wine growing regions which sits along the 51st  parallel north the wine history here dates back  

over a thousand years with the first vines being  cultivated by monks in the year 998 a.d and it's  

as picturesque a destination as you can find  this is a place where terrace vineyards come  

spilling down the hills where medieval castles  sit atop cliffs and where churches stand guard in  

the heart of the old town we've said it before and  we'll say it again germany has some pretty magical  

destinations to discover so without further ado  the following is our travel guide to Saale-Unstrut  

for visitors looking to have an action-packed  and wine fuel day good morning good morning  

guys greetings once again from germany today  is such an exciting day because it is all about  

wine tourism here exactly so we have arrived in  Saale-Unstrut and we are going to be here for  

only a day but we have an action-packed schedule  we do that's going to include some wine tastings  

staying at a wine hotel yes we're going to be  visiting freyburg visiting the cathedral in  

nambuch and also did i mention staying at a  wine hotel where we're going to be drinking  

more wine (wein) apparently this wine hotel has  a 24-hour bar and you access it with your card  

yeah just wind by the glass it's pretty amazing  exactly and i'll also mention in the afternoon  

we're going to be visiting a forge master  and creating a little souvenir of our own  

so we've got that fun activity coming up yeah  but anyways we've just arrived the day is just  

getting started so we're going to bring you along  and have fun on this little adventure let's do it

so we started the morning with a guided  walk through the town of freyburg  

which is considered the wine capital of the region  we found the town to be super walkable and full of  

charm with lots of cheerful pastel shades vines  crawling up the side of buildings and rooftops  

with eye-shaped windows that kind of made it  feel like you were being watched from above

we also popped into saint marion for a visit  which is the lutheran church in the center of town  

it is considered the little sister of naumbu  cathedral which we will show you later in the  

day but back to the sightseeing one thing that  really caught our attention during our walk was  

that we were surrounded by vineyards vineyards  and more vineyards yes we knew we were visiting  

a wine town but i don't think either one of us  expected the vines to be right in the town and  

so accessible all right how are we doing  over there we've had a great walking tour  

of the town so far so many historic buildings to  visit but what impresses me the most is just how  

the vineyards come spilling into the town like  we are right on the we were just walking down  

a path and then we suddenly came upon this  we looked up and like wow it's spectacular  

it just gives this town such a a distinct  a distinct backdrop i would say yeah

and speaking of wine that morning we also visited  hotkepien mum a winery that dates back to 1856 and  

specializes in sparkling wines hot gepin mum  makes up nearly half the market for sparkling  

wine in germany and they're also one of the five  largest producers of sparkling wine in the world  

they do offer tours in german but another option  if you don't speak the language is to just visit  

the shop and peruse their various sparkling wine  offerings because certain bottles can only be  

obtained at this particular location well today's  our lucky day we got a special sparkling orange  

lucky day okay so we just visited which  means little red riding hood um this place  

specializes in sparkling wines this is  kind of like their main headquarters here  

and we've just acquired a very special bottle gold  seal apparently you can only get it from here you  

can only get this bottle over here so right here  so yeah we'll tell you more about them later today  

once we're back in the hotel we've got this to  try and we've got the wine (wein) at the hotel  

to also try it's gonna be a boozy day so if you're  a wine lover i think you're gonna enjoy this video

all right guys so we drove up to the abbey church  of saint bonifas and honestly i think these may be  

some of the best views we have come across like  this is truly impressive behind me you've got  

the whole valley with the river that flows  through that's how the region gets its name  

from the saale river and the unstruct and  you can see cute little villages and towns  

freyburg where we were this morning is just back  there and yeah it is so so charming it was well  

worth the drive check out the views we get of the  town from here and there's a beautiful bike path  

that i would love to do someday to go visit the  vineyards maybe with my dad would you imagine the  

two of us doing that oh yes the two cyclists and  the family we'd probably be taking naps along the  

along the trail after every bottle this is  probably a good time to tell you that cycling  

trips are really popular in this area so if your  idea of a really good holiday is cycling through  

scenic countryside hopping from one winery to the  next and stumbling upon a few castles along the  

way well this is the place and it has hundreds  of kilometers of bike paths along the zale  

and unscott rivers but as for us we were here to  drink some wine so let's take you to our next stop

for lunch we visited hertzoglihel weinberg  which is a terraced vineyard that has been  

preserved in the style of a baroque  vineyard from the late 18th century  

it sits at the foot of the unstruct river and  it has neurenberg castle watching over it from  

the hilltop this may very well be one of the most  scenic vineyards we have ever visited some of the  

grapes you can find in this vineyard include  pinot blanc sylvaner and pinot noir plus they  

also offer a picnic lunch to accompany their wines  which makes for a really nice quick meal on the go  

so lunch time and we are having  a picnic at a vineyard how's that  

oh this is amazing we've got olives both colors  black and green we've got slices of salami  

stuffed peppers with cheese little tomatoes  well and some bread to go along with it and  

the star of course is the peanut butter the  very famous wine from this area let's try that  

oh and they gave us a nice big glass gotta  love that it's above the line look at that

beautiful beautiful tasting dry white wine  (wein) from here so sam is normally a red  

wine drinker this is unusual for you to be  trying some white i'm learning to appreciate  

whites more on this trip we've been i  mean germany is famous for its white so  

i wouldn't say it's an acquired taste i love  wines of all flavors and colors yeah this is  

