It seems like the winter vacation we took to East Germany was ages ago now, but somehow I still didn’t manage to say everything about it that I wanted to about it. I talked about our guest house, shared a bunch of photos from one of our walks and the trip to the aquarium, and Ayla even talked about the trip a bit. But what I didn’t get to tell you is that if you find yourself in this area and are starving, you must go to Hotel Gastinger. In fact, you can even stay in their little hotel and enjoy their beautiful views, cross country skiing trails right across the street (or hiking in the thawed months) and try to keep yourself from stealing their fabulous pottery.
We discovered Hotel Gastinger (Ilmenauer Straße 21, Tel. (036782) 70 70) the first full day we were in Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig while we were out exploring. There’s not a whole lot to see in the town but when we saw this place, we had to stop in. Plus it was 10am, we were starved and nothing else was open.
The food was fabulous and the restaurant is decorated really cutely inside. You’ll find lots of local specialties on the menu and very generous portions. They also buy all their ingredients locally and actually grow their own herbs in their garden. We were also really impressed with the wait staff the first day we were there. I tried their gulash the first day I was there and it was really good. But the mixed Thüringer sausage plate was even better. And the potato salad with sour cream in it…I have got to find a recipe for that! SO good.
A trainee named Stefanie was extremely attentive (surprisingly enough, we were not the only ones in there) and even brought toys over for Mackenzie as we sat down at the table. We were blown away. Maybe we’re just used to people in Hessen but that kind of service has been rare for us in Germany.
The hotel seemed really nice and they had some really nice package deals for romantic getaways that we may look into next time. We’d barely have to leave the vicinity of the hotel and could probably leave the Defender parked in one spot during the entire vacation. Pets are allowed although we’ve yet to ask about Newfies. Ayla didn’t get to visit the restaurant and after seeing all the pottery displayed inside, it was a good thing we left her back at the guest house.
Speaking of pottery, the one thing I was really disappointed about, is that they serve you on these incredible hand-thrown plates, and have all these amazing pottery pieces all over the restaurant, but they only sell a few pieces that they keep in a case out front and none of it was what I wanted to take home. I was heart broken. I guess I didn’t really need a 4 foot high pottery flower for the wall anyway. Or one of those really cool woven pottery baskets. I’ve since noticed that on the hotel’s website, you can actually get in touch with the potter and even place custom orders…so we may have to contact her before our next visit to make sure I can actually take something home with me.
In case you haven’t had enough of my photography from the area, here’s a few more shots I took during one of our walks with Ayla. They have some of the most serene forests on earth there.
I thought this tree was fascinating. My guess is that it was struck by lightening but the tree was still standing and green everywhere else, which seemed unusual.
