When you think of Cologne, you immediately think of its cathedral (the “Kölner Dom”). But did you know that not too far from it, there’s a church filled with bones? When we learned about it on our recent trip to Cologne, we just had to see it! But what’s the reason behind it?

Introducing St Ursula and her 11 (thousand) virgins! So let’s get into it – and see some bones at the end!

As you might know, I love myself some folklore and legends, so after hearing this story from a tour guide in Cologne, I wanted to know more. There are multiple versions of the legend which got seriously confusing at one point.

In one version, she’s a Breton princess, daughter of King Maurus and called Ursula, in another she’s the daughter of the semi-legendary King Dionotus of Cornwall, Wales, and called Winnosa (or Pinnosa). To make it easier for our story, we’ll make her British and call her Ursula.

The Catholic version of the story and the “regular one” are pretty different. In the first, Ursula is a good Christian who wants to join a nunnery and gets convinced by an angel to accept Prince Etherius as a husband. In the latter, there’s no mention of it and she’s supposed to marry a guy called Conan. To not make it too complicated, I’ll just go with the Catholic version which is more important for Cologne’s history. They’ve made her one of their city’s patron saints after all! So let’s get started.

St Ursula and her 11,000 virgins

According to medieval legends like the “Legenda Aurea”, St Ursula was a princess, virgin and martyr who lived in the 4th century. According to one version, she was the daughter of King Dionotus of Cornwall, Wales, and was famous for her beauty. Many princes came from afar to ask for her hand in marriage. But Ursula had other plans: Christian as she was, she didn’t want to get married but wanted to join a nunnery.

A heathen Prince from the North called Etherius heard of Ursula’s beauty and went to see her… but let’s just put a quick pin in that and talk about the other version: In this story, she was supposed to marry nonetheless than legendary British Celtic leader Conan the barbarian – sorry, I meant Conan Meriadoc of Armorica (which is an ancient region in northwest France, corresponding to modern-day Brittany). An interesting character by himself by the way, if you’re a history buff or like me into useless knowledge. But let’s continue with our story:

Although Ursula was attracted to Etherius, she declined due to her nunnery plans. Etherius’ father kind of freaked out after hearing this and threatened her with violence if she didn’t change her mind. The next night, Ursula had a vision from an angel telling her to accept Etherius’ proposal. When she woke up, decided to follow the angel’s advice but agreed to the marriage on two conditions: One: that she could go on a three-year pilgrimage to Rome with 10 virgin friends of hers (because being a virgin was all the rage back then), to see holy Christian places. Two: he had to get himself baptised in the meantime. Her wish was their command and the trip could begin!

Let’s just quickly see what the other Ursula was up to – which was entirely different:

This non-nunnery version of Ursula simply did what she was told when Daddy found a husband for her. Planning to join her future husband on the mainland, she set sail from Cornwell with another 11,000 (!) virgins who were to be used as handmaidens. Why someone needs so many handmaidens, and where you even get so many girls from, I do not know. Maybe they were supposed to be backups in case of the plague or other early demises. As long as Queeny doesn’t need to lift a finger, that would be unthinkable!

Anyways, on their way, they get into a miraculous storm which brings them to a Gaulish port within a day. So Ursula declares that before her marriage, let’s all go on a pilgrimage to Rome. Because nothing is easier than travelling with 11,000 virgins to Rome.

Now that both Ursulas are on their way to Rome, back to the Catholic version:

After preparing a fleet of ships for their trip, Ursula and her entourage start their pilgrimage. Travelling by ship down the river Rhein, the first station was Cologne where they were received by the bishop. Once again, Ursula had a vision in the night: if she returned to Cologne on their way back from Rome, she’d be martyred there. So they went to Rome, got married, took a different route home and lived happily ever after – one could think. But no, that would make for a very boring story!

Ursula and her entourage continued by ship until Basel and continued their journey on foot. Now imagine the version of 11,000 virgins travelling to Rome. And that too via the Alps, which is hard even if you wear fancy trekking gear. Whether it were 11,000 or only 10 virgins (of course with a big entourage, the 11 women weren’t travelling alone), it was quite hard. After a long and difficult journey, enduring hunger, bad weather (it gets pretty cold there too!), and diseases, they finally reached Rome. The Pope received them and all of them got baptised again by the Man himself.

They started their return journey and even Etherius who couldn’t wait to marry her, decided to set out from home to meet her halfway in Mainz (spoiler alert: big mistake, he should’ve stayed home!). While having their happy reunion, he received his baptism. Whether they got married there is not clear. There’s a painting of their wedding, but where, when and if – who knows? They continued their journey to Cologne – again, don’t ask me why, after having that vision! From here on, there are again different versions, most of which don’t make much sense to me.

Version 1: Martyrdom and Atillas’ Vision

On their way to Cologne, they got to know that the city was attacked by Huns and their famous king Attila. They fearlessly disembarked to accept their destiny and died – all except Ursula, even Etherius. When Atilla saw the beautiful Ursula, he was immediately smitten and told her that he’d spare her if she agreed to be his wife. She of course refused (that part I understand, after him having slaughtered pretty much everyone around her), which angered Attila so much that he shot and killed her with a single arrow – which has become part of her iconography.

After all this killing, Attila wanted to subdue Cologne for good. But he had a vision in the same night in which the martyred virgins appeared to him in a dream. He got so scared that he broke camp and ran away. The citizens of Cologne were so thankful to the virgins for saving the city that they buried them and built a Church on top of it.

In this version, it simply doesn’t make sense that they disembark and get themselves killed. There was no point to it in my opinion. Someone, please explain it to me so that I can rewrite it!

Version 2: Senseless Killing and an Angel Attack

After their return to Cologne, she and her followers were attacked by Huns who besieged the city. They started slaughtering all of the Christian pilgrims who came with her. Smitten by her beauty, the king of the Huns was so taken by her that he offered to stop the slaughter if she’d only marry him. So one would think, let’s do it to save thousands, right? But no, she rejected him and got everyone killed, including herself. After the massacre, 11,000 angels appeared thanks to which the Huns fled in fear.

Now this version, I seriously dislike for obvious reasons. Let’s continue to the last version, taken from the “Reimchronik” of the City of Cologne.

Version 3: Vive la Resistance!

When Ursula and her 11,000 virgins returned to Cologne and the Huns attacked, she called on her entourage to resist and die for the city of Cologne like Jesus Christ died for people on the cross. This is how all 11,000 became martyrs and Ursula was declared the patron saint of the city. (Whether there were angels involved or a vision, I don’t know).

So that’s the story of St Ursula and why she is so important to Cologne. Which version did you like best?

11,000 or eleven – that’s the question!

Now the big question is: why 11,000, why do people think that it was that many? One theory is that it was a mere translation error from Latin: someone translated “11,000 virgins” (11 milia virgines) instead of “eleven martyred virgins” (11 martyres virgines). That some holy virgins were killed seems to be sure thanks to an inscription from c. 400 in the Church of St Ursula in Cologne, which states that the basilica had been restored on the site where they were killed.

However, a cleric called Wandelbert (I love the name ), wrote in his martyrology from 848 that thousands of saints were slaughtered on the boards of the River Rhine. Another source, the Passio from the 970s says that there were 11 maidens who each commanded a ship containing one thousand virgins.

Our guide from Cologne had the following explanation which is connected to selling relics in the Middle Ages: having saint’s bones is good for business because many people were willing to pay for it. And since they found so many bones, around the church, 11 became 11,000.

The legend of the holy virgins and the distribution of their relics started in the 12th century in the whole of Europe. The first planned relic excavations happened in 1121 around the church, planned by bishop Norbert von Xanten who had visions of the resting places. Whatever graves they found, they declared them to be relics, although they even found bones of men and children. But if a legend doesn’t fit, let’s make it fit: they started saying that Etherius came to meet her in Cologne with his entourage and was killed alongside them as a martyr. That’s why you can find his reliquary next to hers in the church.

Since so many bones were found, the burial ground around the church became one of the most abundant relic-finding places north of the Alps.

