Lindau, in case you have never heard of it, is a little town on an island poking out onto the north east corner of Lake Konstanz overlooking the Alps, Switzerland and beyond. The Gasthaus we had chosen for the night was on the outskirts of Lindau and so we thought it would be nice to venture into town and enjoy the sunset with the beautiful scenery around us. It was magical!
To reach the town itself you had to travel along a little bridge over the edge of the lake. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the bridge that connects Venice to mainland Italy, although on a much smaller scale. Bridge crossed, we then had to find a suitable parking space to leave the car while we went adventuring. Unfortunately what I found was a car park that wasn’t very suitable. It turns out that my German was a little lacking when it came to the signs surrounding the car park that said it was only for guests at the casino and you needed to get your ticket validated inside the casino… doh!
Unaware of my parking blunder we started to have a walk along the waterfront. Lindau is a quaint little town with lots of nice architecture dotted around but the real attraction was the harbour and lighthouse. As you approached the harbour you were confronted with rows of waterfront Gasthäuser (Guest houses) and restaurants with the traditional timber frames and bright coloured paint work. Clearly the townsfolk enjoy a nice cold Bier by the water… can you blame them though?
Facing the bright colour drinking spots was the harbour, with it’s two large arms hugging a collection of small boats, with a lovely lighthouse standing sentry. The timing worked out perfectly for us. When we were standing next to the lighthouse enjoying the view something truly magical happened. It was like someone had flicked a switch and the whole town lit up. All along the harbour and hung on all the buildings were large lights (almost like christmas fairy lights) that turn on at night time. Once the sun had gone down it gave the whole place a really warm and inviting feel.
With night swiftly approaching, and my stomach demanding payment, it was time to head back and test out the Gasthaus restaurant. As we walked in, we were greeted by the same smiling lady that had checked us in earlier in the day. It wasn’t particularly busy so she just pointed us to the main room and said we could sit anywhere. When we had taken our seats in the booth by the window we were handed two menus; German and “Foreign language” which included French, English and Italian. The strange thing was the foreign menu was around half the size of the standard menu, and only had a small selection in it, which is why she had given us the German one too… looks like it is time for me to test my German skills!
Unfortunately after the long day my German wasn’t doing very well so I ended up using the second menu to translate the first. Some items didn’t even have English so I was translating the German items with the Italian and French listings. How many languages do you need to order food in Bavaria? … 4 apparently if this is anything to go by.
After about 15 minutes of translating the menu, with many frustrated looks from my fiancèe, I finally made a decision. Bavarian mixed grill! When in doubt choose the dish with a massive selection of meat on it… how can you go wrong? Chicken, pork, three different sausages, beef, side of chips and potato salad. After 5 hours of driving I was very glad for the addition of chips to the usual Bavarian potato salad; the more beige the better in my opinion. Easily the best meal of the whole trip. The star of the dish was the Dunkelbier sauce; which I dipped everything in to… of course! I then washed it all down with a nice Andechs Dunkelbier (Dark beer). The flavour was almost sweet like treacle but it was very strong; a lot more than I was expecting. I would try it again but I prefer the Weißbier which is sweet but a lot lighter.
That was the end of the fifth night. We are getting close to the end of the trip now with just two days left. Next up is the famous Neuschwanstein Castle. Make sure to follow the blog to stay tuned on all the latest releases.
Ciao for now!
If you liked this don’t miss out on the rest of our German adventure:
Day 2 – Harburg Castle and Nördlingen
Day 3 – Schillingsfürst and Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Day 4 – Bad Mergentheim, Heilbronn and The Black Forest
Day 4 – Baden-Baden and a tasty trout dinner
