A freedom-oriented lifestyle blog

Tag: climbing

Visiting our friend Michi in Bamberg

Back on track and we can finally give a short explanation of why we ended up in Bamberg, a small town in the middle of Germany. We were here to visit our friend Michi, who we got to know during our three months stay in Acapulco during the 2016 version of Anarchapulco. It was just by pure spontaneous travel, a trait that we are known for by now, we happened to step of a bus in Bamberg. We had a lot to catch up with our friend since our good bye in Acapulco in 2016, so Bamberg just had to be our next destination.  
Originally, we were thinking of going to Paris, Amsterdam or Slovakia when Ulrika remembered that Michi should be somewhere in the southern parts of Germany. One message later and we had set our travel compass towards Bamberg. Little did we know that we would come to a lovely small town with a lot of history. 


Tillbaka på rätt spår och vi kan slutligen ge er en kort förklaring till varför vi hamnade i Bamberg, en liten stad i mitten av Tyskland. Vi var här för att besöka vår vän Michi, som vi lärde känna under våra tre månader i Acapulco när vi närvarade vid 2016-års version av Anarchapulco. Det var bara en ren spontanresa, en egenskap som vi är kända för i nuläget, att vi hoppade på en buss till Bamberg. Vi hade mycket att prata om med vår vän sedan vårt adjö i Acapulco 2016, så Bamberg var vi bara tvungna att ha som vår nästa destination.
Vår ursprungliga plan var att åka till Paris, Amsterdam eller Slovakien, när Ulrika kom ihåg att Michi borde befinna sig någonstans i de södra delarna av Tyskland. Ett ivägskickat meddelande senare och vi hade satt vår resekompass mot Bamberg. Lite visste vi att vi skulle sätta fötterna i en förtjusande liten stad med mycket historia.

Awesome to meet Michi again and to explore his hometown Bamberg!

Michi took us to the old town of Bamberg, which is on the UNESCO’s world heritage list because it has kept its medieval appearance.

You enter old town by crossing the Obere Brücke (a bridge built in 1455) and walk through the town hall of Bamberg, the town hall dates back to the 16th century and has cool exterior painting.

Michi and Pontus on the streets of old town Bamberg. Michi showed us around different parts of Bamberg during the few days we spent with him and his family and friends.

Bamberg was first mentioned in 902 and has been a town since the first millennium. The town was heavily involved in the witch hunt during the 15th century and approximately 1000 people were sentenced to death during a 5-year period. This was one of the largest witch trials in history.

Everywhere you go, you’ll find lovely houses with interesting exterior that you want to check out further.

Schlenkerla is one out of nine old, famous pubs that brews the famous Bamburg Rauchbier – a
beer which has a distinctive, smoky aroma and flavor.

Rauchbier is almost pitch black and has an interesting taste. We liked it, but felt it was enough drinking one.

Another nice thing here is that people are standing outside on the street, having a beer and having conversation with people passing the pub. It is a joyful atmosphere!

We continued our walk through the old town and found more medieval houses.

We walked, but old town also have a tourist sightseeing bus tour. We ended up at the “little Venice of Bamberg where we recorded a short video, which can be seen below.

The old town of Bamberg also has its own cathedral and it is under the administration of the Roman Catholic Church. The original cathedral was founded in 1002 by King Heinrich II, but the first two cathedrals burned down in the 11th and 12th centuries, so the current one has been standing here since the 13th century.

The Neue Residenz, the palace that was the bishops residence from 1602 to 1803.

Behind the bishop palace, there is a beautiful rose garden to enjoy.

Wikipedia claims that the rose garden has over 4500 roses in different colors.

Michi likes to climb, so he took us to the local boulder room  (Block Helden) to get our muscles working again.

They accept bitcoin, so we really like this place! Notice that you’re not allowed to pay with bitcoin if you’re a drug dealer 😂

Michi showing different problems in the boulder room.

Pontus warming up on an easy route.

Ulrika feeling out the bolted holds once more.

Michi’s cousin is an experienced climber, so he showed us more difficult routes in the boulder room.

Michi also took us out on the countryside to taste the local famous food and beers around Bamberg. Hölzlein is one of the guest houses famous for their brewery and food.

We had the chance to spend time with Michi’s friend Andreas talking a lot about the German school system.

A proper German dinner – some kind of meat, sauerkraut, sauce and potatoes!