Thanks to today’s research, we now know that a lot of the bones are around 2000 years old, most likely from Roman times. The area used to be outside the city walls back then and was used as a graveyard. When they extended the city walls and started digging there, they discovered the bones.

Let’s show some bones: The Basilica of St Ursula in Cologne

When our tour guide told us that there was a church filled with thousands of bones, I got excited! Hubster and I just LOVE visiting churches – cathedrals and basilicas to be precise, because you never know what you’re going to find. Sometimes a church or even a temple seems very inconspicuous from the outside but is insanely beautiful inside. I always remember the Jain temple in Mount Abu, Rajasthan, which looked so boring from the outside that I almost left, but my God, did it blow my mind! Of course, it’s often monotonous, after all, they’re very similar. So when we hear about something unique like this, we’re all ears.

I had expected it to be at the main altar and was slightly disappointed when entering. I searched for almost 10 minutes until I finally asked someone who just finished a tour. It’s called the “Golden Chamber” (“Goldene Kammer” in German), directly to your right when you enter. They often keep the door locked for obvious reasons and it costs 2 EUR entry, so you might have to find someone to open it. The guide (let’s just call him that, although I’m sure he works at the church in a different capacity) is incredibly nice and he’ll tell you quite a bit about the story.

Today’s basilica was built in the 12th century, and the Baroque refurbishing was added in the 17th century. The Golden Chamber was added to the church in 1643 during the 30-year war to store and showcase the collection of relics.

Apart from the bone decoration all over, all these figures you see contain skulls! One can open the head part of the sculpture and put a skull inside.

In some of the niches you even find visible skulls, only wrapped in some embroidered cloth.

The church itself isn’t very spectacular but you can visit St Ursula herself.

You can also take a look at the “Ursulazyklus” which is a depiction of the whole story. If you find the nice “guide”, he might explain it to you.

If you reached here: Thanks for reading! I hope you liked this little tale. Stay tuned for more posts about Cologne and our recent trip to Germany If you haven’t yet, do subscribe!

The post The legend of St Ursula or: Why is this church filled with bones? appeared first on Poser on Tour.

I’m back in Germany and that can only mean one thing: hiking! But where to go? Thanks to the brilliant app Explo, I found our next destination within 2 minutes: Battertfelsen at Schloss zu Hohenbaden/Battertfelsen at Hohenbaden Castle in the Black Forest. The pictures were amazing, such a huge and well preserved castle surrounded by the most beautiful landscape – a paradise for rock climbers!

I’m seriously embarrassed: we live so close by yet we had never even heard of it! Only 35 min by car from Karlsruhe, 7 min away from Baden-Baden. So let’s get into it!

Hiking around Hohenbaden Castle

There are multiple places to start your hike. You can either park directly at the Castle and start your hike from there. To get to the parking, you should come from Baden-Baden via the Schlossbergtangente, Alter Schlossweg to the Hohenbaden Castle. There’s also a Bus line (Linie 215) which is going up there on Sundays from April to October, at 1:15pm and 4:15pm starting from Augustaplatz. Do check the plan though in case there are changes since I’m not going to update this information.

There are some beautiful sights around the Felsenweg, like the viewing platform at the Ritterplatte. When you go further on Battertfelsen, you’ll also get to see a beautiful 600 year old tree tree, the Batterteiche which is a natural monument and the oldest tree in the district of Baden-Baden. Important info: there’s a staircase up to the tree made of natural stones and rocks which is a bit tricky on the way down. There’s a different way around the staircase. It’s best to walk upwards, starting from the gate in the back upwards

We parked at the parking at Battertweg from which it is only 2km up to the castle. It’s a good hike even in very sunny weather since a lot of it is through a beautiful forest.

The Battert-Rundweg which is 2.8km and takes approx. 1.2hrs. You can easily get on this path from the parking I had mentioned before. You’ll get onto the Unterer Felsenweg which you follow up to the castle, and return via the Oberer Felsenweg. It’s a pretty simple hike which even my Chubbster (= Chubby Hubster/Husband) can do without complaining for too long.

The Ebersteinburg-Rundweg is rather difficult with 10.5km which takes approx 3.2 hrs. It starts down at the Wanderparking Wolfsschlucht. From Hohenbaden Castle you then hike via the Battert to a second Castle Ebersteinburg. I would love to try and tell you how difficult it actually was BUT since I have to go with my husband, there’s no way on earth he’ll agree to that. After we kind of got lost in Bavaria and took the wrong hike which lead up a REALLY steep cliff, he doesn’t trust me anymore (and to his defense, he’s fat and has asthma, so yeah, let’s avoid that heart attack)

For hikers who want to walk more, there are three different paths starting at the Caracalla Therme in Baden-Baden, between 4-8km long.

Hohenbaden Castle / Altes Schloss zu Hohenbaden

Hohenbaden Castle is built on the Battert in the 12th century. Markgraf von Baden Hermann II started building the “Oberburg” in 1112, starting with the residential building called Hermannsbau and the “Bergfried” which is the tall tower, which you usually find in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under German influence. It’s like a free-standing fighting tower with a defensive function, similar to that of a keep in English or French castles.

The “Unterburg” followed at the end of the 14th century, built by Markgraf Bernhard I. “Markgraf” is a the German word for Margrave which was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or a kingdom. 

Hohenbaden castle functioned as headquarters for the margrave until 1479 when it was moved to the Neue Schloss Baden.

There’s a lot to see in the castle and you can easily spend an hour there. It’s completely free. There are also options to eat, one is a beer garden outside with fries, sausages and drinks and an open area to eat, and a restaurant inside which was closed when we came. The beer garden opens on 1st May, the restaurant on 22nd May (info from 2024).

When we visited, we witnessed a cosplay photoshoot, was too much fun to watch

Rock Climbing at Battertfelsen

The Battertfelsen is the second largest climbing area in the county after the rocks in the Danube valley. The rocks are only 60m high but are the most significant climbing area of the Black Forest, with difficulties up to IX degree. It’s the ideal training ground for alpine tours.

The most difficult rock is called “The Block/Der Block” with difficulty 10- to 10. For beginners there’s “Predigtstuhl Westwand” from which there are multiple options from II to IV. There’s the Bismarkgrat, Kuhweg, Villnößer Nadel and a few more.

Please note that the block heap underneath the Badener Wand is prohibited throughout the year and that some of them are closed during certain breeding seasons.

Hiking Jugaad

Imagine this: you’re super excited, packed enough water for a full day of hiking, start the hike and after 20m you realise that the soles of one of your shoes came off. For the first time in years I had worn open sandals which my mother had left for me ages ago, and finally I thought it was time to take them out. And BAM, the sole disintegrates. My friend’s first reaction was “let’s go to Deichmann and buy new ones” but I first wanted to see how far I get.

My first idea was to walk barefoot, since I anyways do that a lot in the garden and beach. But of course there were too many stones and it was pretty painful. Then I had the random thought of using my hair band to fix it – and it worked!

We of course cut our trip short and only visited the castle, but it lasted me the entire hike and saved the day

Discover the Black Forest

The black forest has so much to offer and is incredibly beautiful! If you’re somewhere around, you simply MUST visit! Last year, Domi and I explored the Geroldsauer Waterfall hike which was out of this world in this season! My husband and I once did a day trip I’m yet to write about: 350km by car through the Black Forest, from Hornisgrinde through the most quaint villages up to Titisee Neustadt.

Summary

Entry to the Castle: Free

Parking: Free

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When visiting Orccha, you will come across Rai Parveen Mahal, one of the most visited places there. It was built by Maharaja Indrajit Singh in 1618 for his beloved courtesan Rai Praveen with intricate work in Mughal architecture. While visiting this place, I learned about this folklore with is definitely worth sharing.

Rai Parveen was famous for her enchanting beauty and poetic prowess. On top of that, she also was a great musician and dancer. Her fame reached such heights that even the Mughal emperor Akbar couldn’t resist summoning her to his durbar (court) to perform there. Yes, Akbar again, the same guy who was after Rani Roopmati. He didn’t seem to have any other hobbies.

