From Konstanz, you can drive around the far northwestern edge of the Bodensee to the northern shore, or take a 15 minute ferry that puts you in Meersburg, about $6/person. We did this, because, ferry! The boat has a nice little upper deck with a café, too.
I wasn't sure why Meersburg exists – don’t take that the wrong way, Meersburgers. But with other towns, it's immediately evident why they exists (Konstanz is at a strategic point at the lake); or, guidebooks will give you a quick summary (e.g., “Stuttgart” means “Stud Garden”, being a popular place for Kings and Emperors to breed horses). Meersburg gets a brief mention in my Fodors guide book, but not much more.
This is a shame, because it’s a lovely little town – I won’t say “not to be missed,” I don’t doubt we missed some other lovely towns, too – but well worth the visit. Its cheerful streets, lined with verdant trees and colorful houses, run meanderingly down to the seaside. On the way you’ll see a palace with a delightful view over the lake, a peaceful town square, a steady watermill, and cobbled, mossy alleys. The star, though, is the well preserved Meersburg castle, sitting atop a rocky outcropping just below the palace.
I had promised the wife and kids plenty of castles, so in we went (note that the entry fee is not cheap, $10 or so per person). Meersburg castle is not large, which works in its favor. There’s a mild amount of up and down on the tour, but you’re not climbing way up a tall tower. Presumably, if you needed a lookout, you were better off going up to the top of the lake bluff.
Indeed, this castle seems to have been for a.) localized police control, and b.) dominance of the lake below the town. Meersburg sits at the shortest crossing point from Konstanz, which indicates its reason for being – as a ferry point. It’s not much use as a land base, and therefore was probably ignored during the 30 Years War that devastated so many German towns and fortifications.
Much to our benefit. The castle rooms have an evocative early renaissance feel, wood carvings and simple furniture, basic kitchen and stores area. I don’t think it’s completely authentic, but I can imagine life back in the 1600’s would have looked pretty close.
There’s also the obligatory weapons room and a look into an actual dungeon – unfortunate souls were lowered by rope into a dank pit, and sometimes starved to death. German tourist castles frequently house torture museums, which are popular to the public but more than we want to expose the boys to: they hack at each other enough without getting other ideas. This museum was free from such.
Indeed…on the way out we allowed the boys to use some of their own money to purchase wooden play swords. Yes, the results were predictable – child A stabs at child B, child B escalates with a swat at child A, child A complains to Parents. But that happens all the time without the toy swords.
Flashback: two years ago, on our vacation in Italy, we generally had good food, with two notable exceptions. Those exceptions were tourist restaurants in Venice and Florence. Our implied goal on this trip was to avoid the German version of the tourist trap: pretty much anything located on the main square or other high-traffic attraction. Meersburg had a couple such locations, and though we were hungry, we skipped them. Instead, we found an unassuming coffee shop that served sandwiches, and came out the better. We got six sandwiches, three of which were served on pretzels. Why can’t everything be served on pretzels? Every sandwich shop should offer a pretzel/ pretzel bun option! They’re delicious! Except perhaps when these guys try to do it. I had one of those. It was a sad mistake. The German one was tasty.
We had to meet Nonna and Nesta on the Swiss side later in the afternoon, so lingering in Meersburg was not an option. Our target goal was the ferry crossing in Friedrichshafen, 10 miles east. Friedrichshafen, as I had mentioned, suffered badly during WWII, and was rebuilt without the tourists in mind. Their downtown pedestrian zone is…sterile? Not even – that could imply a deliberate Swedish design aesthetic. I’ll substitute dull. The highlight for them is the Zepplin museum on the waterfront, and we got there with an eye to take a tour. But we ended up thinking better of it: I’m sure there were interesting installations, but we didn’t want to spend $10/person on a short walk-through; and it was sunny outside, so 2 hours indoors was not a good idea: we had to take advantage of the good weather while we could. therefore, off on a longer ferry ride across the Bodensee, landing on Romanshorn, CH.
Romanshorn is another fun little Swiss town, not designed for tourists yet sweet none the less, once you got away from the ferry docks. You’d never see it marked on any tour guide book or site – there’s nothing special about it. But they had a pleasant waterside garden area with a café that served cake and ice cream (and didn’t take credit cards). The boys snacked and ran around, we drank wine, and had just enough cash to cover the bill.
And that’s another day. Do you see a pattern? Out by 10:00, see enough to get the sense, wine time kicks in at 4:00. We didn’t always hit that deadline, but made a game effort. With the afternoon restorative completed, we pushed it back over the border to Konstanz. In all, that was the 9th border crossing for us in 3 days, and not once did someone stop us at the check point.
Dining that night was at a jewel spot we’d tried two nights earlier, but couldn’t get in. Zum Guten Hirten is in the old town section of Konstanz, wooded darkness inside, beer garden style outside, on tables that push into the pedestrian only street. In theory, multiple groups can sit at long table, that’s often customary there, though we’d specifically reserved a spot for the six of us.
This was casual but delicious German fare, especially a.) the flatbread the kids shared, and b.) the Wurstsalat, which we devoured quickly. Wurstsalat – sausage salad – contains no “salad”, as we recognize it. It’s bologna-style sausage and cheese, cut into strips (or bite size pieces, as Ernesta makes it) in a salad dressing. Healthy? No. Delicious? Yes.
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