The next stop on our road trip through Baden-Württemberg was Blaubeuren, a small town near Ulm that is home to a beautiful natural wonder called the Blautopf.
Our Visit To Blaubeuren, Germany
We have a CD player in our house that we use to play German CDs for the kids. It’s a good learning tool and one reason my children (even my two-year-old) speak German is because we insist they listen to German stories and songs rather than English ones. One story (Die Schöne Lau) centers on the Blautopf, a karst spring in Blaubeuren that produces water of a quixotic blue hue that is stunning…at least in pictures.
Well, it was a summer of rain in Germany, which mean the normally blue pond was gray. I joked with Heidi that her Blautopf (literally blue pot) was really a Grautopf (gray pot).
Just FYI, here is what it looks like when the weather is more cooperative:
While the karst spring may have been a disappointment, Blaubeuren was a charming town steeped in history. Near the spring was the Blaubeuren Abbey, built in 1085. The architecture in the town was beautiful and we enjoyed our time here, stopping for lunch at a Turkish restaurant.
Rather than stay in a fancy hotel (there are none, actually), we stayed in a guest house on the outskirts of town that Heidi arranged. It was very simple (we went to Aldi to buy food and prepared our own dinner and breakfast), but comfortable.
From our guest house, we hiked into the forest to find the Ruine Günzelburg, ancient ruins that were not all that memorable, but it was a great walk and the views of the valley below were stunning.
Down the road from Blaubeuren (driving required) is the Hohle Fels cave (hollow rock), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it was closed by the time we reached it. Scientists believe this cave has been used as human shelter for thousands of years.
We then took one more beautiful hike which ended in at the Sirgenstein Cave, where the rain turned into a beautiful sunny evening.
CONCLUSION
Blaubeuren is a picturesque German town with beauty and history. Like so much of Germany, you can find enjoyment in any small town, though the Blautopf and nearby caves makes Blaubeuren particularly special.
This is part of my summer in Germany trip report.
Beautiful swabian scenery, and a perfect hotel! Plus Aldi! Can’t wait to get back!
These reports are making me so nostalgic, my heart hurts. I haven’t been back to rural Germany since my father died. We were guest house travelers when we weren’t staying with relatives.
Beautiful Matthew! I prefer your approach of mixing some news, opinion pieces and flight reports (I also love that you cover United) with these kinds of trip reports that make me ache for my next slow travel trip to Europe.