Getting to Seiffen was more of a challenge than it should have been. After Deutsche Bahn rearranged the connecting trains so I couldn't arrive at the original time of 1600 without leaving two hours earlier, they also provided me with trains that were late. I made the first connection, but was worried about the second, which was 5 minutes, and the train was running 8 minutes late. "Not a problem," the conductor told me. "Your connection is also running late." And so it was - 20 minutes late! Which meant that I missed the fourth train and the following bus. Finally arrived in Seiffen around 7.30pm.
The room was actually an apartment, with two rooms and a kitchenette, and was lovely. Shame I was only in it for a little over 12 hours.
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| Bedroom and bathroom through the door |
The Pension is run by a family who also have a shop in the main street. Seiffen is in a valley and is very hilly - reminiscent of Vernazza or Muerren.
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| Here's the shop. The Pension is in the yellow house just above (and behind the tree on the right) |
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| View from the main street |
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| View from the back street |
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| The entrance is here, around the back |
I'd grabbed some food at the Bahnhofs, so I went walking when I arrived. Seiffen is quite a bit larger than I expected, and the number of shops selling Holzkunst - wood craft - is enormous. Definitely well over 20; could easily be 50. The houses are well-kept and interesting, and there's plenty of stuff to look at in the windows.
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| This one appealed - they're certainly looking forward! |
Of course, photos taken through windows don't turn out very well, so here's just a couple.
There are also lots of interesting things in the street. Seiffen is geared up as a tourist town for Christmas markets. I can just imagine what it would be like in December.
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| Carved out of wood |
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| A Schwibbogen between two buildings |
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| These lanterns are lovely. There are many throughout the town |
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| Life-sized! |
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| Even the paving has a Christmas theme |
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| A large pyramid on the right, and a smokerman at the back |
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| And a larger-than-life-sized smokerman |
The church is lovely, too. And walking down from there through a little park, I came upon a cute little statue - carved from wood, naturally - and a war memorial. Seiffen is full of surprises.
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| The church is up a hill |
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| "Heim" is home |
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| Lanterns lining the steps |
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| And a memorial to locals who died in WWI |
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| Even the signpost is worth a photo! |
Next morning - shopping!! I asked in my shop about posting things home. The lady said not to send anything large - so no pyramids, none of the Schwibbogen. Very disappointing. I had to be content with photos in the shops, and they were quite happy for me to take them. So...
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| Coloured figurines |
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| Everything you could ever want in the way of Chrissie decos |
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| Lots of pyramids |
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| Schwibbogen |
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| Triangular ones, too |
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| And so many beautiful Pyramiden |
It was a really hot day - mid 30s - so a visit to the church provided some welcome coolness.
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| The Friedhof is so colourful and extremely well-tended |
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| There are even carved wooden figures holding lights in the church |
And a couple more photos from the main street...
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| Mountain people's house and little mountain people's house |
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| The blue and yellow man's legs move in and out |
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| And, yep - another large pyramid |
And on the bus ride back to Freiberg, the nearby town of Neuhausen has an advertising wall - carved out of wood!
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| Certainly makes you look |
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| And this family was also in Neuhausen |
