We had most of a day to kill on the way back to Zurich after spending two weeks hiking in Au, Austria. There are trains from Bregenz to Zurich on an hourly basis and the train personnel showed us a locker storage area with lockers big enough to cram two 26″ suitcases into one for 3.50 Euros a day. The 15-minute ride from Bregenz to Lindau was only 8.80 Euros/round trip so we thought…why not…Lindau is supposed to be gorgeous…

Lindau dates from the end of the 9th century and was a free imperial town of the Holy Roman Empire from the Middle Ages to 1804, when it became a part of Bavaria. For centuries, it was a center of trade between Bavaria and Switzerland. This town has a unique setting on an island at the eastern end of Lake Constance with Austria and Switzerland directly across the water. Connected to the mainland (Germany) by a road bridge and a causeway for walkers and trains, this postcard perfect town is a prime tourist attraction with its maze of winding narrow streets lined by medieval houses

Lindau map, Germany
Off the train, through the train station and outside…View image…, the Information Office is right across the way but we stopped, dead in our tracks. To the right was Lake Constance…View image… with the famous harbor completed in 1856, new lighthouse and Bavarian Lion standing guard, lakeside promenades filled to the brim with tourists…View image… , blue skies, sunshine and bicyclists whizzing everywhere. When I stopped gaping, the Information Office handed us a walking map, other leaflets and it was off to explore.

The harbor has two lighthouses. Mangturm, was built in the 1200s, and the other in 1856. You can climb to the top using narrow, spiral staircases and the vistas are supposed to be incredible.

The next gorgeous building was the 15th-century Alte Rathaus with incredible detail…View image… erected between 1422 and 1436 in Gothic style and modified in Renaissance style between 1536 and 1578.

Lindau Alte Rathaus (town hall) in Germany
The highlights of Lindau kept on coming. The Lindau Town Museum located in the “Haus zum Cavazzen” on the market square…View image… reconstructed in 1729 after the town fire. This museum is regarded by the famous art historian Dehio to be the “most beautiful town residence on Lake Constance”. Looking at the outside details, we agreed with him.

Lindau Town Museum, Germany
There were fountains…View image…people eating outside in the sun…View image…ancient houses on Maximilianstrasse where the wealthy merchants formerly lived and two more important sights…

another Medieval house in Lindau, Germany
…the 11th century St. Peter’s Church, one of the oldest buildings on the lake. St. Peter’s was converted into a war memorial in the 20th century and is famous for frescoes, said to be the only example by Holbein the Elder. Right next door is the round Diebsturm (Thieves’ Tower), with its turreted roof. The Diebsturm was built around 1370 as the most westerly point of the old town wall and served as a prison in the Middle Ages.

Diebsturm (Thieves’ Tower) in Lindau, Germany
Finished sightseeing in Lindau? Not at all but it was time to catch the onward train to Zurich. Wiedersehen to Germany, Austria and Switzerland…we’ll be back!