Morning in Idar-Oberstein was very nice. The view from our hotel room on the 15th floor was great:
Flemming and I checked out, and went for breakfast:
All cafes in the downtown were full of companies of wealthy retired people, wearing designer clothers, expensive watches and lots of jewellery. We were in the capital of gemstones after all… The gems were sold on every corner:
Until the 18th century, this area was a source for agate and jasper. The river Nahe provided free water power for the cutting and polishing machines at the mills. A combination of low-cost labour and energy helped the gemstone-working industry flourish.
However, in the 18th century, it became more and more difficult to find the gemstones. Many left to try their luck abroad. Some went as far as Brazil, where they found that gemstones could be recovered from open-pit mines or even found in rivers and streams. Agate nodules were shipped back as ballast on empty vessels that had offloaded cargo in Brazil. The cheap agates were then transported to Idar-Oberstein.
People from Idar-Oberstein also explored opportunities in other South American and African countries, and the gemstone industry grew bigger than ever at the turn of the 20th century.
After the WWII, the region had to redefine itself once more, and it developed into a leading hub in the trade of gemstones from Brazil and African continent. That in turn provided local artists with a large selection of material and the region experienced another boom as a gemstone centre. More recently though, competition from Thailand and India has hit the region hard.
Everything in Idar-Oberstein reminded of its rich gemstone history:
Flemming and I got to the airport, this time by taxi – we didn’t want to walk that much up the hills with our baggage from the bus stop. In the airport, the 350g steaks were getting ready for the guests, and even 2 police helicopters landed to have lunch there.
The take-off was spectacular – there was an abrupt wall after the runway end, going straight down. Flemming made a video, but you need to experience it for yourself – no pictures or videos can give that feeling.
Our next destination was Tarben-Trarbach, a short flight from EDRG:
It was a little turbulent over the mountains, and beautiful:
The approach to Tarben-Trarbach was simply stunning. Located on the top of Mont Royal, surrounded my Moselle river, it looked like a jewel in a crown (you can hear, we were coming from a gemstone town 🙂 ). This place was recommended to me by Sebastian, a friend from my flying club. And now I understood why.
On the flying club website, they made a long description of the approach, landing possibilities, challanges and optical illusions a pilot might experience, and so on. E.g. you land on runway 36, but you take-off from runway 18, no matter what wind direction is.
Flemming and I managed to have a look at the town, and tried to locate the house we were going to stay in.
After following all the procedures, we landed. It wasn’t difficult (the weather conditions were favourable), but there was a high mast right at the beginning of runway 36, so I had to do a little zigzag flying at low altitude over the trees before touching the ground.
We were warmly welcomed, and got help with ordering taxi.
The flying club is called “German-American Gliding Club” though no Americans ever been flying there. When the WWII finished, there was an American air base on top of that mountain of 903 ft. Friendly Americans helped establishing the runway suitable for gliding, thus giving that great place to the German hands. And the gliding club has been operating there since that time.
Checking in to our house was such a pleasure! The house was new, well-furnished, and tastefully decorated. I immediately felt like being at home. My bedroom:
It was much nicer than on the photo. And no bed can compare to my luxury bed at home, but I was very pleased. Flemming and I were going to stay in that house for 3 nights, and it was important to feel good and comfortable.
Taking a path by the Moselle river, we walked to the downtown.
The bridge over the Moselle river (the one we saw from air) connects two towns – Traben and Trarbach:
We were looking for a restaurant for lunch.
And soon found one, that had a terrase with a view:
We always had local wine and local dishes during our trip. That area is famous for its Riesling, and it tasted very good.
Brückentor Trarbach, the landmark of the town:
We were not in a mood of going out for dinner, were not hungry either after the big lunch we had.
Simple leafy salad, bread and local paté, fruit and local sparkling – we had a nice evening in our new home.