Konstanz Diary - A Day on the Shores of Lake Constance

Hello friends. Last year we found ourselves in Konstanz. I wasn’t really in the mood that day, I didn’t feel like walking around much. But since we had already come all this way, we said we shouldn’t leave without seeing the place. After all Lake Constance isn’t somewhere you end up every day. When we arrived, the wind was a bit annoying and the weather felt strange, but we decided to just go with the flow.

As soon as we stepped out of the train station, long lines for ice cream caught our attention. People were patiently waiting for a bit of cool relief. Right there next to McDonald’s, I noticed the ferry pier to Meersburg. I had thought the ferry only departed from the far end of the peninsula. But it turned out you could also take it right from the center. When I checked the prices, I was a little confused. A ticket from the end of the peninsula was €7.50, but here it was €9.50. There was also a €27 sign, which turned out to be a family ticket for people traveling with kids.

We walked over to the famous statue that symbolizes the harbor. I couldn’t remember its name exactly, but you could easily tell what it was just by looking at it. We argued a bit about its name at first, then finally saw its massive presence up close. It was of course, the Imperia statue, quite striking. This 9-meter tall concrete giant slowly watches over the harbor, completing a full rotation around its axis every four minutes. In her hands are small figures resembling Pope Martin V and Emperor Sigismund, a satirical reference to the spiritual and worldly powers of the Council of Constance. Inspired by a story by Balzac, the statue represents a woman who had the clergy and princes wrapped around her finger.

The lake water was icy that day. But luckily the visibility was pretty good, you could even make out the Alps. As we walked through the city, I admired the famous stone-built church from afar. By the way, real estate prices here are jaw-dropping. Square meter prices compete with Stuttgart and sometimes even surpass it. Even though there isn’t that much going on compared to big cities, being a resort town has sent prices through the roof.

At one point we reached the water park area, which was actually the border, Switzerland started right behind it. Since I didn’t have a Swiss SIM card, I was worried my phone might automatically connect and rack up crazy charges, as it tends to do there. So I turned off the internet and we headed toward the Old Town. To be honest, what they call the Old Town was just a regular city area, nothing particularly extraordinary.

As for food, that day I had the worst McDonald’s experience of my life. It might have been the worst not just in Germany but in the world, only my bad memory from Málaga could compete with it. Wanting a bit of nostalgia, I ordered a Chickenburger, but it had no flavor and no salt. Even the sauce was strangely spicy. What my friends ate was just as bad. Burger King would have been a better option, but it was either too far away or on the Swiss side. So we had to endure that tasteless meal.

While walking along the shore, we spotted a dot in the sky, a real Zeppelin. It was flying around the Friedrichshafen area, its home base. Seeing one of these rare giants, there are only about 20 to 25 left in the world, was one of the day’s nicest coincidences.

As we reached the tip of the peninsula, we arrived at the starting point of the Rhine River. In this area known as the Green Rhine, the water was crystal clear. You could even see huge fish swimming inside, I couldn’t help wondering how they lived so comfortably in that freezing water.

Along the way we passed luxury villas and boutique hotels. Some houses even had private piers extending directly into the lake. The public beaches, on the other hand, weren’t sandy but covered in lush green grass. Despite the unstable weather, people were sunbathing and swimming, one moment the sun was burning, the next a gust of wind made it feel icy cold.

We finished our walk and headed back to the train station, we were tired but it was worth it. We caught a glimpse of Meersburg Castle from afar and breathed in that cool air with the Alps in the background. And so our Konstanz visit came to an end. Two weeks later, a much bigger journey was about to begin. See you in new adventures.