Bad Kreuznach – Bad “K” or just “BK” to most former Americans living here – was and is a wonderful town to be introduced into culture beyond America.  Who says you can’t go back?  I lived and worked here for three years back in the 1980’s, a time of strong US dollars and a last fling of Cold War uncertainty. 

Today’s blog is a simple chance to amble down through the mists of my time and a chance to update photographic memories of a part of Germany flying under the radar of the Viking longboat cruisers.

My ‘foreign’ experiences, until the moment I stepped off the plane at Rhein Main Air Force Base – now, the home of Terminal 3 Frankfurt International Airport – were limited to one day excursions in Tijuana, Mexico and Victoria, British Columbia.  To step off that plane – a chartered 747 operated by TWA – was the beginning of a huge slew of experiences and adventures in my life.

Moving beyond the New World

A lot of years have gone under the bridge since living here.  Bad Kreuznach has changed a bit, but it is still recognizable from the city I lived in.  BK, for American soldiers and their dependents, was much more of a ‘foreign-lite’ experience than for an ordinary emigrant.  There were American stores, cinemas, cafeterias, barracks, health facilities, etc. to fall back upon where you did not have to speak a word of German.  American driver’s license?  Good to go, though it did help to at least know some of the signs, a few of what the signs said and don’t pass on the right on a two-lane autobahn!

The first two decades of my life, I grew up in the same house before matriculating off to undergraduate university first for four years and then professional school to gain my Optometry doctor’s degree.  I found both in the case of Corvallis and Los Angeles, it took a couple of years to really get to feel at home.  By the time my school periods were up, I was a bit sad to leave gaining a much greater appreciation for each of the cities.

Germany – Foreign-lite Experience

The whole American thing is gone today from Bad Kreuznach.  Some of the buildings where dependents used to live have been repurposed for German civilians.  The airfield and the hospital complexes have disappeared completely – houses, factories and shops.  Time changes all things in some ways.  The disappearance of so many troops with so many weapons has got to be a good thing overall.

Just across from the hospital complex, was a bachelor officer’s quarters – BOQ – where I first lived for a couple months – it is gone today, as well.  It made for a short commute to work and was close enough to be able to walk into the main city along the beautiful walks through the park along the Nahe River.  Then the chance came to move upstream to another small BOQ in the small town – with one of those German names going on forever – of Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg.  Germany is really a beautiful country, underrated on many travelers’ radar. 

Bad Kreuznach is smack in gorgeous vineyard-covered hills. It is also only 20 kilometers south of the castles of the Rhine Canyon.  But those areas take second place to the magical setting of you find in Bad Münster – soaring vertical cliffs, ancient, ruined castles and those unique quaint outdoor humidifiers, the gradierwerks. Everything is so much more intimate than further north and the tourists are far fewer.

History seeping

Europe seeps with history.  Like most Americans, I was ignorant of local German – European – history.  Exposed to it over my three years, it is only years later I began to finally gain a better understanding.  For example.  Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg, like other hyphenated German towns, was an amalgamation of two towns.  Bad Münster am Stein lies on the north bank of the Nahe with Ebernburg across the river.  The two towns had belonged to a host of local knights and lords through the years, though usually not the same ones. 

The French had a nasty habit of occasionally marching through laying waste to as much as they could in the years before their Revolution.  After the political shuffling following the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Nahe became a border between Prussia – rulers of the north side – and Bavaria – they got Ebernburg.  Both banks reunited after World War One, though the two towns did not merge into one until 1969.  In 2014, Bad Kreuznach absorbed Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg to make things simpler – or more complicated.

The basics – Prussia versus Bavaria – I knew while I living in Germany.  I was exposed to the names of the local barons, but without a better understanding of general European-German history, the names did not mean much to me then.  It would only be after returning, the history – with internet help – would make more sense.

Kitchen German

The BOQ in Ebernburg is still there – added onto, in fact.  A few months after living there, I moved a short way away into an apartment. The apartment had a grand view of the Rotenfels soaring across the river to the north – in Prussia.  I lived here the rest of my time in Germany. It was a wonderful base to reach out into Germany and Europe from.  I could jog into work – five kilometers – or be up into Weinberge – vine-covered hills – in literally one minute.  A whole gamut of trails into the hills and forests of the area was there for discovery.

While I discovered the trails, I worked a bit on my rudimentary German.  Before coming to Germany, I had taken two quarters of German at Oregon State several years before.  To say I had retained anything would be an overstatement.  I did try the adult German classes given for foreigners, but what really helped was squash.  There was a squash hall on the east side of Bad Kreuznach. The hall appears to be gone now or moved to a newer venue nearby. Here for three marks, you could play squash for the whole afternoon on Saturdays.  Of course, if it was dark, you might have to pay an extra mark to turn the lights on.

