NOBLE RETREAT
Lake Constance boasts palaces, castles and monasteries, as well as stunning landscapes
Human beings have always gravitated toward water. While it was once a matter of survival, now we save up to head to the lake or seaside because it makes us feel good — physically and psychologically.
A perfect spot to do that is Lake Constance, a glacier basin that forms part of the Rhine River confluence in the southwest corner of the German state of Baden-württemberg, with a southern backdrop of snow-capped Alps. Once home to dukes and bishops, today the Bodensee — its German name — is the playground of well-heeled Germans, Swiss and Austrians, who head to their lakeside retreats to sail, have spa treatments and indulge at the many fine restaurants.
You don’t have to own a sailboat or a summer home to enjoy it, however. Much like Baden-württemberg’s other popular tourist destinations — Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Baden-baden and the Black Forest — the Bodensee boasts not just stunning natural beauty but also a wealth of cultural sites that tell the stories of two royal dynasties and the clash of two faiths.
I spent a few days exploring the small area between Constance and Meersburg.
CHURCH AND STATE
Constance has a rich, well-preserved history thanks to its location on the southwest shore of the lake bordering Switzerland and its fortuitous decision during the Second World War to leave the lights on so Allied bombers couldn’t be sure they weren’t targeting the neutral Swiss. Significantly, the city hosted the Council of Constance from 1414 to 1418 — the only election of a Catholic pope north of the Alps — to end the Western Schism that divided allegiance to the Catholic Church.
My 90-minute walking tour highlighting the council starts in the harbour at the imposing Konzil, a former grain store and warehouse, where pope Martin V was elected on Nov. 11, 1417. At the entrance to the harbour stands Peter Lenk’s Imperia, a nine-metre statue of the courtesan holding aloft naked figures of King Sigismund and Martin V. Its unveiling in 1993 created a stir as much for the innuendo suggesting the pair seized power unlawfully, as for the allusion to Fair Imperia, in which Honoré de Balzac, using poetic license, depicted the famous Roman courtesan, born 63 years after the council ended, as the amour of bishops and cardinals at the council.
Making our way past guest houses, the town hall and the redesigned Imperial fountain, we arrive at the 11th century Cathedral of Our Lady. While the cathedral has the dubious distinction of hosting the synod that condemned to death Prague church reformer Jan Hus in 1415, its history goes deeper. Inside, you can trace the foundations of the 10th century St. Maurice’s Rotunda, a replica of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which was the starting point for pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in medieval times. Outside, signage points today’s pilgrims on their way.
Amid the rambling lanes lined with elegant 13th century houses of Niederburg, the city’s oldest district, we find the oldest hospital winery in Germany, the Spitalkellerei Konstanz. Established in 1225 to fund treatment for those with lesser means, the winery initially shared a building in the marketplace with the Hospital of the Holy Ghost that is now an upscale retirement home.
Winegrowers Stephan Düringer and Hubert Böttcher bought the Spitalkellerei from the city in 2002.
During a tour and wine tasting, Düringer tells me the winery produces smaller lots of top quality wines, hand-picking the grapes from its approximately 600 hectares of vineyards scattered around Lake Constance.
It also continues to support three retirement homes and a hospital, though most of the funding now comes from residential properties left to the foundation by residents.
ROYAL GARDENS
Once the private domain of ecclesiastical knights and dukes, Mainau Island, comprising 45 hectares of gardens and parkland, greets 1.2 million visitors a year with a riot of colourful blooms that change with the seasons: Tulips, poppies, peonies and anemones in spring, some 30,000 rose bushes in 1,200 varieties in summer and about 20,000 dahlias of 250 varieties in fall.
In 1853, Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden bought Mainau as a summer palace and set about redesigning its dilapidated gardens. His designs included an arboretum planted with rare exotic trees from his travels; a geometric Italian rose garden with pergolas, sculptures, and fountains; an orangery; and a vineyard. After his death in 1907, his son, Grand Duke Frederick II, bequeathed Mainau to his sister Viktoria, Queen of Sweden. Viktoria’s grandson, Lennart Bernadotte, converted it into a park using the Grand Duke’s blueprint.
WATER VIEWS
Thanks to widespread cultivation of vineyards and a spa industry launched in the 16th century when mineral waters were discovered beneath the city’s western wall, Überlingen has long been an affluent city. Look no further than St. Nikolaus Cathedral — a grand structure 600 years in the making — and its rare collection of priceless art donated by residents in the 16th and 17th centuries.
With my glass of sparkling Pinot Noir rosé from the nearby Markgraf von Baden winery and appetizers of tender smoked salmon on baguette topped with a Dijon sauce and sprig of dill and grilled Italian amareno cherries wrapped in prosciutto, it seems as though there’s no more fitting spot to raise a glass of bubbly than this restored 14th century hall.
If you prefer wine and nibblies to go, there’s a busy farmers market in the Market Square every Wednesday and Saturday. The hard part is narrowing down your choices from among umpteen types of gourmet cheeses, charcuterie meats, artisan breads, wine, olives and cakes.
NOBLE VINEYARDS
Salem Abbey and castle, founded by Cistercian monks in the 12th century, is on a tour that shouldn’t be missed. Its stunning architecture, furnishings and art, mainly from the early 18th century, stand testament to the abbey’s later wealth and importance. While most of the abbey was destroyed by fire in 1697, the Gothic cathedral, built around 1300, thankfully was left standing.
Other highlights include the Baroque St. Bernhard’s cloister and a Fire Brigade Museum. After the monks were kicked out in 1802, Salem Palace was sold to the Margraves of Baden, whose name was long connected with winemaking. The 110 hectares of vineyards at Salem and 25 hectares at Staufenberg Castle south of Baden-baden, now comprise the Markgraf von Baden winery. You can savour the award-winning elegant red wines and fresh rosés and whites at the wine shop at Salem Abbey and Palace.
There’s even more royalty and wine to be found at Meersburg, a charming town lined with half-timbered houses that sits in the shadow of an ancient fortress that was likely the 7th-century stronghold of King Dagobert I. On a visit to Meersburg ’s old castle, I felt as if I’d walked into a time warp: That’s because of the higgledy-piggledy additions made by several lords and 44 Prince Bishops of Constance who lived in it from 1268 and 1750. Today, notable white wines and Spätburgunder Blanc de Noir, a very pale 100 per cent Pinot Noir rosé, are produced from their vineyards under the Staatsweingut Meersburg label.