Of course, Maharaja Indrajit wasn’t happy about it but couldn’t do anything against this emperor. As Mel Brooks already pointed out: “It’s good to be the king”. (Well, emperor in this case)

Now how to get out of this pickle? You can’t be direct and say no to an emperor, but you also don’t want to let him have his way with you. Rai Praveen found the perfect way in the form of a couplet which she asked to recite:

“Vinit Rai Praveen ki, suniye sah sujan.
Juthi patar bhakat hain, bari, bayas, swan.”

In English: “O’ good and intelligent! Please listen to the prayer of Rai Praveen. Only a low caste individual, barber, and scavengers ate from a plate partaken by someone else.”

In short: “This plate has already been eaten from, you wouldn’t want half-eaten food now, would you?”

Emperor Akbar got the hint and was actually impressed by her talent and conviction. He sent Rai Parveen back to Orchha with the utmost respect and dignity. In one version of the story I read she committed suicide after, others don’t mention it. Let’s pretend she didn’t and lived happily ever after.

Her story has been immortalized in Sudheer Maurya’s Hindi Novel, “Indrapriya.”

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When my best friend saw a hot guy who posted a reel about “Bali in the Black Forest”, he could hardly talk about anything else. So of course we had to explore it the first chance we had! The destination was the “Gay”roldsauer Waterfalls (Geroldsauer Wasserfall to be precise, but the overpowering gay vibes of my friend must’ve influenced my English Google Maps pronunciation ) close to Baden-Baden and led me once again to my beloved Schwarzwaldhochstraße.

It turned out to be an unexpected flowery paradise!

There are multiple routes for trekking around the Geroldsauer Waterfall:

• 3km Waterfall hike – Wasserfall-Rundweg
• 10.5km Kreuzfelsen trek – Kreuzfelsen-Rundweg
• 18km trek to Badener Höhe via Scherrhof and Kreuzfelsen
• 45.5km long Panoramaweg Baden-Baden.

A MUST-do is the short waterfall hike (Wasserfall-Rundweg), which is a 1 hr hike (can be slightly shortened even for the lazy ones) through a romantic creek valley in the midst of a shady, jungle-like forest and – if you come to the Geroldsauer Wasserfall at the right time of year (beginning of May till June) – beautiful Rhododendrons flowers! I wasn’t prepared for this sight at all and, gardener and plant-lover that I am, I walked half the way in pure bliss.

We had planned our trip to Geroldsauer Wasserfall in such a way that we could have lunch there at the restaurant Waldgaststätte Bütthof. We were lucky to get a table though! If you happen to go there, it would be better to book a table in advance. The food was quite lovely and I can definitely recommend it!

Since we had enough time and energy left, we started the Kreuzfelsen-Rundweg trek next. It continued on the same creek and was partly almost more beautiful than the waterfall hike (just without the waterfall). We made a mistake though, didn’t check the map and must’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere because we came back to the parking – a mistake I only realised much later. From there we found the correct but insanely steep path up the mountain.

Halfway through, we met a family who pointed us in the even steeper direction and gave us the important advice to look out for kind of a hidden left path up the mountain. Of course, we missed it (extremely easy to overlook our defense!), and we reached some other, much wider and easier path. After a lot of confusion and half an hour’s detour, we finally reached the peak! It was absolutely worth it!

Since we already walked a lot more than planned, we cut the trek short and went straight down again, missing out on half of the route – which would’ve been nice too I’m sure. Do check out this reel, it captures it so nicely.

My friend had the glorious idea to end our trip at the Bobbahn Mehliskopf, a mountain coaster, and we both got super excited. I had been wanting to do it for so long – that was until I took my first ride

You can witness the horror in its full screamy glory on Instagram.

It was only half an hour away from the Geroldsau, so if you’re in town and have some time left (they close at 6pm), you should definitely go for it.

We ended our trip with a short stop at the Schwarzenbacher Talsperre, a 400 m-long dam. For those of you who’d like to explore this side more, here are some treks around the area (both Herrenwies and Forbach are extremely beautiful!).

Although we grew up only an hour away from these places, we hardly ever visited any of them – such missed opportunities! Like most people, we weren’t even aware that we had the most beautiful places right around the corner. It took my best friend seeing a hot guy taking a dip in the waterfall to get the push to explore more. Maybe your reason to get out there will be this Poser on Tour

If you’d like to see more of my black forest excursions, check out my last post about Allerheiligen Waterfalls.

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It was day 12 of our honeymoon, and I had already chased the hubster through the Alps, Munich, Würzburg, Leipzig, Dresden, and half of the Sächsische Schweiz (‘Saxon Switzerland’). In short: we were EXHAUSTED. It was our last day in Saxon Switzerland and we thought of taking it easy with a short hike. We googled a bit and found the Prebischtor in Czechia (Pravčická Archway or ‘Pravčická brána‘ in Czech, don’t ask me how to pronounce it though ), in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park, which we could reach by boat. It’s the largest natural sandstone arch in Europe and one of the most recognisable natural landmarks in Czechia. Apparently, even some scenes from The Chronicles of Narnia were shot there.

According to Google, it was an easy, family-friendly hike, and it all sounded pretty great, so what could possibly go wrong?

…

A LOT!

We took the Wanderschiff (“hiking ship”) to Hřensko which took around 1 hr and was pretty scenic.

On board itself, the first fateful event occurred which should lead to a neverending Odyssey… I got my hands on a MAP with DESTINATIONS in the area. One thing about me is that I always have to do EVERYTHING. Doesn’t matter how tired I am, if I get to know that there’s something worth seeing, maybe even connected to the words “the most beautiful/largest/unique” somewhere in the “vicinity” (a couple of kilometers mostly), there’s no stopping me. Turned out, there was a gorge on the way, so “let’s do this too!”. “Well, let’s see…” (The thought “Why did I marry this woman?” may have crossed his mind at this point )

Once we reached Hřensko, we needed to change money as the Czech Republic doesn’t have Euros yet. Luckily, we were able to do so at a random shop and received our first korunas. There were buses to the different treks and we managed to catch one pretty quickly.

Now the issue was that large parts of the forest were entirely dried up and there were dead trees everywhere, hence the first part of the trek wasn’t very scenic. There had been forest fires a few days before our arrival in Saxon Switzerland, and just a few days after our departure it started raging big time. We were somehow lucky enough to come exactly in between where trekking was still possible!

This is where the hubster started complaining for the first time as he didn’t expect a hike uphill. Well… if you’re in the mountains, is there any trek that doesn’t go uphill? To Google’s defense which called it an easy trek, my so-called “research” about it took 5 min, I only saw the amazing pictures and the word “easy” in a comment, so that was that… (and it WAS easy – for me ) Had he known at this point that we’d end up at the height of the mountain in the background in the next pic, he would’ve turned around

It took around 1 hour to reach Pravčická Archway but it was quite crowded (no wonder being July and peak season). Generally, I found it really beautiful BUT thanks to the crowd and especially the wasps, it was impossible to sit down nicely and have a snack. I would definitely recommend coming off-season and first thing in the morning before the rush!

The chateau next to the arch is called Falcon’s Nest (‘Sokolí hnízdo’), built in 1881 by a prince. They had used it to host distinguished guests, now it’s a restaurant and a photo gallery.

Hence we went further on top (=lots of steps) and the view up there was absolutely stunning.

At this point, even I acknowledged that yes, it might have been slightly too much for something which should’ve been a relaxed hike. Fully worth it though, just look at this view!

After enjoying the view for a bit, we made our way down the mountain, this time with a more happy hubby.

We walked back to the village and sat down at a kiosk for lunch, close to the entrance to the gorge.

The Kamenice Gorge… if only we had never gotten to know about it…

Edmundsklamm or “Edmundova Soutěska” as this part of the gorge is called, is one of the most extraordinary and interesting parts of Bohemian Switzerland and is definitely worth exploring – starting from the OTHER side though, but we’ll get to that later… What makes this special is the boat ride through the gorge which we wanted to experience.

