Relaxing afternoon in Breisach, Germany
After an invigorating walk in the Black Forest, we found ourselves with a couple of hours in Breisach. This is an historical and pretty small town. The town itself dates back to the 11th century when St. Stephen’s cathedral construction began. Over the next few centuries, the town bounced around between French, German and Austrian control but has ruled by Germany since the early 19th century.
The town is very charming and the buildings’ architecture take you back in time, however, the houses have been mostly rebuilt since the town was severely damaged in WW II. Even the cathedral was badly damaged.
As we made our way through the town, we came across a few historic buildings. The town hall, originally built in 1639, has served as a mint, a school, a district office, a district court and finally after the rebuilding that completed in 1953, the town hall. The Treadle Wheel Well tower was built in 1198 and served as a prison and torture tower but most recently, it has a become a place people actual want to visit as they come to attend the local concerts. On the way to St Stephens, you go under Hagenbach Tower. This was built in the 14th century and yet again started as a prison. On the other side of the tower stood the Shippers Guild House until 1793. For centuries, Breisach was very successful due to it’s location on the Rhine.
In the town square, we stopped to watch the kids play in the fountains.
We also enjoyed walking down the pretty streets. Being a Saturday afternoon, the quaint stores were closed, but we still enjoyed window shopping.
During our walk we passed several unique and inviting bars. Due to limited time, we reluctantly passed them by but luckily before we returned to our cruise ship, we had time to stop for an ice cream and coffee.
I love walking around these old towns. The cobble stone roads, although difficult to walk on, are so quaint and just add to the beauty. So many times we would be walking along what we thought was a pedestrian walk way only to be surprised by a passing car. I don’t think we ever got used to that.
1736 Monastry entrance and wall
Houses on one side of the road and gardens down on the other
A surprise pop of colour
I am glad we took the time to spend a few hours in Breisach, a deceptively simple town with a complicated history. Would have been nice to be here on a week day when things were open and wish we had time to visit the museum to find out more about it’s interesting past. Living in Canada, I still have a tough time thinking about life prior to the 18th century. I am fascinated by it and hope to continue exploring these ancient towns and villages. Such a shame that wars have destroyed so much of Europe but I give them credit for rebuilding to the original style
