One thing I really loved about Stuttgart was it’s accessibleness. You could get anywhere really easily, either by walking or the S & U bahns. It meant we could easily get out to Ludwigsburg within half an hour and back into town in no amount of time. I love German transport and Stuttgart really makes the most of it.
One of the draws of heading to Stuttgart, other than the beer festival, was a squash festival. As in, pumpkins. Yup, you read that right, a pumpkin festival. The annual event is held at the Palace of Ludwigsburg and this years theme was Romans.
Every year wooden structures are built and are then adorned with hundreds of pumpkins. All different shapes, sizes and colours. There were also large pumpkins and a showcase of lots of different squashes.
We spent the afternoon wandering round the grounds checking out the structures. We also had a squash themed lunch!!!
The event runs for a month each year with different activities happening on different days ranging from a pumpkin canoe regatta to giant pumpkin carving and smashing pumpkins. We attended towards the end of the event so most of the big ticket activities had been finished but there was still loads to see and do.
The ticket allows you into the grounds of the palace as well which is great if you have kids as you can spend the day running around the gardens and childrens park.
After we had got our fill our squashes we took the train over to Esslinger-am-Neckar to have a wander round a old part of Stuttgart. The train ride there went past loads of vineyards on the hills around the town and Esslinger was surrounded by them too!
The small village is quaint and full of old buildings, there were quite a few tour groups around which did make it feel a bit touristy but it was beautiful all the same. There is a small river running through the village with a church at the centre. The towers were built at different times and are held together with a walkway.
Unfortunately you can’t go up the towers which was a shame but at least you can see it from the outside.
If you head to Stuttgart I would highly recommend making the trip our to Ludwigsburg and Esslinger-am-Neckar for another view of this part of Germany. Plus, if you’re there in September definitely check out the Squash Festival!!!!
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