Continuing Ulm to Switzerland

At the end of the previous stage, we were leaving Bad Waldsee and heading for Baindt.

We needed to go to a Kloster in Baindt to collect a parcel that was sent to us by one of the officials of the Saint Jakob Association. He was in charge of the Würzburg Division. He kindly gave us extensions (extra pages) for our accreditation credentials. Baindt is about 4 km off the way so we needed to go by bus and return to the Camino as we were booked for the night in Weingarten.

The city of Weingarten is very impressive. It houses The Hochschule University of Applied Science one of the best in Europe.

Also, it has a magnificent Basilica, the San Martin, known as the  Swabian St. Peter’s Cathedral. Interesting architecture is also part of the beauty of Weingarten. The

A Protestant church in Weingarten 

This city is mainly Protestant. these places of worship are well attended by the believers.

Many older buildings exhibit floral motives in their external walls their style is neo-baroque architecture

The Baroque Basilica San Martin in Weingarten 

The Basílica the San Martin started in around the years 600  as a convent for the Benedictine monks. It was built in Romanesque style. Between 1056 and 1123 it became the Weingarten Abby.

The Catholic Church then arranged with Giuseppe Frisoni to transform the Abbey into the Gothic Basílica of today. It resembles the Basilic of Rome and was opened in  1274.

The magnificent Basílica houses the relic of The Holy Blood

Richard and pilgrim friend 

There are many very modern sculptures in the city and Richard befriended the one dedicated to us “The Pilgrims”

The Gasthof in which we were booked was situated in Rosaly a low-income part of Weingarten. It was first built around a hundred years ago and has been restored several times. The outside looks presentable and the Bar and breakfast rooms have wood panels in the walls with carvings representing hunting scenes plus a couple of wild pigs heads hung in strategic places to be properly illuminated, (a bit grotesque). We found out that it is not a patrimony building.

They offered accommodation to pilgrims at reasonable prices and rightly so because it was a hole. The area for pilgrims was in an old basement that you reached by a narrow stair with a filthy cord as the handrail.

The rooms small and dark and the illumination was poor. We shared a bathroom and showers, that was very clean I have to admit. I slept really badly because I was concerned about fire as if that should happen everyone would be trapped.

Richard had a reasonable breakfast and as for me, it was coffee and nothing as I was not game to eat. I admire how Richard adapts to bad situations he takes all in his stride. I am sure that he had a reasonable night.

From there we left direction Ravensburg which is also a beautiful place with nice vegetation and places which unfortunately we did not photograph as we walked directly to the station because it was late and the Camino started on the other side of the railway.

Restored Guesthouse about 100 years old

That morning in our way out we passed a sculpture that depicted a woman begging and a wealthy man ignoring her plea, it was compelling.

Sculpture of Woman begging

Hereunder is the Chapel from the University which is also a neo-baroque style

The church of the Pädagogische Hochschule 

The following day we started the next stage near the Ravensburg station a beautiful area rich in old architecture parks and gardens. Now we were walking in the direction of Konstanz we had only another 60 km to achieve that goal.

Our next destination was Brochenzell around 17 km from here

On the way to Brochenzell 

Yet another fabulous forest walk on our way to Brochenzell 

We had a surprise in the forest. We encountered a woman walking in the opposite direction with a pet pig on a leash like a dog, so funny it behaved like a dog. We were reminded of the movie “Babe”.

A woman walking her pet pig in the forest 

Brochenzel, a  cute town that we reached after a nice walk through orchards mainly pears, apples and cherries.

Orchard on the way to Brochenzell 

Also, we started to see several stables where fine horses are groomed and trained. This clearly indicated that the area had more economic power, sports involving horses, in general, are expensive.

The place where we had accommodation belonged to a retired couple that most probably wanted to increase their income at the same time that they did the Christian thing for the pilgrims. A nice couple very kind and obliging and very Catholic.

In the evening we went to the only place that had food and had the plate of the day that was nice.

Joseph the husband of the host of the auberge had magic hands, he was an artist he carved wood and had lovely pieces. According to his wife, he would never consider selling his sculptures because people do not pay for the time that he expends carving each piece.

The host and hostess in Brochenzell 

Hereunder are some of the beautiful sculptures made by Joseph, he was special very quiet, humble and kind.

Some of Joseph’s carvings

Their house that they open for pilgrims 

When we left next morning Joseph had gone to early mass. He left for me a coquille carved in wood it was so sweet of him to do that.

The walk continued throughout orchards an plantations. Suddenly we arrived at a crossroad which had a small self-service machine where you could buy marinated meat, milk, sausages (wurst),  drinks, local wine and homemade cake, potatoes and kraut salad. You selected a product placed the money in the machine and “bingo” out it comes and there it was ready to take. No doubt about the ingenuity of the German people!

