Day 3 - Strasbourg to Ettlingen
Ettlingen. Wait, what? How does this line up with Colmar and Strasbourg? Where is that and what makes it notable enough to stop there?
Well. It is about 10k south of Karlsruhe but its claim to fame for this trip is the Hotel Erbprinz, which has been highly recommended to me and thus, Ettlingen is on the map.
The morning
Again, a wonderful and restful night. Breakfast was a buffet, really well made and delicious food, even the bulk scrambled eggs which I usually have only contempt for. Lots of quick carb options, energy levels up.
I am starting to feel the multi-day exercise now (given that I was sick the last couple of weeks and did zero prep for this…), things definitely are starting to hurt. But the rest day is coming up after this ride.
Today I will spend some quality time with Papa Rhein and also cross into Germany.
The ride
Today was mixed scenery. It started with lots of forest trails (paved), then went into D-roads and through cute half-timbered villages, then turned to the Rhine and along the Rhine (never quite seeing it though because the cycling path was on the other side of the dike). Then I crossed over the Rhein and entered Germany just outside of Rastatt - which turned out to be quite a pretty town, with a nice ice cream shop on the main square: gelatogo.
With fresh energy, I then followed the B3. B in Germany are the non-highway overland roads, usually full of trucks and pretty much everything else. What a difference to riding in France! Yes, there was a cycling path, but let’s just say, 15km I do not want to do again.
Now I arrived in Ettlingen, the hotel makes a good first impression, bed seems comfy and I might not move for 2 days other than to the spa and back.
And see what I found. Around Rastatt, the pedestrian traffic feature Berlin’s Ampelmännchen.
General Observations
Despite being arguably not well trained right now, I am getting into the swing of things. Easy riding, the duration and speed become completely irrelevant. Adding calories on a regular basis, taking photos, enjoying the landscape. This is turning out to be a brilliant way of traveling. I have been sleeping very well and feel generally relaxed and the tiredness is not from mental overstimulation but from moving quite a bit.
The choice to sleep in top notch hotels and eating in top notch restaurants turns out to have also been a really good one. Yes, this adds up over 2 weeks but you have access to infrastructure that cheaper hotels just do not offer. Extensive wellness areas really add to the experience and help with recovery.
The evening
Today’s (and tomorrow’s) resting place is the Hotel Erbprinz. A mix of modern and old-school, a well-equipped wellness area, good food options and no need to really leave the house if we don’t want to. We’ll decide tomorrow if a short side-trip (with public transport, not the bike) to Karlsruhe is worth doing. Perhaps we’ll only sleep, eat, and sit in the sauna instead, also an interesting option right about now.
Dinner is worth talking about. There are two restaurants in the hotel, Sybillas Weinstube and the Erbprinz restaurant. We went to the former, a more casual affair but nevertheless epic food. Had the best Zwiebelrostbraten in a very long time - it is basically a rump steak with an onion jus and very moreish. For wine, we had a 2013 Dicker Franz Lemberger (the German name for Austria’s Blaufränkisch, same grape). Interestingly only at 13.5% abv, it came across as a rather light red but with massive flavour profile, at 12 years of age well balanced and at peak drinking condition. Highly recommended, I am giving this 4.5 stars in vivino.
