Swabia

Getting there

Although this region spreads over several international borders, most travellers will have no bureaucratic hassles, since all the relevant countries are both members of the Schengen agreement on facilitated border formalities and part of the same customs union. Currencies used are the euro (€) and the Swiss/Liechtenstein franc/frank (CHF)

By plane

Stuttgart airport (STR IATA), located in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, hosts various airlines including the low cost airline TUI and has direct flight connections with major German and European cities. It won't be difficult to book a flight to Stuttgart from outside Europe connecting through a major hub such as London Heathrow or Paris Charles de Gaulles. Fares usually don't differ much if at all if you choose to fly into Stuttgart from another continent (rather than to Frankfurt, Munich or Berlin).

Eat

A traditional dish in Swabia is Maultaschen. These are rectangular pasta parcels filled with meat, onions, spinach and various herbs, similar to ravioli but much larger. They can be served "as is" with a little butter or in a broth. Another appetising variant is to slice and fry them in a pan and serve with a seasonal salad. In times of more rigorous religious observance, this was sometimes thought of as a sneaky dish because the diner could plausibly claim that he was abstaining from meat - the offending pork being hidden inside the pasta parcel!

An almost stereotypically Swabian classic dish is Spätzle - egg based noodles often served with a meat dish. A rule of thumb is to use one egg for every diner and then add an extra egg for luck. Swabians have a reputation for being "Damp Diners (Nass-Esser)" . Most dishes are smothered in a sauce or gravy and a lot of dipping, dunking or crumbling into soups goes on. If you're served a soup, you'll always get a slab of bread to dunk in it if there's not a variety of pasta floating in it already. They're not called "Suppenschwaben" for nothing! Roast meats are invariably served with plenty of gravy.

Drink & nightlife

Trollinger grapes make wines that are light to ruby red in colour and were introduced by the Romans. These wines are light and fruity with a nose that has hints of redcurrants and wild cherries. They complement cold sausage (Wurst) platters, poultry and local cheeses, and slide down very nicely on their own!