Fun fact: For a long time, the area around Kamenice was difficult to access and shrouded in mystery. The place where the trail ended and only rocks and water continued was even called the “End of the World”. Attempts to penetrate further were considered foolishness or even impiety by the local people. Only in 1877, it was explored for the first time – thanks to a bet in a pub! Five adventurers explored the gorge on rafts which started tourism there soon after. Since rafts are a tad uncomfortable for fancy people, Prince Edmund started developing the gorge to make it accessible.

Now, the issue with our visit was that we had a bus to catch and didn’t expect the boat ride to start after 30 min of walking, and all that after the previous exhaustion. But ok, we’re halfway through, it can’t be much further… and in we went. We finally reached the boats and took the ride, which was once again absolutely worth the trouble.

Had we taken the boat back (which would’ve been an option), we even would’ve been on time for the next bus. But someone told us, no, the next village is very close and the bus stops there too. Well, if you say so, dear local boatsman…

This is where it escalated.

Look up the Gorge, see how high it is? That’s pretty much the height we had to climb up. It was one of the steepest paths I’ve ever had to walk… I think Russell was close to a heart attack, but somehow we made it up.

When we finally found the bus stop, a signboard said “The bus is not stopping here anymore, it’ll be at the next village. The next village was approx. 2 km away… So we walked… and walked… and cursed… and cursed…

When we finally caught a bus back to Hřensko and were not sure whether we missed the last bus back to Bad Schandau where our hotel was. It was a special bus for hikers connecting Saxon and Bohemian Switzerland. It was at least 30 min late and we were about to look for alternatives when it finally arrived!

So the Odyssey finally came to an end, we were saved and would both not feel like hiking for the foreseeable future.

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When my mother had an appointment in the beautiful town of Kappelrodeck in the Black Forest, I was the first to volunteer to drive her there. I immediately suggested making a day trip out of it and doing some hiking. I hadn’t done any research and did it in Kappelrodeck itself. Google immediately suggested the “Kloster Allerheiligen” (All Saints) Abbey Ruins and Waterfalls which were only a 20 min drive away.

Abbey Ruins? Count me in!

I hadn’t heard of either of them before but I learned that the Allerheiligen Wasserfälle (Waterfalls) are among the most beautiful and highest waterfalls in the Black Forest, flowing over seven cascades down the steep rocks.

We arrived at the parking from which it was a short walk to the ruins. I just love these kinds of eery ruins of a mere skeleton of a building.

The monastery was founded between 1191 and 1196 by Uta von Schauenburg and a lot of pilgrims came there in the 13th century. It was gradually improved, ended up as a basilica in the 14th century, and became an abbey in 1657. There were many fires and it had to be restored a couple of times. After its last heyday in the 18th century, the monks left in 1803. In the same summer, the building was hit by lightning and badly damaged. Since it was only restored provisionally by the famous architect Weinbrenner from Karlsruhe, the abbey was sold to be demolished in 1816.

We of course were up for a bit of hiking and took the “Sagenrundweg” (saga trail), a beautiful nature trail of only 3.5m, only going slightly up the mountains, with some beautiful views of the gorge and signboards with local myths along the path.

Let’s explore them together! The first myth is right at the beginning and about the foundation of the Cloister:

How the Kloster Allerheiligen was founded

“Duchess Uta von Schauenburg wanted to found a cloister. Since they couldn’t agree on a place, she had a dream to send a donkey, loaded with a sack of money, and release him in the wild. Where it would drop the sack, she should build the cloister.

The donkey got tired high up the mountains and shook his load off which then rolled into the valley. The Cloister was built at the place where it stopped.”

Before we started the trail, I happened to see this super cute signboard “What the Kuckuck?!” in the shop with its Black Forest specialties. It’s a literal translation of the German phrase “Was zum Kuckuck” (What the cuckoo) and basically means “What the heck”.

Quite at the beginning of the trail, we noticed a Roman-style cenotaph on the opposite hill, the “Ehrenmal“. It was built in 1925 to remember the fallen troops in World War I.

It didn’t take long until we reached the next signboard with the tale of The Horseman’s Leap:

“During the Thirty Year’s War, Austrian horsemen followed a Swedish horseman until this steep rock at the edge of the waterfalls. He urged his horse to a vast leap but it lacked the power. Both shattered in the deep.”

Looking around, our only thought was: “Where the F*** did he want to jump to? Idiot. Poor Horse.”

Continuing on the winding path, we’ve reached the “Engelskanzel” (Angel’s pulpit), some rocks with a beautiful view over the gorge. The story goes like this:

“A girl was chased by wild soldiers until the gorge of the waterfalls of Allerheiligen. She beseeched God and jumped over the abyss. Lo and behold: Angels carried it safely over the gorge to these rocks.”

Right opposite is a huge rock, called the Studentenfelsen (Student Rock):

“A squire from Strasburg, a student at the famous cloister school Allerheiligen, fell in love with the daughter of a gypsy and gifted her his most precious ring. One fine day, when she played with the ring between the rocks, two ravens came and stole it from her.

Trying to get it back from the raven’s nest, her beloved fell into the deep. Looking for the squire, the girl fainted on the rocky cliffs and fell down into the thundering waters.”

After following the path further and mainly downhill, we got a bit confused because there were fewer and fewer people and no signboards anymore. Finally, we reached the next signboard with the story about the Moos Cleric:

“A priest from the cloister Allerheiligen had to give the last rites to a dying farmer in the Moos mountains. On his way, he lost the host (eucharistic bread) in the rough terrain and couldn’t find it anymore. Hence, he was cursed to wander as a ghost through the Moos mountains. Since then, he taunts hikers, leads them astray, scares blueberry gatherers, and sits on the back of cocky people until they can hardly walk anymore.”

We’ve reached the main road and the parking of the Allerheiligen Waterfalls (we’d parked at the abbey side).

Now it was time to go up and down some stairs following the waterfalls.

At some point, we’ve reached a rock called “The stony image”

“A young mason lived together with a gypsy in a cave. One fine night, she left him secretly. In his sorrow, he bound a rope on a fir tree, went down the steep face of the mountain, and chiselled the face of his beloved in the rock. Once he was done, he cut the rope and fell to his death.”

That’s one stupid way to go about a breakup… dramatic much? And he was apparently not very talented either, since I could hardly make out any face in the rock. If it was the spot I thought could resemble a face most, no wonder he killed himself – of shame. Nevertheless, it was one of our favourite spots to sit for a bit.

After the waterfalls on the way back to the abbey, there’s one last myth about a ghost called Friar Pauli

“Friar Pauli was a cleric from the cloister who didn’t take his vows seriously. To finance his ‘adventures’, cast balls out of silver crucifixes. Before God’s judgment, he was damned to wander as a ghost in the vicinity of the Cloister Allerheiligen. He often played bad tricks on carters or emptied baskets of blueberry gatherers.”

The trail now came to an end and lead back to the Abbey premises. We decided against going up the hill to the Ehrenmal (which I’d mentioned initially) and visited the small baroque garden before ending our hike at the restaurant.

Mom had been looking forward to a piece of the famous “Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte” (Black Forest Cake) all day and finally got one. Did you know that the original contains “Kirschwasser” (cherry water), a clear brandy? One entire layer gets soaked in it after baking and I don’t think I could’ve driven after eating a whole piece So from now on, when you see Black Forest Cake anywhere without alcohol, you know it’s not authentic For those who would like to bake one, here’s a recipe.

For the very first time in history, I tried making a reel out of it – and I’m rather happy with the result.

The nature lovers and litter haters among you will love this find: You can find this poster in many places in the Black Forest, trying to fight against littering. It’s called “Unloved Nature Inhabitants (which unfortunately are not yet threatened to be extinct and their decomposing time)”. Germany really is extremely clean compared to other countries (looking at you, India ), and I think great education campaigns like this are a reason for this. (And of course that there are dustbins everywhere and most people don’t even think of littering…)

Last but not least, here are a few impressions of Kappelrodeck, which I had mentioned in the beginning (and which was the whole reason for our trip to the Black Forest). It has a beautiful fountain and church, and we were surprised to learn that the “Badischer Camino de Santiago” leads through this town. I personally didn’t even know there was an official Camino in Baden, so we both got very excited about it.

