Sankt Martin Travel Guide

 Trekki Says:  St. Martin is surrounded by vineyards. Thus I highly recommend walking through these to get an idea of how wine is grown in this part of Germany. Most probably it is not that much different than in other regions but the views cannot be beaten. Especially if you walk to the... 

 Trekki Says:  When walking through St. Martin, you will come across the name Dalberg very often. These are an old noble family who once inherited the castle south of St. Martin, Kropsburg. It is said that the Dalberg family once belonged to the supporters of the emperors who have... 

 Trekki Says:  A special place in St. Martin is the so-called Bibelgarten (bible garden) of the main church devoted to St. Martin. Vintner Peter Straub, passionate botanist in his leisure time, was the initiator of this garden, which is said to be the biggest in middle Europe. In this... 

 Trekki Says:  St. Martin is rather small, so an hour or two is already enough to get captured by this magic atmosphere of the village. The locals certainly have the taste to decorate their houses with an exuberance of plants and wine. The vines often span across the street from one house... 

 Trekki Says:  During our recent trip to St. Martin, we wanted only a small snack and have decided to stop at Winzerhof Becker’s in the main street. They had waffles with vanilla ice cream on the board and this was what made my colleague from Australia go straight into the restaurant. She... 

 Trekki Says:  I discovered stone huts like this one first a bit north of Palatinate, in Rheinhessen to be precise. Since the huts there look very much like the ones down south in Italy, in Alberobello, I did a bit of research and found out that they have most probably been built by... 

 Trekki Says:  Many of the little wine villages in Palatinate have what is called “after work vintners”. This means that regular vintners rent rows of vine to locals who then take care of the plants during the season. They harvest them and bring them to the vintners who to make wine. This... 

 Trekki Says:  Especially in spring, summer and autumn the plant decorations on houses and balconies and in gardens are overwhelming. I especially loved the balcony in my second photo – it must be most magic to spend the evening time there with a good book and wine of course. This balcony... 

 Trekki Says:  This already caught my eye in neighbour village Maikammer some time ago: obviously the local (Maikammer) blacksmith will never run out of orders or has a good marketing strategy: wrought iron decoration is very prominent in both villages. (most probably also in the other... 

 Trekki Says:  Very typical for Palatinate wine villages are the house decorations which very often are related to wine. Be it a little wine barrel next to the house number, be it wrought iron vines or carvings in the sandstone on a house – wine rules the regions and the villages! In... 

 Trekki Says:  Palatinate, the part of state Rheinland-Pfalz, is known for a very mild climate. It is amazing how many flowers and plants can grow here compared to the rest of Germany. I know this, since I grew up in the region, but I was still amazed to see this araucaria growing here and... 

 Trekki Says:  St. Martin of Tours is the patron saint of the village and that’s why a statue of him is standing above the stairs to the main church, the one with the bible garden. The statue is made of the local pink sandstone. In fact one of the sandstone quarries in Palatinate is...