Kloster Allerheiligen: Abbey Ruins, Waterfalls, and a Saga Hike

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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Poser On Tour (@poser_on_tour)

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. 🙂