This was only part one of our trip, but the rest is a tale for another day.

The post Kloster Allerheiligen: Abbey Ruins, Waterfalls, and a Saga Hike appeared first on Poser on Tour.

If you’d ask me for my favourite places in Delhi, the stepwell Agrasen ki Baoli would be in the top 5. There is hardly anyone who’s visited Delhi who I’ve not taken there. Surprisingly, many Delhiites are either not even aware of it or have simply not visited it. Incomprehensible!

It’s only 5 min away from Connaught Place, located on Hailey Road, and can be done within 10-15 min. Agrasen ki Baoli covers a rather small area: 60m long and 15m wide. You can climb down the steps and if you’re lucky and it’s not filled with water, you can even go fully inside. What I love about it is that it’s the perfect symbiosis of modern and ancient: looking down you see the beautiful stepwell, looking up the skyscrapers of CP.

Agrasen ki Baoli, with its 108 steps, is among a few of its kind in Delhi. Three levels of the historic stepwell are visible. Each level is lined with arched niches on both sides.

The current structure was built in the 14th century by the Agrawal community during the Tughlag or Lodi period of the Delhi Sultanate in India, which traces its origin to the legendary King Agrasen. It is believed that the original structure was built by king Agrasen during the Mahabharat epic era.

Earlier the lowest level was accessible but for some reason, it was closed when I came last in 2023. For those who’ve missed out on it (or are a bit claustrophobic), this is what it looks like down there. It’s basically just some rubble inside, nothing special really.

I’m kind of a fan of “baolis” and always make sure I don’t miss out on them during my travels. For those who don’t know the concept of stepwells:

They are known under many names: baoli, bawdi, vav, vavdi and some more. They are wells or ponds with a long corridor of steps that descend to the water level. Some of them like multi-storeyed and can be accessed by a Persian wheel (a mechanical water lifting device) which is pulled by a bull to bring water to the first or second floor. They are most common in western India. Some of the most impressive ones I’ve seen so far are in Gujarat Ahmedabad, but also in Rajasthan (but a completely different style, a so-called step pond). The construction of stepwells is mainly utilitarian, though they may include embellishments of architectural significance, and can be temple tanks. A basic difference between stepwells on the one hand, and tanks and wells on the other, is that stepwells make it easier for people to reach the groundwater and to maintain and manage the well.

As mentioned before, I’ve been there so often and have taken pretty much everyone there who came for a visit. Going through pics for this post was pretty nostalgic and reminded me of some of my most precious moments in Delhi.

Some years back, there was one iconic and often Instagrammed wall art just in front of the entrance. Unfortunately, it’s not there anymore. Here’s a tribute.

Have I promised too much? It’s pretty awesome, isn’t it? So if you are in Delhi, what are you waiting for? It takes maybe 30 min to visit when you’re at CP and you’ve made some amazing memories!

Opening times: 9 AM to 5:30 PM

Location: Hailey Road, close to Connaught Place, Delhi

Entry: Free

The post Discovering the Hidden Gem of Delhi: Agrasen Ki Baoli appeared first on Poser on Tour.

When I moved to India, I was completely clueless about where to get anything. For most of the things, the answer is quite simple: Lajpat Nagar Central Market! It’s one of the markets which I would definitely recommend to any tourists to experience a colourful and buzzing Indian bazaar. But how to find anything in this buzzing maze?

Now an expert whom even my Indian friends ask for advice now and then, I would like to make your life easier by sharing my wisdom.

To be honest, now that I earn well, I stopped going there for clothes. Most of all, I generally advocate a more sustainable lifestyle and decluttering. I prefer FabIndia and some other shops as they have high-quality organic materials. But when it comes to any decoration, household items, fabrics or tailors, this is still my place of choice!

What do I get there?

You can find almost everything there:

• Ethnic wear (casual or party wear) in all price and quality categories
• Shoes
• Jewelry (especially the “bling-bling” ones for parties or weddings)
• Fabric/Textiles (Kurta material and regular fabric)
• Bags and other accessories
• Everything for your home (kitchen, dining, bed & bath, electronic devices etc.)
• Tailors
• Mehendi Artists

What I would not recommend it for is western clothes, they have mostly stuff with very badly and cheaply looking designs. The best market for those is Sarojini Nagar, which I will definitely also cover here Lajpat Nagar Central Market is most of all a paradise for street shopping and is the first place I have in mind whenever I need wedding outfits.

How do I get there and at what time does it open?

There are several options depending on where you live. Lajpat Nagar has a Metro station (Violet and Pink Line). In case you live close to the yellow line, I would recommend taking an auto or cab instead. If you prefer the metro, you will soon be able to change from INA into the Pink line, once it’s fully operational.

If you live somewhere around Lajpat Nagar, you can easily take a Cycle Rickshaw. There is parking also, but with some space issues during peak time and the 100 % chance of getting stuck in a traffic jam, I would avoid coming by car.

The stores open around 11am–12pm and it’s always recommended to come a bit early to avoid the peak hours. Also, the first sale of the day is seen as auspicious – awesome for all early shoppers! They usually tell you that you are the first customer even, so try to bargain a bit more to get an even better deal

Where to find what

The market seems to be very confusing when you don’t know it. I have made a map for you where you can generally find certain things (a little noobish maybe, but still a map I’ll try to make a nicer one someday).

It’s actually quite easy: imagine Lajpat as a big, slightly unsorted department store. There are certain areas where you mostly find certain kinds of products, like jewelry and bangles at the Market Road, kurta fabrics in the west, fabrics in general in the south-west, shoes in the very east (and 2 shops in their parallel street in the very west). Of course, you find shoe shops also at the rest of the market but most of them and especially the proper shops are concentrated in one area. Tailors you find on the other side of the road in the north, opposite KFC. In the middle of the market, there is a mix of everything, kurtas, clothes in general, bags, shoes etc. On the map, I have only marked places where you find certain things in particular.

Here is another map with my favourite places Please note that the location is not always 100 % correct but you’ll at least know where to go.

Prices & Quality

At my first job with the NGO, I earned hardly any money, so going to Malls with all their more expensive shops wasn’t really an option. Like many firangs, I quickly fell in love with ethnic wear, hence Lajpat was the place to be.

In the first few months, I also used to live very close by in East of Kailash (it’s just a 10 min Cycle Rickshaw ride away), so I came almost every weekend. After some time, I became the Lajpat expert of the office and people even called me sometimes to ask where to get certain things from there.

I want to give you an overview of the price ranges of the different products as I know it is very hard, in the beginning, to judge whether a price is OK or way too high. In any case, make sure you bargain hard. The best bet is to get up as if you want to leave (sometimes even repeatedly). Once they stop going down with the price, you know you have reached the limit.

Firang Tip: Listen to the discussions with other customers: if they are bargaining, which price the vendors tell them and for which price they are buying it eventually.

One piece of advice in advance: Whatever you are planning to buy, check the price online (Flipkart, Amazon, or for clothes, pages like Myntra.com) to get to know the market price. The prices should generally be cheaper at Lajpat than online.

If it’s something you have never bought before and don’t know the retail price, they can cheat you a lot. When it comes to electronic devices, I have made the experience that the big electronic store Chroma had often better deals than you get online, especially their home brands.

Whatever it is you want to buy, always do some research before you go out to buy something. There is nothing more unsatisfactory than to know that you have been cheated on the price or to find a better offer later on (at least I feel this way).

Clothes

This market used to have a very bad influence on me: it sometimes took less than 5 minutes for me to buy stuff, especially since these cheap 100 INR offers were just too tempting. I once bought 4 pants for summer for only 500 INR in total! They are super airy, comfy, and look pretty decent.

