The name sounds like a joke, Eel Boxes, but it is a literal description. The Aalkistensee is another of the ponds that the Cistercian monks of Maulbronn built to hold fish, and a kiste was a wooden box or a pen in which eels were kept alive. The monks needed fish for the many days of the year when meat was forbidden, and a monastery that held land and water could supply its own table and sell the surplus. The Maulbronn system, with its dams, channels and sluices, was a clever piece of hydraulic engineering for the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and it works on the principle of gravity and careful levels.
You can still follow the logic on foot. Water from the surrounding hills is gathered in the upper ponds, passed down a chain of lakes, and finally reaches the monastery and its mills. The dams have survived because they were built to last, with clay cores, and the ponds provide a habitat for many birds, frogs and dragonflies. In spring the banks are bright with marsh marigolds, and in autumn the beech woods reflect in the water.
The country around is a mix of wooded ridges and vineyards, and the riding is gentle. The roads wind through small villages like Ölbronn-Dürrn and Knittlingen, the latter claiming to be the birthplace of the real Doctor Faustus, the sixteenth-century alchemist who inspired the legend. Traffic is light on the minor roads, though the area is popular with cyclists and walkers on fine weekends. The best seasons are late spring and early autumn.
Maulbronn is a short ride away, and has bakeries and cafés and a small supermarket. For fuel and a wider choice of shops, Mühlacker, with about 26,000 people, is the nearest larger town, and Knittlingen has basic services. If you have time, look in at the monastery itself, where the cloister, the refectory and the beautiful fountain house show how a medieval community looked after its body and soul. A local fish dish, a plate of trout from a nearby stream, is a fitting meal after a walk by the water.