Lake Constance and the Island Town of Lindau

Driving from the Black Forest to the Alps of Bavaria we passed along the northern shore of Lake Constance.  The hills flowing down to the beautiful lakeshore are covered in vineyards.   

Across the lake, the cloudy sky gave us glimpses of Switzerland.  

It wasn’t raining, finally, the sun kept peaking out of the clouds, and the view was stunning. 

On the eastern side of the Lake sits the town of Lindau.  We had to stop because, you see, this town is actually on an island sitting just off shore on this beautiful lake.  To reach it, we walked across the only bridge you can walk or drive across to reach the island.  Why would we not want to stop here.  

The island is small, not tiny, but it can easily be explored on foot, which is usually the perfect way to explore such a place anyway.   

We had no sooner crossed the bridge when our stomachs started reminding us that it was lunchtime.  But where to eat?   

There are plenty of options in Lindau, but when you visit a German town sitting on a little island on a beautiful lake with views of Switzerland on the other side, you want to find just the right place.  So we walked, and searched, and with the warm sun shining, it didn’t take us long to find a Biergarten sitting in a lovely little spot surrounded by trees.   

Some schnitzel (I think it was chicken) and some cold drinks (Fanta for the girls, and I don’t think I need to tell you what Eric and I had), and we were ready to continue on exploring this lovely town of Lindau.

The architecture and decorated buildings on this little island were some of the prettiest we would see during this trip to Germany.  Every town needs to have a town hall that looks like this.

And cutting across the middle of the island sits a beautiful street lined with little shops and cafes.  

It was busy that day, in the middle of the week, busier than any other place we would visit in Germany on that trip.  

Most of the people we saw were tourists like us, drawn to this impossibly quaint town sitting on an island on a lake.  But not everyone.  

Lucky man.

There are also some lucky swans living on this island.  We found them in the corner inside the harbor sitting on a nest...

A very, very large nest that is.

And as we made our way to the famous harbor guarded by a lighthouse and a Bavarian Lion with Switzerland in the background…

Well, it’s not really any wonder why this place is such a draw, now is it.