A jewel

There are many villages that claim to be the prettiest in a country and Gengenbach makes that claim which we don’t think is too much of an exaggeration.

It is south of Baden-Baden and about 75kms from Freiburg im Breisgau which is where we moved to today and so was a village that was ideal to stop at en route.

The Main Street is no more than 150m long but it houses buildings of all designs and colours and is a delight to walk.

Some of the “sightseeing” spots according to the Tourist information ℹ️ pamphlet we picked up were:

The Town Hall built in 1784

The Röhrbrunnen, a knight who has been guarding the town since 1582

The Kinzigtorturm, one of two gates at the city walls 

The Prelates Tower which is part of the towńs former fortifications

And there were many more!!!

One thing of intrigue that I noticed were some door surrounds had a “formula” chalked on the lintel 

and as I had seen it also in Baden-Baden it caused me to do some googling - if interested Google Chalking the Door

Also there are open drains with water flowing down the street which I assume had a purpose in years gone by I can’t find any reference to that - does allow young children something to play in however.

We had to move on and leave behind this delightful village which was well worth the stop and get to our accommodation for the next seven days in Freiburg, a city which has been described as the capital of the Black Forest area.

Arrived in Freiburg mid afternoon and were greeted by our host Hannelore. She is a very obliging person - when we said we were walking into the city she pointed out the way but as we were leaving said she would walk with us and we are glad she did as we would never have found our way.

She can’t speak English and we rely on Sherry’s very basic knowledge of German so there was great reliance on Google Translate as we walked with her.

Once there she gave us pointers to the main areas and took us to a shop so that we could buy some tram tickets to get in and out of the city as we realised that a walk of an hour each way in 30 degree temperatures wasn’t going to be that smart.

The uncovered flowing water channels as described above are in Freiburg central as well.

Had what was my birthday dinner in a traditional restaurant - perhaps not the best choice but it was our choice so can’t complain!

Home via tram and supermarket ended an enjoyable day.

Kms driven to date 803

Kms walked to date 111.6