for Rechtenbach, the “smaller half”. This is actually, as I learned that day, my friend’s home where she grew up.

On the way we made a stop in Schweighofen for some fruit shopping. A farm there runs a so-called Hofladen, a shop on their premises where they sell their own produce: seasonal fruit and vegetables, fruit juices and also, of course, wine and schnapps. What a pity that I cannot have alcohol anymore! But we bought several kilos of the yummiest plums, mirabelles, new apples, blackberries, and a 5 kg sack of red-skinned potatoes that we shared between us. Of course we sampled the fruit during the picknick later on…

We drove on to Rechtenbach and along a small winding country road, one of those roads you have to know, and parked the car on the edge of the forest. We found the perfect spot under a black locust tree to set up our base camp with a view.

The grapes looked almost ripe to us. I am sure that the local vintners are already preparing for the harvest. It can’t be long.

The quintessential Palatine is exactly here. On the hem of forests and vineyards, where the two typical landscapes meet. High enough on the slope for a view over the Rhine plain to the hills of Black Forest and Kraichgau.

We made a little fly very happy. She enjoyed the meal of her life on a leftover lump of sugar that had fallen off my pastry. I let her and she stayed with her sucker in the sugar for a long time.

At some point we felt like a bit of exercise. The paved road continued into the forest. It looked easy at first, but soon it turned uphill. A healthy person would have laughed but given my physical restrictions, it was very steep. The day wasn’t too hot but unpleasantly humid. This was almost too much.

Only out of sheer will, continuing step by step, I made it to the top. The photo, looking downhill, does not show how steep it actually was.
The paved road ended at the grounds of the local sports club. The advantage is that the football team won’t need much warm-up before a match or serious training, all they have to do is jog up from the village…

The wombats posed on the stone-carved logo of the local sports club, as proof that we really have been there.

I have never entered a sports ground or hall ever since I left school, and I was not inclined to break that vow now. We had a rest on a bench that was miraculously standing outside the grounds, and then turned round, back to the car. We had a little side trip planned for the afternoon.

My friend showed me a real hidden gem. She knows that I like “churching” best of all sightseeing activities. It is not far from Rechtenbach to this place, a village named Dörrenbach.

It is a wine village but not located on the Wine Road. One has to turn left at a certain junction and take the only road that leads there. Located in a side valley, Dörrenbach is almost entirely surrounded by forest. It is very easily missed. Perhaps that’s why they advertise it as the “Sleeping Beauty of Palatine”?

The village has a remarkable number of half-timbered houses, all beautifully renovated. Its main attraction, however, is the fortified church. In the middle ages there must have been many more churches with similar fortifications but very few are this well preserved.

The church was built on a slope several metres above the main road and surrounded by a terrace on high substructions. The sandstone walls are most impressive from the main road, from where they have a height of 4-5 metres.

A round tower sits on each of the four corners. The steeple has embrasures and clearly served for military purposes, too. In case of a siege or attack, the villagers would seek refuge in their church and defend themselves from there.

The height of the walls means that one has to climb a steep stairway to reach the churchyard – phew!

Then further uphill to see the church from behind, on the uneven ground of the cemetery – once more, phew!

Only out of sheer will I found the forces to do all this. But I absolutely WANTED to see it!

The church dates from the high middle ages and was extended around 1500. The interior received some refurbishments and additions in the run of the century, like the gallery which bears the date 1723.

Since the French occupation in the late 17th century this church has been used as a “simultaneous” church by Protestants and Roman Catholics.
The steeple contains, on the ground floor, the choir of the church. The German term is Chorturmkirche; I do not think that there is a precise translation in English. Nowadays they have transferred the baptismal font in here while the altar, a simple modern one made from three sandstone blocks, is standing in front of the arch in the nave.

Medieval frescoes are preserved in the choir and on the northern wall of the nave. The vaults of the choir depict the four creatures that symbolize the Evangelists: the lion for Mark, the bull for Luke, the angel, or rather the winged man, for Matthew and the eagle for John.

View from the top of the walls, which are two metres thick according to dear old Wikipedia. The beautiful half-timbered gable belongs to the renaissance town hall.

From the cemetery you have a view into the gardens behind the houses along the main road. The landscape is visible from here. The village is, apart from the valley exit, almost entirely surrounded by slopes covered in dense forest.