In the US, sport facilities have water fountains.  Not in Germany.  They have pubs.  A group of us, mostly Germans, would meet on Saturdays. Together we learn the sport of squash together as we tried to stay in shape.  Following our sessions of sweat, after a shower, we retired to the pub. This is where I worked hard on trying to gain elements of the native speech.  My German definitely improved – to my mind – as day became early evening.  I owe much of my ability in “Küche Deutsch” to the squash hall of Bad Kreuznach and my German friends.

Artist views

Constant Cravings

My time in BK went by quickly.  I was of two minds to stay a little longer, but a job opportunity came up back in Portland. My extended European sojourn came to an end.  I have been back to Germany several times in the past years, however.  A couple of times, visits to friends here have been included on itineraries taking me in other European – or non-European – directions.  Other German friends have taken me in other German directions, but I always try to get back to BK and Bad Münster.  There is just something about the magic.

Homecoming

It was late October when I first came to Bad Kreuznach in 1982. With my wife, we took advantage of a 2018 trip centered upon a vision clinic in Albania to revisit old friends and haunts in Germany.   Fall days by the end of October tend to be gray, wet and short.  You need to get up early to maximize the hours.  We stayed several days, using the decent train connections to see quite a bit in a short amount of time.  But here, I will concentrate on the Bad Kreuznach area.

Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg was home base as it was so many years ago. Though this time, we stayed on the Prussian side instead of the Bavarian shore where I once lived.  A German friend was kind enough to act as chauffeur and guide as we visited old and new sites in the area. He was also good enough to ignore my constant stopping for another 360 capture. Just in case this was my last trip here.

Houses on a Bridge

Of course, we started with Bad Kreuznach’s most famous site – the Brückenhaüser or Bridge Houses.  The bridge crossing the Nahe River, dates to around 1300.  The houses were added later from about 1480. One house features a cannonball embedded just above the main door. The surrounding inscription describes the ball as shot by marauding Swedes sometime during the 30 Years War.

360 view from a restaurant near the Kornmarkt in central Bad Kreuznach looking over the Mühlenteich and the Bridge Houses. The Mühlenteich is a canal off the Nahe River, used by a mill on the east side of the bridge. Following years of flash floods, millions of euros were spent making it easier for the town to withstand the sudden surges. Click and drag with your mouse for the full 360 effect on all VR photos.

Neustadt or Altstadt?

The Neustadt – New City – is actually the oldest part of Bad Kreuznach.  It is what you would expect of a medieval quarter – narrow streets branching off with no rhyme or reason.  Turn on one and around the corner you discover a magnificent old church or square.

A 360 look at the Eiermarkt with the Michel Mort monument and the Nicholauskirche in Bad Kreuznach.

Owl Castle – Kauzenburg

A 360 look from the Kauzenburg restaurant above Bad Kreuznach.

Above the old medieval quarter sits the Kauzenburg – Owl Mountain. Here are the ruins of an old castle restored into a restaurant-hotel complex. From up here, there is a glorious view over the city below.

Another 360 overlook of Bad Kreuznach from the Kauzenburg.

Rheingrafenstein

Bad Münster is all about the Stein – Rock.  A huge monolith rises straight up out of the Nahe River with atmospheric ruins of a count’s toll-castle above.  You can access the ruins by trail from Bad Kreuznach – a bit of a walk without a car, however. With a car, drive up just south of town to the hill known as the Kuberg – Cow Mountain. There is a small astronomical observatory up here, as well.

A 360 view from atop the ruins of the Rheingrafenstein.

Or, if it is running, you can take the little passenger ferry across from Bad Münster. The ferry is pulled across by hand. On the other side, you can ascend to the top of the rock on trail.  Whichever way you go, the views from the top of the Rock are spectacular.

The Nahe River is below with Bad Münster am Stein across the river. Ebernburg is to the left with the cliffs of the Rotenfels in the center. On the right center, the river points to Bad Kreuznach beyond.

The Red Cliffs – ROTENFELS

A visit to the area is not complete without driving west on the road following the north bank of the Nahe. The road is cinched between rail tracks leading up the valley and the vertical cliffs of the Rotenfels. These are the tallest cliffs you will find in Germany outside of the Alps.  On several climbing routes, you can find local alpinists trying their skills, though the cliffs are also closed during nesting periods for local falcons.

To get to the top of the cliffs, I used to take one the trails going up from Bad Münster.  But this time, we cheated and drove up from a small village to the west.  This way your walk is only a matter of a few hundred meters.  The views are incredible from up here. Gaze up the Nahe valley in one direction and south down the Alsenz valley with its own castle in another direction.

A meeting of the World atop the Bastei on the Rotenfels. Europe-Asia-North America all come together.

Onwards

Too quickly, we called it a day and head off to the airport for a date with Albania.  There are definitely changes in both Bad Kreuznach and Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg over time. The area is still easily recognizable as a place I discovered Magic in experiencing life different than what I knew.

A dog watches us from a balcony above narrow alleys near the Eiermarkt in the old part of Bad Kreuznach.