Breisach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
What
a lovely day: glorious weather, so we decided not on a trip up a cable car, but
one over to the Rhine. We travelled through vines and cherry orchards where the
trees were laden with cherries. We passed many, many cherry sellers under sun
umbrellas or up ladders with baskets – you could buy cherries everywhere: in towns, by the fruit trees or from a stall in
the middle of nowhere.
We stopped at Breisach, a very old town on the banks of the
Rhine, but up a hill defending its position. Last year we stayed on the French
side of the river near Neuf Brisach & visited a wonderful star-shaped fort
- the German counterpart is much more historic & very different. We parked
down by the river and had a nice chat with some British motorhomers who were
staying on the Stellplatz, a park where the occupants just put €6 in the machine
for a night’s stay.
We walked up the narrow cobbled
streets into the town via the Hagenbach Tower, built in 1319 and used as a
prison for the citizens. The Governor, Peter of Hagenbach, was imprisoned there
in 1474 until he was executed for murder, breach of oath and rape – maybe not
the moral guide the town needed! The path led uphill to the church of St
Stephan, founded in the 12th century but bombed in WW2 & now restored.
Inside is a wonderful carved altar screen (pic from Google as none allowed
inside) and a large solid silver casket containing the relics of a pair of twin
priests who were martyred for their faith in the 1500s.
Outside
is the complete opposite – great views over the Rhine plus a very modern but slightly
strange statue of a bull breaking out of the bricks & a representation of a
female riding it, apparently to commemorating the joining together to form a
united Europe...Modern art often confuses me, and this one is definitely in the
lead. Still, it’s a talking point & an unusual photo to have.
We wandered down to the River Rhine & had a short walk to
see all the swans on the other side, then had lunch in a little café where
translating the menu was a bit of a challenge. Virtually no German/little
English & no signal for Google translate, but we managed with pointing and
a bit of help from another customer. This area really has very little signal
for the internet, but it didn’t stop R from trying!
After lunch we headed to the highest part of this area, the
state park at Badberg. There were great views over the vines but & we were
going to do a short walk, but all the paths were more of the long-distance
variety and it was very hot so we didn’t. The views were nice but we decided to move on.
Back in the car and off to Burkheim – I’d spotted a sign on the
outward journey which said “Historic Old Town” so we went to have a look – and
it definitely was. We found wonderful buildings dating back to the 14, 15 &
1600s, cobbled streets, window boxes in full bloom, narrow alleys & higgledy
piggledy houses....I love them!
2025-05-22