Meersburg to Konstanz by Bike (not quite)

Today’s plan was to bike from Meersburg to Konstanz, another part of the Lake Constance (or Bodensee in German) cycle path. We are “en route” to bike around the Bodensee. Slowly but surely, the entire 260 km Bodensee cycle path!

The first part is easy. Get on the boat from Konstanz to Meersburg, crossing to the eastern side of the lake, the German part of it. Lake Constance borders Germany, Switzerland and Austria. There is, however, no border procedure nor control – at least none we felt. We put our bikes on the boat and enjoyed a 30-minute ride on a rather empty boat, having coffee and enjoying a little privilege – lake views.

Our starting point is Meersburg. We did not know anything about this town, but at 10 am the town was buzzing with tourists. No wonder, because this wine-growing town is full of charm, packed with historical, magnificent palaces, houses, lakeside cafés, shops and restaurants. We spent an hour walking around town, including a fantastic view of the lake from the Palace Garden.

I could linger forever in this lovely town, checking every corner and streets, but Philippe reminded me that we have a long way to go. So we hopped on the saddle and started biking.

Soon there was a farmer’s cherry stand on the roadside! Last time on the Bodensee Cycling path I did not buy cherries, so this time I had to! We sat on the bench next to the farmer’s stand and immediately ate some, wonderfully fresh and sweet.

We passed by one cute village after another, such as Überlingen and Sipplingen, vineyards, apple orchards, pretty lakeside villages and castles. Überlingen was particularly busy with people. The park has a fountain with funny, satirical statues done by a German artist, Peter Link. It is said that his statue figures were prominent financial patrons in this town who did not want to support the fountain! Peter Link’s work is far from common statues of strong muscular men or beautiful women and make you laugh.

Also in Überlingen a flower garden show was going on and many gardens were full of roses and other beautiful flowers. Too bad I did not have time to visit all of these wonderful gardens.

Opposite the garden show was a WW2 memorial for the Jewish prisoners who were forced to dig caves for a weapons factory into a rocky mountain. Many died under the horrific working conditions. The memorial was “in memory of the victims, a warning for the living”.

Arriving at Sipplingen we sat at a quiet lakeside park for our picnic lunch. Soon, ominous, threatening clouds moved into our direction. We decided to turn around and drive back to where we came from. All yachts were also sailing back at top speed to escape what looked like a potential heavy thunderstorm. We suddenly biked much faster.

By the time we came to the south, the sky was getting lighter. We took the car ferry from Meersburg back to Constance and hanged around the lakeside, given that the clouds had gone. Constance is also delightful, with a beautiful lakeside park and an impressive line up of sumptuous buildings.

We could not cover the 60 km stretch from Meersburg to Constance, as planned, but it was a fun bike outing nevertheless. In Constance, we concluded our wonderful day with a satisfying Asian fusion dinner.

Last time in Kreuzlingen we had rather mediocre food served by unmotivated staff. We hate bad food or/and indifferent service with a passion. Therefore, this time, we made fab sandwiches while having breakfast and off we went rather early on a sunny Sunday, heading for the German border.