this is definitely a good one so let's  also try a little bit of a bite here  

it's a perfect way to spend an afternoon  here in germany sipping on wine  

local wine i should add and  having a nice tasty snack

afterwards we couldn't resist going to neuenberg  castle for a closer look so we drove up to the top  

this castle was built around the year 1090 by the  turingian count ludwig the leaper and yes there is  

a story behind his name according to local legend  which may have been quite embellished over time  

after stabbing a ruling count and then being  incarcerated ludwig the leaper leapt from a castle  

tower into the river where a servant was waiting  for him with a boat and his favorite white horse  

named swan where he made his perfect escape  sounds like the stuff of german fairy tales i know  

but either way it was a cool castle  to visit with equally impressive views

next up we continue to the nearby town of naumbuk  to visit the cathedral which not too long ago  

was recognized as a unesco world heritage site  also known as the cathedral of saint peter and  

saint paul this is considered one of europe's  most important cultural monuments from the high  

middle ages and what makes it unique is that  it's the only church in the world to contain  

two choir screens from the high medieval period  the main attraction is definitely the west choir  

which features 12 statues depicting the church's  top donors dating back to the mid 13th century  

these statues were crafted by a medieval stone  sculptor now only known as the noun bulk master  

the most famous statue of all is uttar which  is said to depict the most beautiful woman of  

the middle ages and rumor has it she may have  also been the inspiration for the evil queen in  

disney snow white during our guided visit of nambu  cathedral we got to climb up a spiraling staircase  

that led to the attic which then led to one of the  towers where you can enjoy views of the town below

so

we also toured the cathedral treasury vault  which is one of the largest romanesque  

vaults in central germany and houses sacral  works of art all in all a really cool visit

then for afternoon activity we drove to a  broken lunch medium for a foraging workshop

all right sam this is right up your alley  here tell us what are we doing this afternoon  

i remember like about half a year ago we were we  were in a hotel and we were like binge watching  

forged in fire for the first time i'm not  making a sword but i am going to make a small  

device and i'm really excited i don't have  any skill in this area so i don't know if  

it's going to turn out but i'm willing to try  that's for sure okay so for this next activity  

it probably makes sense if i show  you the little tote which says

means handmade and like in this area they're  really trying to promote like craftsmanship  

and just the arts like artisanal  things that you can create  

so you can come as a visitor and take part in  workshops so right now we are visiting a forge  

and sam who is a huge fan of that forging tv  show is going to have the chance to create  

something i don't even know what you're making but  you're making something so hopefully i don't know  

well you've got the look yeah it feels  good it's very sturdy i'm gonna need it  

i'm sure there'll be things you  know flying all over the place

okay

so we took part in the forging workshop but i want  to mention that there are all sorts of workshops  

and experiences to choose from as part of the  han gemacht program that means you can meet with  

candy makers beekeepers woodworkers and whiskey  producers so there are all sorts of experiences  

to be had based on your interests and if you  haven't figured out what sam was making by now  

it was a fireplace log poker i honestly  thought he would be making some small ornament  

but the forge master lucas put him to work  and guided him through the whole process  

the end result was a really cool souvenir  with a unique travel story behind it

sam show us your creation your fire poker  well i had a lot of help but the end result  

is definitely impressive this is  going to be taken back to canada  

and put to good use yes and the fireplace yeah  when we go to the the cottage later in october  

with with your whole family take it with us  and the name for this in german apparently is  

fire director fire conductor fire conductor yeah  fire director there you go very cool log poker or  

something yeah yeah that was a cool activity  hence the show i've put in the work awesome

home for the night was the freilhan wine hotel  in freiburg where of course we had to sample  

one final glass of wine all righty  good evening everyone good evening guys  

time for one final cheers guess what in  this hotel it's one o'clock at any hour  

any hour you want probably  coolest feature in the whole hotel  

is downstairs in the lobby where there's a diy  wine bar you basically just put in your room key  

you choose the wine you want white rose red all  local german wines from this particular region  

and they're all fantastic by the way enjoy you  can do your own guided tasting basically you can  

drink to your heart's content wake up at three in  the morning a little bit of insomnia yeah go down  

there get yourself a little glass why not i mean i  probably wouldn't recommend that approach but yes  

technically you could so i'm gonna show you what  i got i went for well a white as you can see  

it's so late in the day i do not actually remember  the grape i selected pardon me same here i got a  

red um this is my second red my second german red  of my life and they've both been fantastic amazing  

taste like complex taste but a smoothness of like  almost like a merlot and aside from the wines  

we may have had what was our our most fun  day of the entire trip honestly today was  

great like looking back on everything we did  just the variety of activities what we saw  

the vineyards the cathedral sam getting to do the  forge master thing yeah like it was super cool  

and we obviously had a guide taking us around  but if you wanted to do this on your own you  

can definitely rent a car because all the  distances of what we covered today were super  

short everything was really close by and oh we  need to mention dinner tonight we had dinner at  

the hotel's restaurant which is 51 degrees  yeah that's apparently because you can grow  

wine producing grapes up to the 51 degree latitude  here in northern europe yeah i'm not gonna lie  

best meal of the trip for me that was amazing that  um that steak was like on point they cooked it to  

perfection and that was juicy and they had just  an amazing herb butter that was melted on top oh  

and for myself i got the gnocchi with pumpkin and  radishes and mushrooms and it was so delightful  

the sauce was so creamy and the handmade  gnocchi were just absolute perfection  

so a wonderful meal a wonderful time in town  yeah couldn't recommend this part of germany more  

like go go do some slow tourism in the  wine (wein) wine region yes of germany

very much worth it very much worth it

good night good night we're done

you