My lack of German was really obvious today as I negotiated with an Armenian taxi driver to take me to Eberbach Abbey and pick me up at 1600 hours! Miracle of all miracles, it worked as we drove the 26kms to the Abbey though many small vineyards - obvious on this satellite map.
Eberbach is a former Cistercian monastery founded in the early 12th century. It was successful economically through its vineyard and wine production. While the monks have long left, wine production and sale is still carried on here. Maintenance and restoration of the site cost around 10,000 euros a day! The interiors were featured in the memorable Sean Connery film, The Name of the Rose.
The Gersbach link is that Anton, his brother and cousins along with hundreds of other German men came to Australia in the 1850s as vinedressers. They were the labour for our early wine industries in New South Wales and South Australia. Anton was a skilled carpenter but the call was for vinedressers and his homeland was know for men with this skill. We don't know if Anton worked as a vinedresser on the Macleay or as a farm labourer. He built his first house on the banks of the Macleay of rosewood and cedar. He grew corn for sale but grapes and tobacco for his own use. The family's home was washed away in 1864 floods and a new home was built on higher land.
The cloister of Eberbach Abbey
The Chapter House - 14th century High Gothic room
Monastery Church - simplicity for contemplation, meditation and prayer
The wine cellars are still used today
The lay brothers dining hall houses an exhibition of wine presses and farm equipment
The surrounding land is lovely to wander through on the way to the abbey's restaurant when I enjoyed a Weiner schnitzel accompanied by a glass of the monastery's Riesling.
So it's bread and wine for dinner tonight...well, pretzel and sparkling rose!
