German's Blue Lake Becomes the Sea

Germany’s greatest lakeside city, Constance, is a place where tradition and new trends make a happy marriage. Houses built in traditional architectural style, a beautiful esplanade along the lake bordering Germany, Switzerland and Austria, rowboats afloat on the blue waters, and blooming flowers send inviting messages of May at Lake Constance, a lakeside retreat in landlocked Germany.

Constance (known to the Germans as the Bodensee) would not be the same without the Rhine. Originating in the heights of the St. Gothard at the confluence of two alpine streams, the river originally emerged at Rheinspitz. In 1900, its course was altered to flow into a canal constructed as a flood control measure. This new shortened route created a delta of 2,000 hectares of natural marsh between Fussach, in Austria, and Altenrhein, in Switzerland. Today it is a natural park with walking and bicycle trails, which provide breeding grounds for more than 300 species of birds.

The Rhine empties into the lake from the east and continues towards the west. It becomes a recognizable river again at the town of Constance and then flows through the Untersee or lower lake, which narrows at Schaffhausen.

Here a twenty-three meter waterfall marks the start of its path across the Swiss territory where it has cut a valley with sheltered inlets, small islands, deltas and low promontories. The hillsides are woven with vineyards and dotted with fortresses, manor houses and castles, all reminders of Napoleonic pomp. From

You can see the scenes from Medieval Europe including Meersburg castle.

Constance/Kreuzlingen to the Rhine waterfalls – the tallest in the continent – the cruisers of the White Fleet ply one of the most beautiful stretches of river in Europe. The scenery in this lake region has a magic of its own.

At the most southwestern point of the Untersee lies Stein Am Rhein where both Gothic and Renaissance features have been lovingly preserved to make it one of Switzerland’s most appealing medieval towns.

The principal attraction here is the town hall square with its crooked half-timbered houses dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. These narrow houses with their steep gabled roofs and dormer windows are decorated with faded murals depicting events in local history, allegorical scenes or Biblical and historical figures.

Mainau, the Island of Flowers

Lake Constance covers an area of 583 square kilometers and is shared between the three countries that surround it: Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The antiquated charm of villages sprinkled around its shoreline and its mild, almost Mediterranean climate, attract millions of tourists every year.

Mainau, the Island of Flowers, appears to be a place made in heaven. When Count Lennart Bernadotte, the great grandson of Grand Duke Frederic I took possession in the 1930s, the island was, in the Count’s own words, a “floating jungle.” Now, it has been completely transformed and is one of the most visited places on the lake. A castle, still home to the Count, dominates the surrounding park, laid out in impeccable gardens.

The island also features the church of the Teuton Knights. The Italian-style rose garden boasts some 300,000 rose blossoms of 1,300 different varieties and is also the home of sculptures representing the four seasons, especially commissioned by Grand Duchess Louise.

Vast expanses of spring, summer and autumn flowers grow side by side subtropical vegetation: oranges, lemons, bananas and figs thrive here, as do date palms, bougainvillea, sisal hemp and South American daturas. Seventy gardeners look after this 45-hectare corner of Eden, just off Constance, the only German area on the southern side of the lake.

From Constane to Meersburg

The entrance to Lindau at Lake Constance

Constance has occupied a position of some importance since the Middle Ages as the Episcopal seat and site of audiences with the Emperors. A remnant of its mighty past is the Council Building, originally erected in the port in 1388 as a granary and warehouse but later used as a meeting house. It has here that a conclave decided to bring to an end the great Western Schism which divided the church at the time. The Council of Constance deposed the three popes who competed for power and elected a single pope, Martin V, who then took up his seat in Rome. The building has now been converted into a festival plaza, exhibition and conference center complete with a beautiful restaurant on the ground floor. The original structure has been left untouched.

A stone’s throw away stands the nine-meter high revolving statue of Imperia. The ferries to Mainau and Meersburg leave nearby. Close to here is the Stone Age village of Uhldingen-Muhlhofen, the town of Uberlingen and the pilgrimage church of the “Charming Mother of Christ” at Birnau. This building dominates the surrounding vineyards and is Lake Constance’s most beautiful Baroque church.

Like Lindau, the only Bavarian town on the lake, Meersburg is a perfectly preserved architectural gem. It is built on a steep slope and its most interesting sights, the warm-colored, half-timbered houses and historical buildings, are situated in the upper part of the town, grouped around the old castle and the new palace, both overlooking the lake. Standing amidst vineyards, its castle is an extraordinary network of halls, oubliettes, guardhouses and secret tunnels, which lead to the lake; it transports the visitor into a world of armour-clad cavaliers and noble ladies.

The new palace, which dominates the town, was deemed an inappropriate residence for the prince. He proceeded to have a new building designed in keeping with the Baroque tastes of the time. Today it is used for concerts and events and as a special guesthouse. It also houses the Dornier Museum, dedicated to the work of the founder of an aeronautical construction company, which produced more than 150 types of aircraft.

The Island Town of Lindau

Miniatures of houses in Constance

During WWII, a massive air raid turned the town in to a heap of rubble while the neighbouring island town of Lindau escaped

Nature and buildings go well together. Spring is found everywhere.

virtually unscathed. Arriving by boat in this ancient Free Town linked to the mainland by a bridge, visitors pass through a narrow channel framed on one side by a marble lion statue commissioned in 1856 by Ludwig I of Bavaria, and on the other by a 33 meter lighthouse built in the same year, which replaced the old one known as the Mang Tower. Of all the villages dotted along the lakeshore, Lindau has, without doubt, the most preserved collection of medieval vestiges; most of the neat half-timbered or painted houses date from the 15th century. In the old town, the former town hall is decorated with murals of coats of arms of the towns bordering Lake Constance as well as those of the Patrician families of the towns. The Cavezzen House Museum, the finest Patrician house on Lake Constance, displays a wealth of faded frescoes.

In redirecting the course of the Rhine, man has served to make it even more beautiful. Ovid was impressed with the area, while landscape artist William turner was inspired.

Around the Bay of Bregenz, the mountains plunge into the lake. This semi-circle of summits is like a giant amphitheatre featuring a variety of landscapes, all dominated by the Pfander: the panoramic view available from its peak at 1,064 meters takes in the entirety of Lake Constance and 240 summits of the surrounding Alps.

Bregenz, the Voralberg state capital, is the cultural center of the region – in particular, is its famous summer festival. Here, on a floating stage before an audience of 6,000, are operas rarely performed elsewhere. This annual festival takes place between mid July and mid August and includes symphonic and contemporary music as well as theatre.

Many of the six million sightseers who visit Lake Constance very year must surely share the feeling expressed in the folk song Wir Waren Ja So Gerne Beblieben – If only we could stay awhile.

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Matias Tugores Martorell is a photographer who travels all over the world introducing culture and people.