A self-serve shop just outside the town

The automatic vending machine with all kinds of food and drink including milk

The roads and routes for pilgrims are very well marked and all is tidy as you can see in the next photo

Very good signs and beautifully made separate walking and bicycle tracks

Wonderful walking track- pity they’re not all like this

Fancy milestone reminding us that we still had 2001 kilometres to go

Sculpture of St Jacob on top of the milestone 

The next intended stop was Markdorf a lovely town very close to Konstanz. This is a little village full of life, around 20km from Konstanz, our last town in Germany.

Church in Markdorf

Ditto 

Exceptional sculpture in the church 

In the plaza of Markdof, they have the sculptures of two schoolgirls which are very realistic from the distance. Richard thought that they were very nice and he wanted to be photographed with them.

Amazing sculptures of students 

Richard cradle snatching 

Roses in Markdorf

At Markdorf we had a connection with a lady, Maria, that offered pension to pilgrims at a very modest price which included breakfast and laundry.

Well, that was the stop for the night and we had dinner in a local café. The dinner was nice and the food fresh and very tasty. After dinner, we sat in the garden of our host and chatted with her and her beautiful granddaughter for a while.

 

Maria and Granddaughter 

Next morning we left early in the direction of Meersburg. All the way we were followed by a Zeppelin until Meersburg where we lost sight of it. Curiosity point Mr Zeppelin the inventor of this flying machine was a citizen of Konstanz

Zeppelin

All the way was enchanting as we were able to enjoy the views of the forest in the early part of the morning and later the sea was the main feature.

Excellent track, beautiful forest

Well signposted way 

Out of the blue we suddenly entered a poor track that was unusual for Germany. However, the saurandings were still beautiful.

Suddenly bad track

Unfortunately, the track completely disappeared but still we could go in the right direction, again all around was just beauty. It was necessary to stop a few times to absorb this gift of nature and thank God for this opportunity.

Suddenly no track but it was the Camino 

However, looking left it was beautiful 

Unexpectedly we found a chook pen with white chickens going about their day talking to each other as happy as they could be. They were picking at the grass and seeds looking beautiful among the wildflowers

A chook pen in the middle of nowhere

Our eyes were again treated to exquisite beauty by a bush of Pentecost roses that were in bloom displaying an incredible set of pink tones.

Pentecost roses

By now the wheat was well formed and starting to ripen 

As we walked we have been able to see the development of different stages of growth of wheat and other crops. This has been an exciting event to be able to observe the development in nature.

At 12:15 we arrived in Meersburg

We entered the area where the port is located and walked around to absorb a bit of the lifestyle of this area. This area is buzzing with life energy, colour and style they mix the beauty of the old buildings, modern houses. Businesses that exhibit fashions and accessories to satisfy the most difficult clientele, restaurants very chic and others more relaxed for tourists and young patrons in a good part of the Port area.

Plaza

At the port in Meersburg 

Meersburg waterfront

There is well-organised transport for travellers to go across to Konstanz, thus we could take time to look around to absorb the ambience before going to the Port to get tickets and catch the boat.

It was necessary to stop to have some lunch and had a plate of potato soup before going to buy our tickets to cross the lake which was looking majestic under the sunlight and clear sky. The breeze was pleasant and helped to make very pleasant the mid afternoon temperature.

The sight of a place where they sold artisan ice creams seduced the two Aussie pilgrims that walked to the waiting area with a cone of the delicious treat.

By 14:45hr we were boarding the boat to cross the lake to arrive in Konstanz a city that dates to the stone Ages.

Coming into Konstanz 

This city is beautiful and is located by the Lake Konstanz in southern Germany it is on the border to Switzerland. Rich in history it exhibits the Romanesque Münster (Cathedral) known for its mix of decorative styles and Gothic Spire. Also, it’s Rathaus is covered by delicate frescoes and has a Renaissance style .

 

This city always appears to be full of tourists from all over the world, it is a favourite point for travellers.  The University of Konstanz is located in the medieval area. This University is one of Excellence Research oriented . Well considered world wide, opens its doors to students of all Europe and rest of the world.

There was a good opportunity to visit the business at the city centre. We found windows arranged with taste and very exclusive items. There was a shop that was dedicated to culinary products from all over the world, spices, kitchen aids, exotic delicacies etc. I entered this place as I wanted to buy German mustard for my son David, unfortunately they did not have any.
The food in this city is expensive luckily Macdonald always come to the rescue so coffee, chips and cheese balls were on our menu.

We left Konstanz and walked 4 kms to the border. We approached the border patrol window to show our passport and mentioned that we were entering Switzerland the fellow looked at me and said “go ahead that has nothing to do with us” so we passed without a check. We could easily have bombs in our back packs and they were indifferent to it.

However the cars, motorbikes trucks etc were checked thoroughly.

Checkpoint into Switzerland 

Leaving Germany we were having mixed feelings; happiness for finishing this part of the trip and sadness for leaving behind so much beauty and history grateful for all the help that this country and their people provided us during our visit.

We met beautiful people, learned from them many things, and understood many of their characteristics and perhaps we know now why they are as they are.

 

Yes, we are in Switzerland!