Freiberg im Breisgau
Continuing with our summer trip in Germany, our next stop in the country was in the city of Freiberg im Breisgau, commonly referred to as just Freiberg.
The city is located in the Black Forest region of the country close to both the French and Swiss borders, less than an hours drive from each.
We haven't been to many large cities in the country but this one has been my favorite so far and I definitely consider it to be a highlight of our trip.
The city is clean and has a sort of hip vibe to it, probably because it's a University town, but it also has a really well preserved old town that has been placed under Heritage Conservation and is part of the UNESCO organization.
Freiberg is one of those cities that does an amazing job blending the old and the new, which gives the city its own brand of charm. It truly is a town with a ton of character.
Running through the city are an elaborate network of channels that were originally used to bring water into the city for drinking, manufacturing and even tending livestock at the markets.
Today kids can sometimes be seen racing small paper boats in them or my personal favorite, restaurants chilling wine. There is also a legend in town that says if a foreigner accidentally steps into the water then they will end up marrying a local. So be careful when walking beside them if you're on vacation and have no desire to end up a citizen of Germany.
Here's is a bit of a behind the scenes image for you. My wife likes to sneak up behind me and take photos of me taking pictures of things. She then posts them on social media with funny captions. She's a real comedian at times.
Freiberg Münster
Located in the main square of the old town is the city's cathedral, the Freiberg Münster. It's stands in the center of a plaza thats made up of restaurants, bars and cafes and is where the market takes place during market days in the city.
The cathedral was built in a gothic style architecture and was made using a deep red sandstone that sort of glows at certain times of the day when the sun hits it just right.
Like many gothic cathedrals this one has a wide variety of gargoyles surrounding it, one of which really stands out among the rest. I wonder if the builder snuck it in during construction or if the priest who commissioned the building just had a sense of humor?
Either way, it's not often that you see a gargoyle in the shape of a man mooning the crowd and pooping on them when it rains.
There were a lot of neat places to explore in town as well, all of which were within walking distance.
There were tons of shops selling local goods and they were all set inside a mix of colorful buildings. Great for photos!
Here is another photo of Martin's Gate but from the opposite side of the one depicted in the first few images at the beginningof the article. That is probably the fanciest location for a Macdonalds that I've ever seen. Ive come to realize that the Macdonald's corporation is a genius when it comes to picking its locations in Europe. They always choose locations that are photo hotspots.
Garish adverts generally aren't allowed in Europe like they are in North America but Macdonalds adverts always find their way into everyone's photographs unbeknownst.
Canals
Something I love in any town I visit are canals running through the city.
There weren't many canals in Freiberg but I managed to find a few scattered around. This one had a sculpture of a crocodile swimming in it.
It was next to a restaurant that must have been really good because it had a huge line up outside its door every night that we were there.
We tried eating there the second night of our stay. We arrived early before the line up but we entered the terrace from the opposite side of where we originally saw it and ended up in a second restaurant within the same outdoor space.
The meal we had was fine but really nothing special. It was too bad that we chose the wrong spot. Maybe next time we'll get it right.
Sunset in Freiberg
One of the best things that we did in town was hike up the hills located on the edge of the old town and view the sunset.
The walk doesn't take long at all, maybe 40 minutes at most, but it is well worth it.
It was actually very similar to what we did in Ravensburg but I would say that the view was even better in Freiberg.
The walk is entirely uphill but its mostly along a paved path so it's not very strenuous.
There are also many lookout points along the way so you could stop at anytime and still get an awesome view of the sun setting over the city.
One thing though was that the path is through a wooded area that isn't well lit. There were a lot of people walking about so we felt pretty safe the entire time but I would nonetheless suggest going with a buddy.
The last leg of the hike is the most challenging. It's up a steep hill with a staircase built in that goes on for quite a while.
But it's worth it if you can manage because you eventually come to a tall metal look out tower soaring high above the city.
I don't know exactly how tall the tower is but I'd guess its about 10-12 floors high.
Its the last hurdle to over come to see the panoramic view.
Our heart rates were going pretty good by the time we reached the platform...
partially because of the exercise and partially because of the height.
From the top you can see most of Freiberg, including the cathedral in the main plaza. Behind is a large forest of endless trees and hills.
The view would be amazing during the day as well but we wanted to watch the sunset.
We stayed for about 10-15 minutes but decided to leave before it got too dark. There were still people out and about at that point but we didn't want to walk through the park in the pitch black.
The walk back to the city was all downhill so it was much easier and much quicker though. It probably only took us about 15 minutes to make our way to the edge of the old town.