GERMANY – Black Forest – Freiburg im Breisgau (En)
Freiburg im Breisgau, a vibrant university city in the Black Forest of southwestern Germany, is known for its mild climate and reconstructed medieval old town, crisscrossed by picturesque streams. Freiburg celebrated its 900th anniversary as a city in 2020 and the pedestrian area of the old town is full of fascinating buildings. It has an international reputation as Germany’s “green city.”
Where to stay
We stayed at the town’s RV park (48.015929, 7.83416 lat, long), huge and pretty full. It costs 13 euros a day and has a good area for loading and unloading grey and black water. You can also have electricity, which we use, for 3 euros a day or so. It is very well located because you can take the tram right next door that takes you to the city centre, there is also a Lidl 5 minutes walk away. The area is next to the soccer field, and when there is a game it must be emptied, so if you want to stay here, don’t come when there is a soccer game. Our friends Gaby and Ralf joined us here to show us the city.
What to see
In Germany dogs can come on all public transport, which is fantastic, so we all went to take the tram to the centre. The first thing we saw when we got off the tram were two clock towers on the old defensive wall surrounding the city. Then we found the University Museum.
Then we arrived at the Cathedral Square, which is used as a market on certain days and is surrounded by one historic building after another. The Cathedral took centuries to build, beginning in the Romanesque architectural style and ending as a classic example of ecclesiastical Gothic. Visitors can climb part of the 116-metre-high spire for fabulous city views. There is an Old Town Hall (‘Altes Rathaus’) and a New Town Hall (‘Neues Rathaus’), with the new one (white) being in a slightly older building than the old one (red). Both house local government offices, with the Tourist Information office located on the ground floor of the Old Town Hall. We decided to have some beers and wines in the square.
We continued touring the historic centre where we found another clock tower, people drinking wine sitting on the street, canals with a crocodile in the water and other curious things.
What to eat
We decided to have lunch at a cute restaurant where we tried the typical Flammenkuchen, a kind of pizza with cream. Ben and I shared a cheese, bacon and onion one. Ralf and Gaby shared the same one, and Hanna had a vegetarian one that we tried and it was very good, and Stewart had the same as us. We liked it, and Ben is going to cook it one day.
Wine Festival
The next day in the afternoon we went to the wine festival that was held in a suburb of the city. It was lively and full of people, with many stalls selling local wines and food. I tried a wine that I will try to buy called Muller-Thurgau.
Our next stop Villingen-Schwenningen, located directly in front of the natural landscape of the Black Forest and the village where Gaby and Ralf live, which you can see in the next blog!