These 100-INR-guys are mostly the ones who have no proper shop and stand in front of a pile of clothes. You can hear them yelling from quite far already, a constant stream of something like “saur rupee, saur rupee”, meaning 100 INR. They mostly sell cheap Kurtis (which I used for home, Holi, or now and then even outside if it was nice enough) or pants.

The prices for a cotton salwar-kameez (= top and bottom) start around 350 INR, especially in the street shops. Don’t expect the best quality and designs for this price though! The price depends on the kind of work, quality of the material, and embroidery. You can’t expect everything to be super cheap, especially if it’s made of high-quality materials and/or embroidery.

There are lots of nice casual kurtas in the street shops for only 350 INR which you can match with a cotton churidar or leggings for only 100 INR, mostly available in the same shop (there are a lot of mix and match shops). Most shops have the same prices and often sell the same designs, so there won’t be much of a difference between different vendors. The good thing for foreigners is that we can test this way if they tell us the correct price. One of the shops is in the middle of the market. Kurtas start around 200 INR there.

There are some shops where you can’t bargain and the prices are fixed. Mostly they have a signboard somewhere saying fixed prices. In this case, the prices are mostly written somewhere, either on a price tag or on the shelves.

Western clothes can start at 100 INR. There are only very few shops with better quality T-shirts, e.g. Jack&Jones (with small defects) which start at 350 INR. Make sure you check the seams and the whole shirt in general for mistakes. Sometimes you can make really good deals there. You can find a much wider variety and hundreds of shops with western clothes at Sarojini Nagar Market, so rather check this out if you want to get these kinds of clothes.

Better quality dresses you find in shops like Meena Bazaar, Sabhyata, Westside, CnM etc. If you are looking for wedding outfits, you find a whole lot of variety there. Cheap suits and sarees start at 700 INR (which I would personally not buy). For a better quality, I would always recommend shops like Meena Bazaar or Malhotra’s, the latter, especially for Lehengas (consisting of a long skirt, a blouse, and dupatta) and Anarkali suits (dress like suits). There are some other nice shops which are mostly located on the market road where the bangle and jewelry shops are. I personally bought all of my best sarees and suit materials from Meena Bazaar. Try to come during a sale, the prices are ridiculous!

One thing you MUST do is to try on some sarees, which is an experience by itself! They drape it around you so that you can see how it would look. (Most of the following pictures are from 2013 when my friend and I were frequently on saree shopping sprees )

Firang Tip for wedding shopping

How much you should spend depends on the type of wedding you go to. It’s quite logical actually but since every Indian wedding outfit seems to be so “blingy”, it’s harder to judge than in Europe.

If it’s an upper-class wedding, I would obviously buy a more expensive outfit. The price depends on the kind of dress you want to wear. Lehengas and Anarkali suits are usually more expensive than sarees and salwar suits. If it’s a cheaper wedding, you don’t need to spend so much of course. I once went to a wedding and didn’t know that it was rather a cheap one and felt quite overdressed. For South Indian weddings you should maybe also cut down on the bling and maybe go with a rather sober silk saree. I’d recommend asking someone about all of that before going shopping. It also depends a lot on how well you know the person who’s getting married. For close friends, you can dress a bit more lavish, for acquaintances and colleagues rather go with a plainer outfit.

Ready-made blouses

You have a saree and want a new blouse for it? There are many shops where you can buy ready-made blouses which you simply need to alter.

Fabrics

You find a lot of fabrics in Lajpat Nagar, especially suit material. There are two different versions: unstitched and semi-stitched. You find a wide variety of casual suit materials as well as more lavish ones with bigger embroidery. The material comes as a set consisting of the fabric for kurta, bottom as well as a dupatta. You can be sure that the colours are matching perfectly. The cheapest cotton material for a casual salwar-kameez starts around 300 INR.

If you’re looking for pure fabric, there is also a lane in the south-west of the market where you find textile rolls of all kinds of material. Just tell them how much you need and they will cut it for you. You find a great shop with a more modern variety of designs on the Market Road when walking on the left side towards Lala Lajpat Rai Rd (just put “Naturals” in Google maps).

Shoes

The cost of shoes depends of course on the kind of shoe and quality. Plastic flip-flops start at 100 INR, Indian leather Juttis around 300 INR (they will always start at 600 or more!).

There are a lot of shoe shops where the shoes are simply hanging outside, a pin or needle in the sole to hang it from a grid. These are mostly cheaper and start around 300 INR. depending on the style. Warning: they don’t last very long in most cases.

In proper stores, where you also find the shiniest “bling-bling” shoes you will ever see in your entire life (especially for weddings), the prices usually start around 500 INR. They are still not everlasting but will survive a season. A better quality of shoes you find in stores like Bata where it starts around 700 INR. They have shops all over Delhi, often with different varieties in each shop. Hushpuppies has a store there too.

Accessories

There is a wide variety of handbags, clutches, and wallets, which start around 200 INR. Bigger bags can cost up to 1500 INR. depending on quality and size. Lajpat is especially good for clutches for weddings, which you can match to your outfit. If you are looking for belts, the cheapest start around 80 INR (plastic!).

Jewellery

If you just look for simple, casual earrings, they start around 50 INR. If it’s about costume jewelry for parties or weddings, it completely depends on the type and quality. There is a wide variety which is mostly made of either painted metal or coloured stones, sequins or (fake) pearls starting around 200 INR for the simpler and painted ones. The better ones can cost up to 1000 INR. Often there are sets of matching earrings and necklaces, sometimes even rings.

If you want real gold, there are some smaller jewelers also. For this kind of jewelry, I would not recommend Lajpat Nagar but bigger jewelers like in South-Ex, Old Delhi, or Karol Bagh.

Every ethnic outfit needs bangles of course, which are available in different colours and types: silver, glass, lacquer, white metal, oxidized silver, and plastic, either casual or shiny and glittery for weddings. Best is to bring your outfit or jewelry to the shop so that they can match it. It’s fun to watch them create different designs out of a huge variety of bangle types. They can be plain but also have small up to bigger stones on it. Also always make sure you try them as there are different sizes (the shopkeepers usually make you try one though and anyways have an eye for it, which size you need). Plain and cheaper bangles start around 50-100 INR. After some time you will have enough of the gold/silver bangles with stones at home and only need to buy bangles with the matching colour of your outfit instead of a whole new set.

Tip: I know a couple of people who react allergically to the painted metal bangles. If this should be the case with you, don’t worry: try glass bangles instead.

Sunglasses

It will happen at least 2 times that a guy will offer you cheap sunglasses. Mostly they are not even bad, I used to have a whole collection of them. They will start very high but just insist on 150 INR. If they don’t agree just continue to walk, they will come running after you.

For a better quality, I can only recommend Lensekart. Good quality and nice designs for a rather good price. They have an online shop too.

Bed & Bath 

Bed Sheets start at 250 INR, but frankly speaking from foreigner to foreigner: you will most likely not like them. The cheap ones are stiff and often a bit rough, the patterns are often ridiculous. It’s sometimes very hard to find a plain one or a nice pattern. Always make sure you feel the material and look at the colour in case it is packed.

There are cheaper shops within the market (mostly in the South of the market), but also fancier shops where you get better quality and nicer patterns. They are much more costly though.

Just a side note: If it’s about the price, I personally prefer to order bed sheets online on Flipkart or Amazon as there are really nice and cheap offers, especially for queen-size beds. The only problems I had is that they sometimes didn’t deliver the correct colours and of course, you can’t feel the fabric before.

If you need towels, they start around 100 INR.

Furnishings

Curtains start at 250 INR but again it all depends on quality and kind of material. The cheapest models have very funny or old-fashioned-looking patterns. They also offer cushions and cushion covers, blankets, quilts etc. in the shops. There are very cheap offers for sets of 5 cushions for only 250 INR! There are definitely better places for this with more modern designs.

