Let's enjoy the second part of our Waldshut-Tiengen day trip - let's explore Waldshut! This historic town is about 8 km away from Tiengen. At first, we didn't plan to go there, but then we still had some time and didn't feel like going home yet, so we decided to give it a go.
I will forever admire parking garages in Germany as they're either free of charge or really cheap over the weekend. Try to go for a day trip to Zurich by car and you will quickly regret it. We found our spot and were ready to go. I was getting hungry as well, so I hoped that we would find an open restaurant rather quickly...
Let's go!
We started our walk at The Lower Gate. It's also known as The Basler Gate. I must admit that I am not sure why, but I guess it is because it's built on the side of Basel which is a nearby city in Switzerland.
This region is interesting (and somehow confusing at times) because it's a mixture of Germany and Switzerland. There is a country border going through the middle of the river Rhine, so every time you cross the river you are in another country.
But back to the gate... It was damaged in the 15th century, and the only original part of the structure is at the bottom. The rest was rebuilt a couple of centuries later. The tower can only be visited with a city tour guide, and not on Sunday, so we didn't get a chance to do it.
When you pass the gate you will stand in front of a large wide street called The Kaiserstrasse or The Emperor's street which used to be the market place in the 13th century. They layout remained the same over time, so it was very similar to how we see it today. There were thousands of tiny flags hanging all over the street, and I guess that it's part of the carnival preparation which takes place in Germany (and Switzerland) in February and March.
There are many architectural gems along the street and I could spend there all day looking at all the details, but we didn't have that much time, so I will show you a few that caught my attention.
The Lower Gate from the Kaiserstrasse...
There used to be three fountains around here, and today we can only see their remains. They were removed 200 years ago as they were not needed anymore. The water is flowing on the side of the street, but I must say that I would have preferred if those fountains were functioning as I can imagine that they were beautiful in the past.
I didn't understand some decorations, such as that soldier in the back, but at least we had a good laugh about its charms or lack thereof.
Waldshut seems to have the same tradition of decorated roofs like Tiengen. I have never seen it before and now I saw it in two cities in one day 😊
Look at that cute little balcony under the roof...
I regularly fall in love with cities that have pink houses. When I think about it I might propose to my husband to paint our house in blush pink 😊
The building 'to the peacock' is decorated with a colourful peacock on its facade - a real eye catcher!
The city hall is one of the most important landmarks in Waldshut. It has burned down in the 18th century and was rebuilt 40 years later. Below the balcony we can see the coat of arms of the Habsburg family. You can see such coat of arms all over Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and other countries too.
The old city hall used to be only that one building in the middle, however as the city grew so grew the city hall. A building on each side of the city hall was added, and the facade was painted in the same colour to emphasize the illusion that it's one building.
Remains of another fountain...
Some of these buildings look like out of a fairy-tale (or a postcard 😊)
On the other side of the Kaiserstrasse is The Oberes Tor or The Upper Gate. It is also known as The Schaffhausen Gate, and this time I guess that it's because it is on the side of where we live. It dates back to the 13th century, and it served various purposes over time. At first, it was to watch over the town, and on the upper floor there was an apartment of the tower guard. Later it served as prison, and today you can visit a museum which is inside of the tower, but you can only visit it as part of the city tour.
In front of the Upper gate is a bridge with various statues of saints. They are impressive, but I was more interested in the views. Waldshut could be translated as 'forest hat' which describes it perfectly. The city is settled in the middle of a forest, and there is lots of greenery inside of the city too.
There is a path leading down the hill to a creek which you can follow to get to the river Rhine. We have already made our plans for summer!
I loved the light effect coming from behind the school...
Here you can see the path and the creek...
Finally, we got to eat! We found this super cute restaurant on the other side of the bridge with amazing views...
We ordered starters and mains, and the portions were so large that we took most of the mains back home and enjoyed them on Monday for lunch.
Views from the restaurant...
On the way back, I have noticed that there were many love padlocks on the bridge. This 'virus' has spread from Paris, and these days you can see love padlocks on so many bridge with some importance.
The sun was setting down, and as the colours were so bright we looked for a platform to see them better. We ended up at a local hospital with the views of the river Rhine.
Every year we get two packages of pills delivered to our home from the Swiss authorities in case of a damage to a nuclear power plant close to our home. We had no idea where the plant was until we saw it here. Honestly, I don't know how much those pills would help us in case of a disaster, but hopefully we won't ever have to find out.
Somewhere there in the back is our little town, and it was time to go back home.
Waldshut is a lovely place to visit and now when we know how easy it is to get there I'm sure we will keep coming here regularly.
See you next time!