Esslingen is a very sweet German village in wine country on the Neckar River, just a one-hour trip on two city trains from Stuttgart. From the Esslingen train station, it’s an easy 5-minute walk into their main square. This is a very historic village, developed around 1000 BC and a market town since the 800’s.
Esslingen is home to the Kessler winery, famous for their German sparkling wines. Kessler offers what is said to be an excellent tour of their cellars, in German.
We visited on a Saturday, market day. The town square was full of colorful fruit and vegetable stands, and the bakery shops all around town were full of people having croissants, savory Danishes, and coffee. We picked up coffee and took a best guess at picking out our pastry. We thought we chose something sweet, but ended up with an amazingly delicious tomato-and-cheese Danish.
Following the quirky signs to climb what seemed like a million steps up, we reached the castle. Fantastic views of the red tiled roofs and rolling grape vines planted down the hill. Well worth the climb.
We ate lunch at the Weinkeller Einhorn (Unicorn Wine Cellar). The restaurant is in a building that is centuries old, full of wooden beams, with a fabulous spooky wine cellar. The wines were very good, and the food was very German. We ate meat-filled dumplings (Maultaschen) and beans & franks (Linsen und Wiener Würstchen).
A great outing to a quintessential quaint German village. A village full of half-timbered homes, vineyards, and a fabulous climb to the castle, with the bonus of a close train ride from Stuttgart. Esslingen gets two thumbs up.
Prost!
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