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Meersburg am BodenseeBaden-Württemberg, Germany
Meersburg
(in English, "sea castle") is one of the prettiest resorts on the shores
of Lake Constance. The Burg above the lake is said to be Germany's oldest
residential castle, dating back to the 7th Century A.D. (Meersburg also has a
Baroque "New Castle" where the prince-bishops of Konstanz lived and ruled in the
18th Century.)
The word "picturesque" has become a travel cliché, but in the
case of Meersburg, it's a legitimate adjective.
Meersburg is a split-level
resort: The lakeside Lower Town is home to the boat and ferry landings, a
lakefront promenade, hotels, restaurants, bars, and sporting activities; and the
Upper Town is a hillside cluster of historic buildings, museums, galleries,
cafés, shops, and vineyards.
Both sections of town have remnants of medieval walls
(including two ancient gates), and you can go back and forth between the two by
stairway or road. Meersburg is easily the kind of resort where you can spend
several days without getting bored. Museums include the
Old Castle (with guided
tours year-round), the New Castle (with Baroque rooms, art exhibits, and the
Dornier Aviation Museum), the
Bible Gallery, a
Town Museum, and the local
Wine
Museum. When you've had your fill of looking at museum displays,
you can play miniature golf, go hiking, rent a rowboat or pedalo, cycle or skate
along the lake, or sample Meersburg's
swimming pools and thermal spa.
Meersburg also makes a pleasant hub for excursions around the
Bodensee, using lake
steamers and car ferries. The "flower island" of Mainau
is a quick trip by boat, and Friedrichshafen (the largest town on the lake's
northern shore) is just a couple of boat stops or an easy bus ride away. For more
information about Meersburg, including hotels and restaurants, visit the city's
multilingual Web site at www.meersburg.de. Personal recommendations: The four-star
Romantik Hotel Residenz
am See is directly opposite the Thermal Spa, a few minutes on foot from
the center of the lower town. Rooms at the back face hillside vineyards, and
most rooms have private balconies.
The Old Castle, or Burg, was begun in the 7th Century A.D.
The Neues Schloss or
New Castle (the
rose-colored building in the background) was the residence of the prince-bishops who ruled the Konstanz region in
the 18th Century.
Meersburg's Upper Town
has a pleasantly disorganized street layout, with one street or square leading
into another.
This view of the Upper Town shows the oldest part of the
Burg, Dagobert's Tower, peeking over the main structure of the fortress. (The
Burg, a.k.a. the Old Castle,
is open for visits year-round.)
From high on the hillside, you can see the Upper Town (including Dagobert's
Tower) and Lake Constance.
These photos of a
Zeppelin NT were
taken from
the viewing terrace in front of the Neues Schloss (New Castle) in Meersburg's
Upper Town. Tourists can book flights of 30 to 120 minutes on the Zeppelin NT,
which departs from the airship hangar in nearby Friedrichshafen.
From the Upper Town, steps descend to the Unterstadt
or Lower Town.
(If you're pushing a stroller or wheelchair, you can avoid the stairs by
following the road.)
Both the Upper Town and the Upper Town have shops, restaurants, cafés, and
bars in abundance.
The family-owned Hotel Seehof is one of several hotels on the Lower Town's
waterfront.
The Lower Town stretches along the Bodensee's shore, with a lakeside
promenade leading toward the Thermal Baths, swimming pools, and mini-golf course
(beyond the right edge of this photo).
The Lower Town has piers for excursion boats (including this boat to
the garden island of Mainau), a marina, and a customs house. You can also hire a rowboat or pedalo if
you prefer to captain your own boat.
The Thermal Spa is designed for
all ages, with amenities such as a sand playground and beach volleyball.
The spa's indoor thermal pool is open year-round. It has water jets, "whirl
recliners," and other features. The water temperature is 34°
C or 93° F.
Professional massages are available, and you can
get an "Arabian Nights" Hammam foam-massage treatment that's followed by
a cup of tea.
The outdoor public pool area is open from mid-May to mid-September. You can
choose between a shallow "fun pool" with a current channel plus fountains and
slides, a "sport pool" with lanes and starting blocks, and two "kiddies' pools"
for small children.
The Thermal Spa's "Sauna World" includes a "Pfahlbausauna" with saunas
housed in replicas of prehistoric lake dwellings.
Across the road, the four-star
Romantik Hotel Residenz am
See offers pleasant rooms, many of which have balconies. Rooms face the lake
or the hillside; if your room faces the lake, ask for a top-floor room so you'll
enjoy a view. The Residenz am See serves a first-rate breakfast in its gourmet restaurant. If the
weather is nice, choose a table on the small terrace.
About the author: Durant Imboden is a professional travel writer, book author, and editor who focuses on European cities and transportation. After 4-1/2 years of covering European travel topics for About.com, Durant and Cheryl Imboden co-founded Europe for Visitors (now including Germany for Visitors) in 2001. The site has earned "Best of the Web" honors from Forbes and The Washington Post. For more information, see About Europe for Visitors, press clippings, and reader testimonials. Photos 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19 copyright © Meersburg Tourismus. Used by permission. |
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