Travel: LAKE CONSTANCE / BODENSEE, GERMANY (Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Meersburg, Konstanz) (Eurotrip)

*check out my last Eurotrip adventures to Heidelberg, Germany here!*

 

Who knew Disneyland was located in a small German town? At least that’s what you might think when you arrive in Rothenburg ob der Tauber with its brightly painted houses, adorable cobbled streets and fascinating buildings. We were able to get parking right outside of the centre, and then stepped through the old fortress wall right into the storybook town.

As usual, our first stop was the Tourist Office to pick up a walking map which allowed us to wind our way through the streets, pointing out everything we needed to see – churches, wells, teddy bear shops, a Christmas museum, gabled houses, the grand town square – this town had everything, and it was all utterly stunning.

We stopped at the Brothaus Café for coffee and sneeballen (translation: snowball) – a local delicacy made of flaky pastry squished together in a ball shape and dusted with powdered sugar. It was rather dry and perhaps not something I would have on the regular, but when in Rome...

The end of our walk brought us down to the castle gardens, right at the edge of the town, which offered a great view back over the town and its lush surrounds. We couldn’t leave without a walk along the town wall, bejewelled with plaques from donors who had helped with the maintenance of the wall. Honestly, I really would have loved to have spent the night in Rothenburg – it was such a wonderful place!

 

Alas, we had other plans, and we headed further South towards Meersburg, on the border with Switzerland. Like Rotherburg, this too was a small town, and we were staying at a boutique hotel right on its edge – the 3 Stuben, a perfectly lovely hotel (although it is worth nothing that their air conditioning = windows, for those planning to travel in summer!)

 

We took to the streets of Meersburg for dinner, and stopped at the Meersburger Winzerstuben, a pleasant restaurant close to the shores of Lake Konstanz. The menu was extensive, but all I really cared about was that it had kasespatzle, the Austro-German equivalent of macaroni and cheese that I had previously tried in Innsbruck, Austria. This cheese filled pasta dish is so rich and filling, and was the perfect choice after a long day of travelling. Add to this the fact that the restaurant was a mere twenty second walk from the water’s edge, and I was in absolute heaven as I sat overlooking the lake to watch the sun go down.

It was an early start the next morning for breakfast in the hotel, and then a walk down to the lake to pick up the ferry for today’s trip to Konstanz. There are two ferries which leave from Meersburg – a passenger and car ferry and, whilst on foot, we’d opted for the latter as they ran more frequently. The downside – the car ferry dropped you off 4km from the old town itself. What ensued was a 50 minute walk, which usually would have been fine, had we not had a full day of walking still ahead of us…

 

At long last, we made it to Konstanz old town, and decided it was about time for refreshments. The answer? Milk and honey, a tiny café off the beaten track, but with some seriously nice food. I had a pink chai latte (made with beets), and we split three cakes (luxurious, I know) – a plum crumble, red currant, and carrot. Delightful.

 

Then, it was time to explore. The real highlight of Konstanz was all of its impressive and highly decorative buildings. So many of the buildings that we passed had beautiful paintings adorning their walls that just added another layer of beauty to this already colourful town. I was particularly excited when we saw the Goodyear blimp fly overhead – the Friedrichshafen zeppelin museum is not too far away, and you can actually fly on the zeppelin for a mere 260 Euros!

We took an alternate route back to the car ferry, this time along the lake itself which was probably closer to 5.5km – in total, we had walked nearly 16km around Konstanz with just one break for coffee! Resting our feet on the ferry was much appreciated, but the walking was not over just yet – back on our side of the pond/lake, we wanted to check out the Neues Schloss – an imposing pink building which really did fit the storybook vibe of the past few days.

After a well-deserved rest back at the hotel, we headed out in search for dinner, only to discover that most of the restaurants in Meersburg were closed on a Monday, meaning we wouldn’t be able to go to the nice one we had planned. Instead, we ended up at one essentially on the main strip of restaurants on the lakefront – fine, even if all of the vegetarian options did include some variation of mushroom.

 

Regardless, you couldn’t be mad when you had a sunset like the one we did – oranges, pinks, purples, blues, reds. It purely doesn’t get better that that – a colourful end to a colourful few days in the South of Germany.

Tips for visiting Lake Konstanz:

-        Do it. I really think there’s probably no place in the world like this region – Rothenburg, Meersburg, Konstanz – they’re all worth a visit if only to feel like you are the main character in a Disney movie.

-        Try to time your visit with sunny weather. I’m sure these towns look stunning in winter, covered in snow and with Christmas markets galore, but the show-stealer for me was definitely the sunsets. I would go anywhere in the world for a sunset like that, and it’s really not to be missed.

-        Get local with your cuisine. These towns are all pretty much built for tourists, so you can find fairly standard fare wherever you go, but they certainly know how to do authentic food well. My kasespatzle was to die for, and my mushroom dumpling dish the second night was also worth trying. Now just to find the recipes!

 

I hope you enjoyed today’s travel blog post! I’m always on the hunt for the world’s best sunsets, so if you’ve got somewhere you think I ought to try, let me know on Twitter @CiarasCountry. You can also drop me a follow to be the first to know when my next travel blog is posted, and let me know where you’re headed too! Thanks for reading!