Kitchen & Household items

There are many shops for household items and often half of the products hang outside. These shops are much cheaper than malls but the quality is not the best of course. For glasses and plates, I can recommend it though. the prices are much cheaper and the quality isn’t bad at all. I always recommend checking the price online, either at Flipkart or Amazon, before buying anything.

Decor

There are a couple of shops where you find nice decor items, from artificial flowers (sometimes even nice ones) and vases (usually not so nice ones ), decorative bowls, etc. I have two favourite shops: One Frame shop has amazing hand-carved frames in different sizes and colours. In the other one, just a few shops next to it, you find beautifully hand-painted items like side tables, elephants of wood and metal, wooden trucks and auto-rickshaws, etc. I marked them on the map with my favourite shops for you.

Bamboo Furniture

Be it that you’re on a low budget or want some cute and most of all eco-friendly furniture, you can check out one of the many bamboo furniture stalls throughout the city. There are two in Lajpat Nagar which sell the same stuff, so it’s always a good idea to check out both to compare the prices. You find stools, one-seaters, shelves, trunks, and even a bamboo chaise lounge there! Perfect for balconies or for those of you who are only here for a short time and need some basic furniture.

Just a bit of advice for the firang girls out there… 

If you are new to India, do yourself a favour and don’t just buy the first thing you see. Feel the fabric, look at the seams and compare it with others. Most of the shops have very similar designs and if you like something a lot, you can still go back later to buy it. Most importantly, try to get a feeling for the style itself as it is completely different compared to what westerners are used to wearing. Hence we tend to make the funniest styling mistakes, e.g. combing funny-looking colours, combining too many crazy patterns, matching kurtas with the wrong kind of bottoms, or simply not picking suiting colours for our skin tones.

Just look at Indian women, what they wear and how. You will notice that colour of the bottoms always matches with one of the colours you find in the kurta. Also, check out what kind of bottoms women wear to which kind of kurta. In bottoms, there are salwars, patialas, churidas, leggings, long skirts, wide-leg pants and many more. When it comes to tops, there are long, medium, and short kurtas, the dress-like Anarkali and more.

How people match it as well as length and type of kurta and bottom often depend on what is trending these days. Also, be careful with colours. Just because you are in India, it doesn’t mean that all of a sudden every colour suits you. Since India is known as colourful, many people seem to think that they also have to dress in all colours of the rainbow. Indians can wear bright colours much easier, I guess because of their skin tone and especially their amazing hair (seriously, just look at them!). They can wear the brightest pink and still look fabulous, but if a white blonde girl does that, she might just look like a Barbie doll. So be a bit more aware of what colours suit you best, same as you do with your regular clothes.

Firstly, try to get a feeling for the fashion first before you buy your first ethnic outfit there. For starters, I would always recommend FabIndia where the store assistants have a better fashion sense and can give you proper advice. The colours and patterns are more subtle too. Street vendors will tell you that everything you touch looks amazing on you, has exactly the right size for you, and is the best quality, just to make a sale. Even in better shops like Meena Bazaar, the salespersons often either had a horrible taste or – what is more likely – simply want to sell you as much as possible, doesn’t matter if it suits you or not. Just follow one simple rule: never believe them If you feel good in it and like it – great, buy it!

Where to eat?

There is, of course, a lot of street food like momos, golgappa, chaat etc. which starts at 20 INR. If you want more than a small bite, there are some bigger stalls which serve dishes like choley bathure (chickpea curry with a huge fried bread, which is freaking awesome!).

Firang Tip: Avoid street food in summers, especially momos, if you don’t want to get the so-called “Delhi belly”. There is no cooling and the food can get spoiled very fast in the heat of the burning sun. And street vendors aren’t known for being the most hygienic people…

Especially for foreigners who are not used to street food/spicy food or really would like to have something continental for a change, there is a McDonald’s and a KFC. This McDonald’s rescued me in the beginning when I had phases where I could not see Indian food anymore I would generally recommend other places to eat though, it would be a pity not to try the most of all those amazing restaurants throughout the city! And Khan market isn’t too far away for a great meal after shopping

One important tip: For more sustainable travel, always bring your own water bottle, in summer maybe even two as it gets incredibly hot. This goes for all the trips you make.

What else should I know?

Where can I get my newly bought suit stitched?

There are lots of tailors in Lajpat. My favourite one is Lavanya Ladies Tailoring, just around the corner of Meena bazaar, opposite a small park. They make good quality stuff for reasonable prices and stitched all my suits and blouses for me. I marked the location on the map with my favourite shops.

I always loved how we could somehow understand each other despite the language barrier. He understood enough of my English and I enough of his Hindi so that it was never an issue I seriously miss this, now that I live in Goa…

One tip for stitching blouses and suits: First of all, do some online research for designs before going. There are a hundred different cuts and it takes ages to decide! They have design books there too but they could be a bit out of date. Depending on the design, often piping looks nice. Also, you have the option to get it with cups and without, and either with a zipper or hooks, with inside lining and without (lining makes always sense).

For blouses, get a nice hanging for the blouse for the strings. Best to take the whole saree with you to match the style at the shops (I marked those shops on the map). You can do that either before going there and also after. These hangings can be put at any time and you can change them easily. For weddings, a heavy blingy hanging shouldn’t be missing!

Where can I alter clothes?

There are lots of tailors all across the markets, often just sitting close to some stall on the road without a proper shop. If it’s for a quick alteration or quick fix of something, you can give it to them. They will usually do it within 30 minutes.

Where to fix my things?

In the whole of Delhi, you find people to repair shoes. Looking at the quality of most shoes in combination with the bad roads, it’s definitely required! It’s ridiculous how cheap this is! These guys can also do other things, like making an additional hole in a belt and small stuff like that.

There’s this really nice old man on the Market road, opposite Meena Bazaar, just in front of these jewelry stores. He’s very good and fixes your shoes mostly within half an hour.

Around the corner to Meena Bazaar, in the same lane with the Lavanya Tailors, you can get all kind of stuff fixed, e.g. all components of bags like the inner linings, zippers, D-links etc.

I love how you can get everything fixed so easily and cheaply in India! In Europe, these services are so expensive, that it makes more sense to just throw the shoes or bags away.

Where to get Henna Tattoos?

You have surely heard of Indian henna tattoos. You can find them at so many markets sitting on the roads. There is a row of those guys sitting opposite Meena Bazaar, in front of the bangle shops.

I bought too much and need a bigger bag!

Vendors usually give you small bags for your purchases so that you often end up with more bags than you can carry. But here’s the good news: There are guys roaming around in the whole market who sell very cheap big bags wherein you can put all your new acquisitions. They cost around 50 INR.

From a sustainable point of view, I can only urge you to bring your own jute bags and avoid their bags altogether.

Be careful of thieves!

The market is super crowded with people so be careful with your bag. Best is to have one with a zipper and make sure you keep it closed.

To get a better impression…

For those who would like to see what Lajpat is like, this video – although it sounds like a commercial – gives a great overview of the whole market.

Any further questions? You can always write a comment or mail me. The best way is always to follow me on Facebook and message me there

Have fun exploring Lajpat yourself!

The post A Guide to Lajpat Nagar Central Market appeared first on Poser on Tour.

I haven’t been this happy with a place in a long time, so this definitely deserves a review! The Elephant Beach Cafe is clearly one of the best beach restaurants at Anjuna Beach!

Elephant Beach Cafe is an eco-friendly beach vibe restaurant directly at the beach and a rare jewel in between all those noisy beach shacks with rather basic food which you find on the beaches in Goa.

With an amazing ambience with eco-friendly, eclectic furnishings, great service from waiters who first of all speak proper English and even know their menu (which you can’t expect in a lot of other places), a rather healthy and not too huge menu with selected high-quality dishes and just the perfect kind of music, this place absolutely exceeded all our expectations.

What made it stand out even more was their zero-waste approach which I have hardly seen yet in other places in Goa. As mentioned, all their furnishings were eco-friendly and they even served my juice with a steel straw.  It’s shocking in how many places you still get served your drinks with plastic straws, especially in almost all beach shacks! Other restaurants use paper straws, and to finally see a real zero-waste solution is definitely something noteworthy!

