A Day in the Palatinate

Theresianstrasse, Rhodt unter Rietburg.

Martin took this beautiful photo of
a Rhodt unter Rietburg vineyard.

In mid October Jim and I went to visit our friends Martin and Benedicte (and their very cool 13 year-old son, Adrien) who live near Heidelberg, Germany.  




On the last day of our visit they took us for a drive on the Deutsche Weinstrasse (German Wine Route) in the Palatinate region. Many of the Pennsylvania Dutch who live in the USA are descended from German Palatines who emigrated to America in the early decades of the 18th century. We stopped in a beautiful little village named Rhodt unter Rietburg. The hillsides surrounding Rhodt were covered with grapevines, of course, creating some beautiful scenery.







It was a cool autumn day, a nice day for a walk up the village's Theresianstrasse, which is lined with many beautiful old houses. High above the village, off in the distance, we could see the remains of Rietburg Castle. Thus the name Rhodt unter (under) Reitburg. The village has been making wine for over 1200 years, so grapevines in one form or another adorn many of the homes. 

We also saw empty wine bottles suspended from a leafless tree in front of one house, a Palatinate spirit tree of sorts! 





The Palatine's Neuer Wein was in season, so we stopped to try some in one of the several tasting rooms in the town. It was a refreshing, sweet wine- slightly fizzy. Neuer Wine goes down easily, almost like drinking a white grape soda. 

Our friends: Benedicte and Adrien (my godson); Martin holding Ed, and Moe on his favorite perch!

We had spent a very pleasant October weekend with Martin and Benedicte and Adrien (and their very sweet cats, who were also very nice to us). Our autumn stroll in Rhodt under Rietburg was a nice way to wrap up our visit.