Grießnockerlsuppe, Semolina dumpling soup, was a new kind of soup that we haven’t tasted before coming to Bamberg. It was delicious!

A random art project we found while exploring the town. Loved it!

We also took a walk to Hain park, which is next to the old town and it is an easy walk to discover more beautiful surroundings here in Bamberg.

An old bridge in Hain park.

Here you’ll find the botanical garden!

More photos from Hain park.

Andreas joined us on the walk and we really appreciate the conversations and the the explorations we had with you guys. Thanks for letting us spontaneously come visit you!

And thanks for letting us stay with you! Next stop for us was Berlin!

Hindelanger Klettersteig, amazing view over the Austrian Alps

Little did we know that we would hike on one of the longest and most popular Klettersteigs in this part of the Alps, when we contacted Sandra and Markus to ask if we could visit them on our way through Europe.  Hindelanger had been on Sandra and Markus wish-list for a long time, so we felt honored that they chose to take us with them on this adventure. They are very active people, and they have a blog where they document their many adventures with amazing photos, check out their blog herewhere they also wrote about our adventure together. Hindelanger was the first of a few adventures they had in mind for our visit, so we will divide our visit to Riezlern on three different blog posts starting with this Klettersteig on 2200 meter above sea level. 


Lite visste vi att vi skulle vandra på en av de längsta och mest populära Klettersteigs i den här delen av Alperna när vi bestämde oss för att kontakta Sandra och Markus och fråga om vi kunde komma förbi dem på vår väg genom Europa. Hindelanger hade varit på Sandra och Markus önskelista länge, så vi kände oss hedrade att de valde att ta med oss på detta äventyr. De är mycket aktiva människor, och de har en blog där de dokumenterar sina många äventyr med fantastiska bilder, kolla in deras blogg här, där de även skrivit om vårt äventyr tillsammans. Hindelanger var det första av flera äventyr som de hade i åtanke för vårt besök, så vi delar upp vårt besök i Riezlern på tre olika bloggposter som börjar med denna Klettersteig 2200 meter över havet.

Hindelanger Klettersteig is a very popular via ferrata and it was Sandra and Markus plans for our first adventure during our time  in Riezlern.

Sandra and Markus picked us up in Kempten Allgäu, Germany, after our train ride from Graz, Austria. It has been several years since we visited them last time, so it was time for a new visit. We picked up their old bikes from service on our way back to Austria, since they also had mountain bike plans for us during our stay with them.

Sandra and Markus place, where they call home. They are really active people so this is a perfect spot to have a home for them!

Markus showed us his automated hydroponics project and he is doing it thoroughly.

Water supply, humidity, nourishment and temperature is monitored and automated, and Markus has built and programmed everything by himself.

We started early the next day and it was time to tackle the famous Hindelanger Klettersteig.

The first mission is to get to the top of Nebelhorn, 2200 meters above sea level. You can hike up to the top, but it is preferable to take the cable cars, three of them, up to the top. You can purchase both one-way and two-way tickets, if you don’t want to hike down the mountain.

The Hindelanger Klettersteig starts from the top cabin at 2224 meter above sea level.

The ridge that we would spend the next five hours climbing up and down on.

The mission was to get to the Gosser Daumen, the green top to the right which is visible in the background.

You should be capable of handling heights if you decide to do the Hindelanger Klettersteig.

Klettersteig or via ferrata (Iron road) is a protected climbing route, where you can secure yourself to a steel cable which runs along the route.

Hindelanger Klettersteig is graded C on a via ferrata A-F difficulty scale, because there are parts of the route where the steel cables are absent. However, our feeling was that this was manageable if you’re not easily scared by heights and take your time.

The Klettersteig took around 5 hours for us to do, and then we had an additional 5 hours hiking down the mountain to get back to the car.

Ulrika in her favorite spot, sitting on a mountain looking down on the world!

The view over the Austrian Alps was amazing! Below are a slide show with more amazing pictures from the hike.

 

We hiked all the way down to Oberstdorf, doing a 1100 meter descent. These slopes are down hill slopes during the winter season.

A break on our way down eating some energy bars.

Next to a small waterfall.

15 km and 10 hours later later we finally reached the ski jumping towers in Oberstdorf. We have a video from our adventure below for people who are interested. This adventure was now a dear memory for us, but more adventures would come our way during the next few days. Thanks Sandra and Markus for taking us on this awesome adventure!

