Hahndorf
Hahndorf
Four excited faces looked out at the beautiful town of Hahndorf as they drove down the main street to find a carpark. They watched the small stone buildings go past, looking out for the infamous knife shop, pretzel shop and cheese shop. Finally finding a carpark on the side of the cobblestone main street, the four hopped out to begin the exploration of the German town.
Hahndorf is a quaint little German town approximately half an hour out of Adelaide’s CBD.
The German history of Hahndorf can be traced all the way back to 1838 when a man named George Fife Angus, who was a director of a South Australian company, traveled to London to assist in promoting colonisation. Whilst on this trip, George met a Pastor who was attempting to help German Lutherans, who were being persecuted by the King of Prussia, to immigrate to safer places. George’s heart broke for these people, and so he convinced this Pastor that South Australia was a great place for these German Lutherans to move to. He then provided the immigrants with a large sum of money to assist in their move. Once in South Australia, the German Lutherans negotiated some land for farming, and built the town of Hahndorf.
Hahndorf is made up of beautiful original stone houses, a couple of churches, a large variety of shops, delightful cafes, and some animal and strawberry farms. It has a homely feel to it which makes you feel instantly welcome and comfortable. You could easily spend a few days in Hahndorf, visiting the various cafes, farms, and shops, whilst staying in a beautiful German inn, manor, or cottage.
As you walk along the main street of Hahndorf you are quickly met with delectable scents of the many different cafes and eateries, along with the sweet aroma of the soap shop, and candle store.
We made our first stop of the day at a specialty coffee cafe known as Caffeined Coffee Company. This coffee shop roasts their own beans, and poured us a delightful coffee, which would certainly pass as a high quality coffee, even by Melbourne standards.
Our next stop was the Pretzel shop; ‘The German Cake Shop’, where we purchased a couple of huge, sugary, sweet, fluffy Pretzel Donut, which we shared between two.
As we continued along the main street we popped in to smell the soaps at the Hahndorf Soap Factory, and had a look at the large array of cuckoo clocks at ‘Hahndorf Clocks and Collectibles’, before we taking a stroll through the Fairy Garden.
One of our top highlights was the Cutler’s Cottage, owned by a lovely, friendly woman and her son, where they hand make impressive knives of all shapes and sizes. We spent a large amount of time in this store looking at all the kinds of knives, from cheese knives to carving knives. The shop owner gave us some great insight into the town, its history, and even some suggestions on what else to do whilst in Adelaide.
To finish off our short trip in Hahndorf we had a cheese tasting at Udder Delights, followed by a scrumptious, mouth-watering cheese platter full of local cheeses and freshly baked Turkish bread.
Our tummies were quickly filling up with these delicious treats, however we had to make space for German sausages before we left. We tried 3 different hearty German sausages from The German Pantry, each with their own unique flavours.
Still with so many more shops and cafes and farms to visit, we were sad to leave Hahndorf after just one morning spent there. We will certainly be back to explore more of Hahndorf, and perhaps stay overnight to have an authentic German experience.