The great thing about a boating holiday? You don't need much luggage. T-shirts, swimming trunks, jeans, a jumper, perhaps a rain jacket and sun cream are enough. That's all you can fit in the small lockers on board anyway. But what if New Year's Eve is just around the corner, the destination is not the Caribbean but Lake Constance and the weather in Germany is going crazy? This is what happened in December 2023: first Mother Hulda shook out her beds over the North Sea islands, then Hamburg's Hafencity was under water and a few days later the snowmen on the Zugspitze were dripping sweat from their foreheads. Things were not quite as dramatic on Lake Constance at the time - thank Neptune. Storm "Zoltan" did cause historically high water levels. The Christmas market in Constance also had to close for two days. But on 24 December, the heavens had mercy and pulled the plug on the storm warning lights.
Course Constance
"Schöni Wiehnachte", André Clavien wishes us in his best Swiss German. Then the landlord of the "Hafeglöggli" locks up his restaurant in Romanshorn's marina and sets off on his skiing holiday. We take a quick look at the MeteoSwiss weather forecast and set sail for Constance around midday on 24 December 2023. In the stern waters, the car ferry "Friedrichshafen" sets course for its namesake city. The snow-covered summit of the 2,500 metre-high Säntis looms on the port side. After an hour along small villages, meadows and cheerfully twinkling fir trees, it starts to rain. But what the hell!
Radio Seefunk provides the atmosphere and in Constance - the station's headquarters - mulled wine stands, arts and crafts and bratwurst stalls line up like pearls on a string. The landmark for this mother of all Christmas markets around Lake Constance is the Konzilgebäude. The three-storey solid building was erected in record time in 1388 as a warehouse and transshipment point at the harbour. For centuries, it served as a hub and interim storage centre for trade goods to and from Italy. In 1417, Europe's church leaders used it as a conference centre and voting venue. The first and only pope on German soil was to be elected. Of course, it was not only ballot papers that were filled out. Before and after the God-favouring crosses, the high dignitaries renounced the commandments of chastity and, according to the chronicler and contemporary witness Ulrich von Richental, indulged in the services of around 600 - today we would say: luxury escort ladies.
Clear view the next morning
The night was short, the evening in the restaurant "Le Marrakech" - just a few minutes' walk from where our Linssen was moored - was long, the Christmas menu there was excellent and the premises themselves were a homage to the architecture of 1001 Nights. Now, with the 8 o'clock chimes of Constance Cathedral, the sky is bathed in cold, purple-coloured morning light. The distant view is fantastic. To the east, the ice-armoured mountains of the Alps dominate the scene; to the west, beyond Untersee, the legendary volcanoes of Hegau come into view. The shooting star among the former fire-breathers is the almost 700 metre high Hohentwiel.
A massive fortress ruin sits enthroned on the summit, while Germany's highest vines enjoy the nutrient-rich basalt soil on the slopes. The gugelhupf-shaped lava spit is also the namesake of a very special ship. In 1913, the paddle steamer "Hohentwiel" was launched in Friedrichshafen, took up the liner service between Constance and Bregenz, served Württemberg's King Wilhelm II as a state yacht and, with its restored turn-of-the-century interior, is today the most elegant ship on the three-country lake.
Swabian Sea: The forest of shipping signs
Put it down? Or have breakfast? The question is rhetorical. In this dream weather today on 25 December, it's time to cast off, of course, out of the harbour, along the striking Art Nouveau buildings of Seestraße and past the Rhine Bridge in Constance. Opened in 1938, the bridge spans the Seerhein, the approximately four kilometre long and 100 to 500 metre wide connection between the 472 square kilometre "large" Obersee and the 62 square kilometre "small" Untersee. We are not the only ones on the water. Two foursomes from the Neptun rowing club are in the stern of our bent chandler. Two stand-up paddlers stand in front of "Der Bleiche", probably the most famous industrial building in the city, and admire the 100-year-old architectural gem. A little further on, I can't believe my eyes, a handful of hobby divers are getting into their dry suits. While we scurry through the forest of shipping signs in the Seerhein, the first kite surfers are being pulled into the sky by the westerly wind in the north-west of the World Heritage monastery island of Reichenau.
Dawn, bad weather bot ... the old rule unfortunately proves true once again. After our tour to Untersee, a walk through Allensbach followed by a visit to the local Christmas concert, the clouds are now hanging low on the morning of 26 December. But despite all the imponderables, after a quick coffee it's time to cast off! We have an appointment with Niklaus in Überlingen around midday. There are a good 30 kilometres between the jetty of the small "opinion research town" and the Mediterranean-inspired garden and thermal town. And the forest of poles on the Seerhein is anything but a full-gas route, even when visibility is good.
More about Lake Constance:
I met Niklaus at the Interboot boat show in Friedrichshafen in September. He had given up his successful career as a mechanical engineer a few years ago, bought the old, dilapidated Keller shipyard near the Überlingen yacht club and used his creativity and innovation to convert it into a hip combination of refit yard and high-end Italian boatyard. At the trade fair, he presented the perfectly restored hull of a 100-year-old 6mR yacht. Now we take a look at the progress of his work, admire a 1950s mahogany runabout and swap the weirdest episodes of our skipper's life over delicious seafood risotto and Lake Constance wine ...