The food was super yum: I ordered a mouthwatering pesto and mushroom-filled grilled chicken breast with brown rice (usually comes with salad but picky eater alarm :D). My friend went for the fresh Summer salad with a surprising mix of ingredients of lettuce, apples, strawberries, avocado, and even pomegranate topped with feta.

Although this restaurant clearly stands out from all the other places and sets a completely different standard, there is surprisingly no price difference to the other beach shacks! We had checked out another restaurant where I would’ve got some grilled chicken with fries for around 550 INR / ~6.50 EUR. The waiter there claimed that there’s no difference in the taste of Caesar and Greek salad…

This was actually the reason we kept looking for another place since we didn’t even want to find out the result. In comparison, I now paid 420 INR / ~5 EUR for the chicken, and the salad cost only 100 INR / ~1.20 EUR. This was actually the reason we kept looking for another place since we didn’t even want to find out the result.

The only thing left to say is: if you’re ever in Anjuna, do check it out!

The post Elephant Beach Cafe in Anjuna appeared first on Poser on Tour.

After 7 years living in Delhi, I’ve made the most drastic and craziest decision of my life and moved my entire life from Delhi to Goa – including my four dogs. Why and how? Come with us on a crazy non-stop road trip and prepare yourself for the shock that awaited us in Goa!

A drastic decision

Diwali was close and with it the imminent threat of a slow death by choking in a gas chamber. As beautiful as the city gets this time of year – it’s the perfect time to explore it, especially temperature-wise –, this is when things escalate: lots of firecrackers although they were partially banned, and worse, the ongoing crop burnings in Haryana and other surrounding states which send a thick cloud of smog over the city. Over the last couple of years, I had developed an alarming severe cough which always started around this time of the year and lasted till around February. So when I started dating a Goan living in Panjim, Goa, the decision to move there as soon as possible was not a hard one.

Admittedly, it was also one of the most drastic and craziest decisions in my life – maybe even more drastic than moving to India seven years ago. At least that time, I had known a couple of people from my previous visit and had spent two months in Delhi.
I had been to Goa only twice before for only a few days, which were mainly spent lying on a beach in a constant slightly drunken state, doing nothing but drinking cocktails while sunbathing. I knew nothing about the state otherwise and hadn’t done any research.

It had always been the plan to escape Delhi somehow long-term with the right person – thinking that this would be after marriage – and to build up a new life together. But the time had come earlier and more sudden than I imagined and that too after only a few months of knowing each other, as serious as it was already. Additionally, he would go to Spain for half a year after only a few months, so I would be alone again after all. Had it not been for the upcoming extreme air pollution, I would’ve surely not done it so early.

The first question was, of course, what about my job? That was actually the easiest part as there are a lot of people working from home, and they agreed to a full-time work-from-home arrangement. Best job ever!?

So now how do you move with a fully furnished 3-BHK and four dogs? Should we sell the furniture here and buy new one there? I loved my furniture, most of it was carefully selected and beloved pieces that I gathered over the past seven years. Russell doubted that we would find this type of furniture there again, especially for that cheap rate (Amar colony!). Hence we decided to take all with us – which turned out to be the right decision after all!

We quickly found a moving company that would transport all my things to Goa, which was expensive but still relatively easy. The bigger question was how to transport the dogs, out of which one – Deacon – is a traumatised nutcase who was shit scared of people, and another one – Luke – having terminal cancer in his sinuses and sneezing blood rather frequently… Due to the latter, flight and train were dismissed and we only had the option to drive. Luckily, the same moving company offered us a good deal with a big Bolero and two drivers which should make it possible to reach Goa in around two days.

As for the accommodation, Goa is (correction in 2023: WAS, post-COVID…) ridiculously cheap in comparison to Delhi! You get whole bungalows with a garden and often even a pool for a much cheaper rate than my 3-BKH in Safdarjung Enclave. Even buying your own bungalow finally becomes manageable without being a millionaire! A dream come true? The only issue was that most society buildings didn’t allow pets, especially not four of them. But having changed houses a couple of times in Delhi, that was no surprise to me. After some time of searching, we found a place online and everything was finalised, apart from signing the lease.

Our trip started a couple of days before Diwali. To save time, we left in the late evening so that we would not get stuck in traffic between Delhi and Jaipur (generally a good idea, the traffic there can be insane!). We would continue passing Indore, Pune and finally reaching Goa.

I had feared the worst with Luke, that he would get one of his never-ending sneeze-attacks in the car but no, not once on the entire trip! The moment we left Delhi, all our lungs started cheering. Both Russell and I had developed an ongoing cough for the last couple of weeks which miraculously disappeared overnight. Sad but true, but this is how bad Delhi air is…

I had imagined slightly more space in the car but here we were, cramped up in this tiny space. Luke could lie in the trunk on a mattress and the others took turns there, beside us on the bench or down in the leg space.

I was really surprised by how smooth it went – apart from continuous neck and leg pain obviously. We didn’t take any overnight breaks in a hotel but slept in the car. Since Diwali was near, the drivers wanted to get home as early as possible and took turns. It would’ve been too complicated to find places with four dogs anyway. The dogs got used to the car surprisingly quickly and we stopped every couple of hours for short breaks where we could walk them for a bit.

The only bad stretch was towards the end in the Ghats while entering Goa. The never-ending bumpy serpentine roads made us all car sick and poor Deacon couldn’t hold it. “Finally reached, what could possibly go wrong now”, I thought. That must’ve jinxed it…

Shock upon Arrival

We arrived in Panaji – or Panjim, as people call it here – and the new place in the afternoon. The owner stayed in Singapore and had sent a relative to meet us. As mentioned, everything was finalised, the only thing missing was our signature on the lease. The moment we got out with the dogs, the guard asked us to take them out as pets were not allowed on the premises. Say what?! :O After a long discussion with the society president, it turned out that the owner had neither informed them of our coming nor asked them about the dogs. He even had the audacity not to apologise to us but to argue that our lease wasn’t signed yet and thus anyways not valid!

So there we were, stranded in Panjim with four dogs and no place to stay. The only good thing was that the truck with the furniture would take at least a week more to arrive which bought us time. Luckily, Russell had connections and we could stay in a tiny room of one of his old landladies. One could think that this was already unbeatable but no: apparently, they have a special festival called Narkasur in Goa where they burn some demon (not Ravan) a few days before Diwali. The entire Panjim was one large party but at least without firecrackers – everywhere except our neighbourhood. It was like a small Diwali but with incredibly loud electronic music till 7 am… But it doesn’t end here: a day later, I had somehow caught a virus and was sick in bed. Welcome to Goa!

It took us around a week to find a new place. Most brokers didn’t even try because of the dogs which made it more difficult. Again, nothing new to me, it was the same in Delhi. Although it was tough, I was still convinced that if everything was so incredibly messed up, it would eventually be worth it. And luckily, I should be right: we eventually found an amazing bungalow with a garden in a beautiful society in a place close to Panjim – for much more than our original budget but who cares, a GARDEN!

The next surprise hit us when the movers arrived. Not only were a few of my things still in Delhi because they had not fit in the truck (our own fault though because we had bought some extra things after he had come for measuring), but also were we presented with an invoice including 80% taxes! We had explicitly asked that when we discussed the price… but nothing we could do there, despite much arguing.  

Still, despite the extremely bumpy start, I don’t regret making this decision. Fresh air in abundance and lush green wherever you look. The dogs love the beaches and backwaters, not to mention our garden to run around. As Goa was a Portuguese colony, you can see this influence everywhere, in the architecture and even traditions. The whole life here is like a toned-down, more European version of India – one could say “India for beginners”.

As expected, things turned bad in Delhi on the day of Diwali and the city turned into a gas chamber once again. We were glad to be out of there in time! And now, since I’m writing this during the time of Corona, I’m even more glad to be far away from big cities.

The post From Delhi to Goa: A Road Trip Adventure with Four Dogs appeared first on Poser on Tour.