Of all the places I could call home in Germany, Neuffen was perhaps the most perfect for the first three years of my adventure in this remarkable country.

Immigrating to a “rural” village in Germany became my reality about 3 years ago. I initially found the idea of living in a small, peaceful, picturesque town almost unbelievable. I remember discovering the forest behind our house, with an extensive vineyard on the one side and a real (seriously real) old castle on the hill – all of this, the picture from our bedroom window. On the other side of our apartment, the sun sets behind a green mountain which casts a shadow over the most beautiful little town transforming the little colorful houses into dark buildings with cozy yellow lit windows and bubbly chimneys.

Neuffen is a town in Southern Germany, Baden-Württemburg. Perhaps one of the most beautiful regions in Germany (though this is a very subjective statement), right in the very heart of Europe if you zoom out on the big world map. This implies a few things: we are on “Swabian” soil which brings with it a certain dialect, specific traditional foods and nifty social “do’s & don’ts”, this also implies that we are in one of Germany’s main wine producing regions, and added to this, the most beautiful natural landscapes including agricultural fields with fruit trees, corn crops and cattle grazing lazily. Foresty-mountains add a fairytale-like atmosphere which intensifies once winter casts a white blanket of snow over the treetops.

I set out to explore this little town 3 years ago, walking down every street, squeezing through every alley, peeping into every shop, uphill, downhill, passing cows, sheep, horses, chickens, geese and greeting the passer-by’s in my best German, often greeted back with a mumble which the trained ear would recognize as “grüß Gott” – literally in English “greet God” but with the beautiful intention of “God greets you” or “God bless you”. Neuffen, though seemingly small, has its own post office, train station, two supermarkets, two bakeries (in the same street), a few pubs and (naturally) beer gardens, two Italian restaurants, a pharmacy and a lovely “Bio-markt” selling all things organic and fresh.

Ruins found in the Neuffen area imply that the first Celtic settlers lived here about 100 years before Christ. Think about it – 100 years b e f o r e Christ, this is a crazy long time ago!!! Now, I’m almost sure these settlers didn’t have a bakery or a “bio-markt” and I’m almost sure the lads and lasses right after them didn’t have these luxuries either which makes one wonder about the historical setup and daily lives of the people who also learnt to love this beautiful town between the mountains. There is no doubt that this little town has, buried in its soul, a few remarkable stories.

I came across a “fachwerk” building with a copper plate for example. The plate indicating that the building was built after the “great fire” of 1634 when imperial troops set the town alight and burnt everything down but a few houses. Many other buildings and even the last remains of the original town wall carry unique and severely interesting stories in their souls, some of which are documented, others told as legends and the rest kept buried in the untapped energy of these structures.

The beautiful villa we called “home” for 3 years was meticulously placed on a slope with the vineyards and the castle overlooking us while we in turn have a beautiful view over the town in the valley below us with the surrounding mountains hiding us from the real world out there. It is said that the villa belonged to a school teacher who initially built it in Stuttgart. When he was transferred to work in a school in the Neuffen area, his wife was extremely saddened to leave their beautiful villa behind. So he broke down the original villa, loaded it on a train and rebuilt it, exactly as it was in Neuffen with the original material. This is a very well known story amongst the elder population in Neuffen, the people who have lived there for a while and the ones keen on listening to the Neuffen legends.

A true legend rests on the hill overlooking Neuffen.The Hohenneuffen is the second largest fortress ruin in Baden-Württemberg. It offers an astonishing view of Neuffen and the surroundings. It also allows one to wonder in and around a beautifully restored and maintained ancient castle pondering about the adventures and stories that played off between those walls. My husband and I used to walk right up to the castle every Sunday morning, crossing the vineyards, through the dense but magnificently beautiful forest, climbing all the way up to meet the same view every week but being amazed by the experience over and over again.

Neuffen, though small on the map, unknown to foreign ears and seemingly hidden away between mountains and dense forest trees, is without a doubt one of the biggest treasures I have ever came across.