At Marius in Minimalus in St. Goar
Why go far away when the good is so close? That is what our author Ina thought during her last holiday in Rhineland-Palatinate. Here she met Good Travel host Marius in his historic apartment in St. Goar on the Rhine.
holiday oases on the river
When I was still studying in Mainz, I took the train through St. Goar on the Rhine countless times. And countless times my gaze was drawn dreamily to the venerable castles that stand on either side of this waterway of European importance. At their feet, between vineyards and forests, cute little towns and villages nestle on Germany's largest river. A beautiful holiday region - and yet I had only ever been passing through this Märklin railway world. "Not this time!", encouraged Good Travel host Marius, who has created small, minimalist holiday oases in and around St. Goar.
Marius' life revolves around design, craftsmanship, ecological and social sustainability
When I open the front door at Schlossberg No. 3, Marius comes towards me with a broad smile. Dust is caught in his hair, his clothes are covered in paint splashes. He completely renovated the old house in St. Goar on the Rhine himself - from top to bottom. Now it's the ground floor's turn. "Even as a child, I always drew houses instead of cars or animals. Unusual, individual houses," he tells me later over a cup of tea. Because he didn't just want to design, but also implement plans, Marius trained as a tool mechanic after school. However, he simply didn't want to put up with the rough tone in the craft environment. He began studying social work, but was unable to use his creative and manual skills here. In Holzminden in Lower Saxony, he finally found a course at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts that combined everything that was important to him: design, craftsmanship and ecological and social sustainability. Here he studied sustainable construction. And found his personal calling through his master's thesis.
For Marius, sustainable construction means valuing resources
We are sitting on the 2nd floor of Marius' historic apartment in St. Goar am Rhein. The colors here in Minimalus are simple and unobtrusive. Pleasant fabrics and warm wood create a cozy atmosphere, the decoration is subtle but original. Only the tomatoes, which are in a hand-made bowl on the old marble table top in front of us, are bright red. "They are from my parents' garden," Marius tells me. His father and mother have always had a soft spot not only for organic gardening, but also for making something out of old things. "As a child, I was embarrassed when my parents collected other people's bulky waste. Today I am glad that they taught me to value resources and to breathe a second life into old objects," he says. During his master's thesis, Marius built a tiny house out of used materials in his parents' garden in Dachsenhausen, 15 kilometers north of St. Goar. "I had actually planned to sell the tiny house afterwards. But I put too much heart and soul into it, I couldn't part with it. Instead, I decided to rent it out. And that's how I started being a host," says the 32-year-old, who clearly enjoys the social contact with his guests.
A warm host and all-round craftsman
Because so many people wanted to spend their holidays in his minimalist tiny house, Marius soon bought two more plots of land in the neighboring town of Dessighofen. In addition to three tiny houses and a vacation home in the country, he has now renovated three apartments in St. Goar and Koblenz. He did everything himself, from laying the power cables to painting the walls. "When I bought the house here in St. Goar, it was completely full of rubbish. My parents and I spent six months just clearing it out. Some things ended up in the trash, but I was able to recycle a lot. I built picture frames and table frames out of the old window frames, for example. I ripped out some partition walls and used the same bricks to build walls somewhere else. I got second-hand doors, cupboards and even the sofa through classified ads," says Marius.
Perfectly imperfect: The historic apartment in St. Goar am Rhein
Marius' minimalist vision is not only evident in the fact that he upcycles old things and does without unnecessary frills. He says: "I don't expect my accommodations to be perfect. Perfection often has something sterile about it. It's important to me that my guests feel comfortable with me. For example, I decided to leave the old staircase in St. Goar as it is. It's old, the steps creak, it's not perfect. But that's exactly why it's real." Instead of bombarding his guests with tips on things to do as soon as they arrive, he lets them arrive in peace and quiet. "St. Goar is a picturesque little town. The apartments are just a minute from the Rhine, and the area is great for hiking and cycling. But many city dwellers come here primarily to recharge their batteries for a weekend without a lot of hustle and bustle." The historic apartment in St. Goar is just the thing for that!
Minimalism meets creative features
Although Marius is a self-professed minimalist, he has thought up little special features for each accommodation. The bathroom in the apartment on the 2nd floor surprises with a mini sauna. And if you want entertainment while showering on the 1st floor, you can simply pull a cord and feel-good music will play. For Marius, these are little gimmicks that allow him to live out his creativity. Anyone who has developed a taste for it during his stay will find inspiration for their next vacation on site. Marius says: "I have documented the construction and renovation process of my accommodations photographically and printed them in illustrated books. The illustrated books make many guests want to vacation in the other accommodations too."
Marius has definitely got me hooked. And I can hardly wait to explore one of his tiny houses for you next.
Ina's five travel tips at the end:
- You can easily get to St. Goar by German train and admire the beautiful Rhine Valley with its castles and palaces.
- Marius' top gastronomic tip: in Grünrodehaus In Oberwesel, seven kilometers away, you can enjoy authentic Hunsrück dishes with a panoramic view of the Middle Rhine Valley.
- St. Goar is located on the RheinBurgenWeg, a beautiful, 200-kilometer-long long-distance hiking trail from the Rolandsbogen near Remagen to the Mäuseturm near Bingen.
- St. Goar's Burg Rheinfels is one of the largest castle and fortress ruins in Europe and can visited .
- Also the Rhine Cycle Path runs through St. Goar. It is 1.450 km long and leads through four countries and nine UNESCO World Heritage sites.
To the historic apartment in St. Goar am Rhein
© Photos: Ina Hiester, Marius Bräunlich
Ina Hiester
Ina is a digital nomad and travels through Europe by land and sea. The journalist is always on the lookout for special places for Good Travel, philosophizes about travel in her column, takes photographs, makes music and writes articles on all kinds of environmental and sustainability topics.
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