Pristine – and all inclusive

Eckehard kiesewetter maroldsweisach- ingrid is not interested in that. She can't do anything with beer. Her husband jens and the others at the table were still drinking the delicious dark beer that is brewed in hofheim especially for the beer garden up here. Uber zwolf prozent stammwurze und echt suffig. The group from the sauerland (they all call each other by their first names and think that their last names have no place in the newspaper) has stumbled by chance onto the secluded beer garden on the heights of the zeilberg.

In lichtenstein, where the ruins were the goal of the stage, the cyclists had found no opportunity to stop for a break. So the five of us – ingrid, jens, adele, markus ("all u-40") and 14 year old svenja – got back in the saddle again. Following a tip on the internet, you have a few additional kilometers through the weisachgrund and an "almost alpine" ascent taken in purchase. "Eternally steep", says ingrid. But she is well trained. In addition, a discovery has rewarded the moors. Like her four companions, she finds the biergarten "really nice, idyllic – and exciting".

Digging through old treasures

While the other cyclists stretch their legs and enjoy the mild evening air in the shade of the trees, ingrid and her friend adele are browsing to their heart's content in the flea market they have happily discovered. From an adjoining building he seems to have grown into the beer garden with his old furniture. "Odds and ends, but also great stuff", the women find. You want to come back here and go treasure hunting. "But then with a car."

When husband jens gets up to fetch another beer from the bar for himself and markus, he sounds strangely put upon, because he talks about a "seiderla with hop tea" speaks. The group's north rhine-westphalian home is home to beer giants like veltins, warsteiner and krombacher and 0.2-liter glasses. "But the french beer is better", the vacationers assure, especially up here in the fresh air and with "a good brodddzeid". The manner laughs. They also learn french, including the "effeminate t".

The biergarten has been around for 15 years, the cyclists learn from an elderly couple at the next table, but since its reopening this year, it has become even more beautiful. Recently it was officially reopened. The kitchen has been expanded to meet professional demands, and the new guest room with its floor-to-ceiling windows and view of the lakeside meadow is particularly comfortable. "Lovingly furnished, with beautiful wood and really cozy", the regular guests say: "it's like living in a living room and even in the rain it feels like being in the middle of the green". 30, 40 people can easily fit in there, the two believe.

Project with prospects

The diakonisches werk bamberg-forchheim, as the sponsor, invested around 200,000 euros in the renovation of the beer garden and the adjacent playground with a hollow forest house, climbing facilities and a small high ropes course. About 40 percent comes from leader funds, i.E. From a european union funding request – because the beer garden is good for tourism in the region and because the beer garden pursues a social concept that is definitely worth supporting.

Mentally ill and healthy people work hand in hand here. The gastronomic offer is part of the zeilberg integration project called ZIP, which offers mentally ill people hourly employment under expert guidance and with therapeutic support. The sick people exercise a piece of normality in their working life and earn a little extra money.

Living together

The concept also includes a catering service, room rental, the offer of gardening and debris removal services, simple assembly work and a small carpenter shop. It's about people who are in the so-called "first job market" had no chance.

Here, in a sheltered environment and supported by a spirited diaconia team, they find a task that gives them self-confidence and security. In the field they can learn their skills and capacities, endurance and concentration, attention and memory, for example, also reliability and time management, but also the responsible handling of own limits.

"Pressure, no, that does not exist with us", laughs an employee as she clears the crates from the return station "everyone is allowed to take their breaks". The team also has a sense of humor, which the guests can feel, even if they sometimes break out in a sweat when there are a lot of visitors.

Above all, however, it is here that mentally ill employees and beer garden guests meet in a relaxed atmosphere. There seems to be no fear of losing his job, but rather an understanding with each other.

"Oh, it always had to be this way", sighs adele "not only up here on the zeilberg". This is probably also found in the district of lower franconia. He gave the ZIP project his integration award.

On top of the volcano

A trip up here, says the local couple – the regulars have meanwhile joined the guests at the table so as not to have to drown out the background noise – is worthwhile anyway "because there's the stone adventure trail right next door. It's also great for families. There you can learn a lot about geology and basalt mining in the region", senior woman "that used to be a volcano". And from the summit cross there is a wonderful panoramic view in the direction of bamberg, habberge, rhon and thuringer land, his wife added. The pensioners also advise a detour to a nearby lake, which is idyllically embedded.

Today it doesn't fit anymore, because the environment is now almost as dark as the zeilberger beer. But the guests want to come back. "I'm sure of it", promises adele. "Verrrsprrrochen!" jens says it and grins. Probably rolling the french "R" now all the way down the mountain.