Klättring i Vang Vieng!

När vi kom till Vang Vieng och såg alla berg så började det klia i klätterfingrarna och vi bokade snabbt in oss hos en guide för att få en heldag att klättra med denna fantastiska utsikt som Vang Vieng har att erbjuda. Morgonen började oroväckande då vi vaknade upp kl 05.00 med åskmuller och blixtar. Tänk er filmen “War of the worlds” då blixtarna avlöste varandra och på vars sätt utomjordingarna tar sig ned på jorden för att invadera planeten! Ulrikas fantasi sprang iväg och hon förväntade sig nästan att tripods skulle dyka upp på morgonkvisten. Vi trodde att dagens klättring skulle bli inställd på grund av vädret, men vi var skyddade av ett fint överhäng (eller “the hangover”, som en led kallades!) från berget med härliga droppformationer att visa upp! Vi klätttrade härliga leder (5a-6a, alla med mer eller mindre överhäng) alltmedan blixtar lös upp himlen och åskmullret fortplantade sig mellan bergen. Sällskapet från Danmark (Heidi och Nina) och England (Matt, Christian and James)  gjorde inte dagen sämre! Nedan kommer några bilder och en video!

Our climbing fingers began to itch when we arrived in Vang Vieng and saw all the mountains, so we quickly booked a guide to get a full day of climbing with this amazing view that Vang Vieng has to offer. We got a bit worried when we woke up at 5:00 with thunder and lightning above our heads. Imagine the movie “War of the Worlds” when the flashes succeeded each other and the aliens got down on earth to invade the planet! Ulrika’s imagination ran away and she was nearly expecting tripods showing up at dawn! We thought that the days climbing would be canceled due to weather, but we were protected by a fine overhang (or hangover, which one route was called…) from the mountain that had lovely drip formations! We climbed lovely paths up the mountain (5a-6a, all with more or less overhang) while the lightening lit up the sky and the thunder propagated between the mountains. Our climbing buddies for the day from Denmark (Heidi and Nina) and England (Matthew, Christian and James) made the day even better! Below are some pictures and a video!

Morgonens vädder såg inte lovande ut! Morgning weather didnät look promising!

Morgonens vädder såg inte lovande ut! Morning weather didn’t look promising!

Men vi begav oss mot berget ändå! But we headed for the mountain anyway!

Men vi begav oss mot berget ändå! But we headed for the mountain anyway!

Ett av våra uppdrag vid dagens klättring! One of our missions for todays climbing!

Ett av våra uppdrag vid dagens klättring! One of our missions for todays climbing!

Ulrika klättrar! Ulrika climbing!

Ulrika klättrar! Ulrika climbing!

Droppformationer och kan du hitta klättraren i bilden? Drop formations and an you spot the climber?

Droppformationer och dagens uppdrag! Drop formations and todays mission!

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En av lederna vi provade! Kan ni hitta Pontus i bilden? One of the climbing routes we tried. Can you spot Pontus?

Så här dåligt var vädret utanför vår klättringsbubbla! This is how bad the weather was outside our climbing bubble!

Så här dåligt var vädret utanför vår klättringsbubbla! This is how bad the weather was outside our climbing bubble!

Kan ni hitta Ulrika i denna bild? Can you find Ulrika in this picture?

Kan ni hitta Ulrika i denna bild? Can you find Ulrika in this picture?

Pontus provar 6a leden och hamnade på 6b leden av misstag! Pontus going up the 6a rout (and accidently went in on the 6b route!

Pontus provar 6a leden och hamnade på 6b leden av misstag! Pontus going up the 6a route (and accidently went in on the 6b route!

Det dåliga vädret försvann lagom tills vi var klara med klättringen för dagen och skulle tillbaka till Vang Vieng! The bad weather disappeared just in time we were done with the climb of the day and was going back to Vang Vieng!

Det dåliga vädret försvann lagom tills vi var klara med klättringen för dagen och skulle tillbaka till Vang Vieng! The bad weather disappeared just in time when we were done with climbing for the day and was heading back to Vang Vieng!

Även solen tittade fram på hemvägen! Even the sun was coming out on our way home!

Även solen tittade fram på hemvägen! Even the sun was coming out on our way home! 

Klättring i Vang Vieng / Climbing in Vang Vieng:

 

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