Forest and wine characterize Alzenau on the western Spessart flank. Against almost 3000 hectares of forest, the 85 with grapes look modest. The rows of vines around the districts of Hörstein and Wasserlos cannot be overlooked, and at Michelbach it is the protruding Apostelberg, whose mica schist gives the grapes a strong, tangy note. Award-winning, a plant from the “Apostelgarten” site was even named the “best Riesling in the world” in 2009. In addition to the quality of the soil, a deeply loosened humus layer increases the quality, as it was only created by a long cultivation tradition that reached here into the 9th century. But that is not the only reason why the Apostle Garden is a listed building. The small parcels, the dry stone walls,Stairs or wingert houses have been preserved as an expression of the prevailing management by many hands since the end of the former main owners monastery Seligenstadt and Hanau.

Before that, however, the Frankfurt merchant David Domer had to accomplish a far-sighted work. Originally coming in 1862 to buy the Michelbacher Schlösschen as a summer residence, Domer soon found his passion and acquired the vineyards that had fallen into disrepair after pest infestation, carried out an early land consolidation and founded the first winegrowers' cooperative in 1902. Their sales benefited from the recently built Kahlgrund Railway, which enabled Alzenau, which had been sidelined since the transition to Bavaria in 1816, to connect to the Rhine-Main area and thus enable employment. The fact that the conditions were nonetheless modest - an official “emergency area” until the 1930s - hardly seems conceivable in view of the development into a coveted residential and commercial location.

The 2015 Bavarian State Horticultural Show did not have to come for the renovation of the inner city. The castle, which serves today as the district court and events and was built as the Mainz official seat in the late 14th century, was restored as well as the baroque Justinuskirche. Its choir with a canopy based on the model of Bernini's papal altar in Saint Peter in Rome is remarkable.

It almost seems as if one wanted to catch up on what was previously impossible, and in 1840 King Ludwig I of Bavaria honored his new regional children and climbed the Hahnenkamm, which was still undeveloped at the time.

With the construction of a tower named after Ludwig on the 435 meter high summit, the Alzenau residents returned the favor on the seven hundredth anniversary of the Wittelsbach reign in 1880. Meanwhile, overtaken by trees, thanks to the increase made in 2004, the high-contrast view can be enjoyed again: here the pulsating Rhine-Main area , there the quiet, hardly populated Spessart forests.

Directions

The summit storm on the Hahnenkamm over the Apostelberg begins at the Alzenau Castle.

The Kahlgrundbahn stops immediately in front of it.

You bypass the rock base of the towering walls and cross the large free parking lot behind it, changing into a bike / footpath through the valley of the Kahl.

The blue and yellow signs of a Spessart cultural trail act as companions.

Elaborately designed wayside shrines from 1710 - for the seven sorrows of the Mother of God - refer to the pilgrimage tradition of Kälberau, to which we are quickly getting closer.

The venerated miraculous image from the late 14th century stands on the altar of the Gothic church “Maria im Rauhen Wind”, since the original place in the north aisle had to give way in 1957 for a modern extension.

There we change to the Franconian Marienweg (red-blue) and walk on the footpath next to the country road over to Michelbach. The intersection is crossed, past the castle (currently closed) in the center of the village to the directional post Laurentiusstraße. Its namesake, the baroque parish church, can be found on the left in a different way. In 1932, paintings attached to the choir room set a colorful counterpoint to the rather sober furnishings.