Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th October 2025
As we continue our journey northwards, a couple of days visiting more beautiful towns. The pattern has been, look for somewhere interesting in the evening, plan the route, travel the following morning, park-up, then explore after lunch in the afternoon.
Wednesday – Gengenbach, Black Forest, Germany:
We stayed at a vineyard just a couple of kilometres away from Gengenbach town centre, so used our bikes to ride in, after sampling the produce of our hosts and making a little purchase, which made our overnight stay, free.
The old town at Gengenbach is a medieval walled town with many old buildings, most of which are timber-framed. At the time of our visit, the main gate tower was in the process of being renovated, so we were unable to see much of it, however another tower was easily accessible, though not as big or imposing.
The town is very pretty and is well worth a look. It was also quiet, though I imagine that it would be much busier in the season. The chill in the air meant that there were not many customers who were hardy enough to sit at the pavement cafes.
Saint Mary’s Church is attached to what was a monastery, but is now a business school. The church is astonishingly beautiful, a masterpiece, with almost no surface undecorated.
Thursday – Wissembourg, Alsace, France:
Yes, we have returned to France, albeit briefly, to the Alsace town of Wissembourg. Alsace is a part of France which has been heavily influenced by Germany over the years and as we wandered around, we heard locals swap between both languages fluently. Although now in France, at times in history it has been a part of Germany.
The architecture is similarly influenced, but it has a unique flavour of its own. Essentially Wissembourg is another town with a walled medieval heart, but it is also amazingly beautiful, with a river running both through and around it.
The water is managed to ensure a flow both around and through the town:
Tall roofs seem to be the order of the day:
Unlike in the rest of France, protestantism was historically tolerated in Alsace. We visited a protestant church in the town, which is quite old and has a beauty of its own.
The church nave is very tall from the outside, but inside there is a wooden ceiling and from the outside, it looks as though there is an upper floor. The aisles and the area behind the altar are vaulted though.
We had a walk along the ramparts. The entry gate in the second image below, was excavated having previously been buried when the fortifications were strengthened:
We also looked at the cathedral, which is splendid with its high vaulted ceilings and bosses.
Along the side of the nave, on the outside, there is a cloister which contains the headstones of many of the bishops who have served the cathedral. Some of them are huge and one of them was well over 8 feet tall. Those bishops were big chaps!
As always, I love the grotesques and gargoyles on these buildings:
That is all for today, TTFN and see-u-later.
"See-u-Later" 