We had a good part of the afternoon ahead of us when we finished our visit at the Danube springs. We decided to head to Freiburg, which was out night stop and where we had booked the hotel, but the timetable allowed us a stop in Titisee, the small tourist city on the shores of the glacial lake which was initially in the schedule of the next day.
Titisee - the lake
Titisee is nice, but maybe a little over-hyped. Looking retrospectively I would not say that it’s a ‘must see’ stop, and I would award it just one star (‘Interesting’) rather than the two (‘Recommended’) that the Michelin green guide for Germany generously gives it. The skies were clear by the time we were by the lake, and the blue was reflected beautifully in the water.
Titisee - in the streets
Germans love lake activities like boating or water-skiing, so it was no wonder that the streets were pretty crowded even if the tourist season was over. The main street of going down to the lake looks like any tourist street in any commercial resort you have visited any other part of the world, and only the cuckoo clocks in the shops were telling us that we had entered the Schwarzwald - the Black Forest region.
Rainbow over Freiburg
The overnight stop was in Freiburg, at the Mercure Hotel. It's an uninspired building but well located in the center of the city, with underground parking and standard (good) facilities of the Mercure chain. We went out for dinner hoping to find some German specialties. In the meantime a short rain cleared the air and allowed me a spectacular picture of the rainbow over the roofs of the town.
the Freiburg Munster
I caught another beautiful shot of the cathedral (Munster) in the center of the city in the semi-light of the sunset. Built between the 13th and 16th century in Romanesque and Gothic styles with a splendid arabesque tower the building dominates the old city. Unfortunately it was too late in the evening for us to visit the interior.
We were not that lucky with the dinner that evening. Our hopes to eat good German food faded out when we found that the first two places recommended by the hotel were fully booked. Next time make the reservation from the hotel, especially if you go out on a Saturday night - this is a lesson some never seem to learn! We ended by having a rather standard dinner in a schnitzel and beer place called Tacheles where neither the schnitzel nor the beer were too inspired - but at least they had a big screen and we could watch a Bundesliga football game.
Freiburg - view of the city
Next morning - the third day of our trip - we decided not to spend time in the city, but to go and explore nature and other interesting places in the Black Forest area. We just took one last picture from the hotel terrace and took up to the road.