This blog has one purpose: writing about all kinds of things we (or one of us) find at least above average. Here comes the so far first exception from our rule: the Märchenwald Altenberg!
Is this small park with its German-fairy-tale-figures particularly pretty? No. Would we recommend per se going there? No. Did we have a fun day anyway? Yes, absolutely, but maybe not in the way it was intended to…
Having not much to do in the spring/summer of a Pandemic, we started to explore our closer surrounding. Only a short bus ride away, we found the Märchenwald Altenberg. This almost 100 years old little park is aimed at families with children. A path through the forest along a hillside will lead you through various fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Each fairy tale station has colourful figures and settings narrating you the correspondingfairy tale (in German) upon the push of a button. At the park’s entrance, there is a restaurant where every hour a water fountain show takes place inside. Sounds good? Well, it does indeed sound good which is why we went there. So why do we not per se recommend to others to go there?
The main problem about the Märchenwald is probably that it is very old and has seemingly not been renovated in a long time. Many of the figures are bleached out and/or are partially broken. Also, even if they had a basic made-over, the figures are not overwhelming. It’s also not that they are awful but they are just ok (sometimes actually rather ridiculous or creepy), which usually would not get them an entry here. The restaurant offers the bare minimum of French fries, nuggets and waffles (the latter we also did not really like). The water fountain show was nice but also not in a way that it sticks in your mind for too long. So why do we write about it here and who would we recommend it to?
The first thing we came across on our way to the Märchenwald (from the nearby bus stop) was the Alterberger Dom. This big, old cathedral seems to pop out of nowhere. Seriously, it feels totally out of place. There is no town or anything nearby. It is like someone built it in the forest and forgot about it until someone else found it a couple of years ago, thought it would make a great hiking or tourist destination, built two or three restaurants, a square and big parking lot around it and there it is: one of weirdest places I have ever seen. Being weird doesn’t make the cathedral and surrounding less beautiful though and so the Altenberger Dom was an unexpected treat on our way to the Märchenwald.
Arriving at the Märchenwald entrance, we directly noticed that it could use a make-over. And despite not being the target audience (we were the only adults without children and I think I didn’t see any children above 8 years), it was kind of fun. At least the park is a nice walking track, the entrance is affordable and with a good portion of sarcasm, we really enjoyed the strangeness of the place (seriously, it needs a make-over!).
In conclusion: If you are looking for a cool Disney Park-like experience with state-of-the-art sculpturing and first-class entertainment, you should avoid the Märchenwald Altenberg. But if you a) have children below 7 years or so, b) enjoy walking/hiking in nice areas and have a good sense of humour or c) don’t expect much and want to re-fresh your knowledge on German fairy tales, the Märchenwald Altenberg can give you a nice day out in fresh air.