Viticulture in the region
Location, location, location - what drives prices in the property sector to dizzying heights also applies to viticulture. According to the chronicles, the abbot of the Reichenau monastery planted the first vines in 818. He wanted to use them to supply his fellow believers around Lake Constance with mass wine. But the spiritual drink was not a pleasure. It took centuries for the winegrowers to get to grips with the oenological pitfalls of the region. But the effort was worth it. It is no coincidence that trade journals such as "Falstaff" have elevated the Pinot Noir, Müller-Thurgau and Sauvignon blancs from Lake Constance producers to the top of the podium of the highest culinary delights. This applies not only, but also to the Bacchus products of the Meersburg State Winery.
As many pleasure boat marinas - including the marina at Waschplätzle near Meersburg - are closed in winter, the Linssen stays at the jetty of the Keller shipyard the next day; we take the bus and stroll along the Meersburg lakeside promenade with its pretty cafés and small hotels after a 30-minute drive. At the end of the harbour pier, where Peter Lenk's "Magic Column" towers into the sky, the vines of the state winery clamber up the steep banks. At the top, an ensemble of medieval castle, pretty baroque palace, extensive riding centre and episcopal seminary building form a rendezvous. We stroll through the alleyways of the half-timbered old town, take a look at the wine museum and finally sample the products of this state winery, which - get this - is under the control of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Finance. Before the bus back to Überlingen, a classical string concert in the castle rounds off the day trip.
What once caused a stir
Speaking of Peter Lenk: the artist is something of an enfant terrible of German sculpture. His cheeky and frivolous sculptures poke fun at the leaders of society, past and present. The 15 metre high Magic Column with its well-known, sometimes more than bizarre personalities from Meersburg's town history - above all the most famous German poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff - is considered a comparatively well-behaved work of art. The Imperia in Constance is a completely different story. This nine-metre-high, 18-tonne concrete sculpture, with two ridiculously small naked people in its hands, pokes fun at the immoral activities of church dignitaries during the papal election in Constance. True to the motto "The more exposed the situation, the greater the scandal", the artist placed the scantily clad lady at the entrance to the harbour in Constance in a cloak-and-dagger operation in 1993. Naturally, there was a huge outcry. In the meantime, however, tempers have calmed down. And what is probably the most frivolous landmark of Christian seafaring is now the most photographed advertising ambassador of the Lake Constance metropolis.
Where has the time gone with Neptune and all the Lake Constance fish? In our childhood years, the days trickled by every week. And the summer holidays lasted an eternity. But now time just flies by. After Meersburg, a roll back to the golden age of airship travel in Friedrichshafen's Zeppelin Museum, a mulled wine drink with the crews of the Lindau Sailing Club, founded in 1809, and a stopover in the medieval Swiss town of Arbon, we're in the marina in Rorschach, packing our daypacks and sitting on the train to Sankt Gallen.
On the trail of the legend
According to legend, the Irish travelling monk Gallus came to what is now eastern Switzerland over 1400 years ago. He founded a small hermitage in a remote high valley near the small town of Arbon. This subsequently blossomed into a metropolis of the Christian faith. Today, the legacy of the pious man of God, or more precisely the abbey district of St. Gallen with its library and its more than 170,000 books, some of which are handwritten, basks in the glory of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a 15-minute walk from the railway station in the city of 80,000 inhabitants to the historic book treasures. Provided you avoid the cosy shops and pretty cafés in the old town. Everywhere in the alleyways you can smell sweet temptations. An absolute must, at least for us, is the St. Galler Biber made from almonds and honey dough at Confiserie Roggwiller.
Saturday, 30 December, 10 a.m.: We set sail for Bregenz in glorious weather and an outside temperature of 8° Celsius. A quarter of an hour later we are out of the lee of the mountains; the wind is freshening and conjuring up the first crests of foam on the waves. Our yacht is not fazed by this. With the stoic calm of her nine tonnes, she runs as if on rails. The only nautical sticking point between Rorschach and our destination for the day, the city harbour of Bregenz, is a pair of swans. Chattering loudly, they insist on their right of way in the estuary of the Old Rhine.
The gateway to the other world
"If you want to see Lake Constance from above," Peter Brattinga recommended to us yesterday over dinner in his Brasserie Petrus, "then take the cable car just around the corner up to the 1064 metre-high Pfänder. Or take the bus and train up to Bödele." We opt for the latter and immerse ourselves in the myths and legends of the Bregenzerwald mountains on a short hike through the Fohramoos high moor around midday on 31 December 2023. In the early days of our era, the moon was the clock of the annual calendar for people. However, as the celestial star "only" needs 28 days to travel around the earth, the "lunar year" lacks 11 days and 12 nights compared to the Gregorian (solar) year.
The mountain dwellers believed that this "blackout" between the years was the gateway to a different world in which witches, demons and spirits determined the weal and woe of people in the new year. To ward off evil, magical herbs were burnt, animal stables were avoided and, above all, freshly washed washing was not hung up. The shadow creatures could have got caught up in it and brought death and destruction to the inhabitants of the house. Of course, we don't encounter any metaphysical horrors in this archaic moorland landscape, dotted with dwarf shrubs and gnarled birch trees and powdered with firn ... but with the silence of nature and the snow-covered mountain peaks on the horizon, reality recedes into the background. The gaze turns inwards, the ego reaches for an imaginary sheet of paper and notes down his wishes for the coming year ...
Happy New Year
Bregenz, city harbour, 7.30 pm: "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the last service voyage of the MS 'Alpenstadt Bludenz' in 2023." No sooner has Captain Willi Slappnig at the helm of the 250-passenger ship finished his announcement than applause erupts. Together with five other Vorarlberg Lines ships, he sets the bow of his snow-white lady on a course north-west. Over the next few hours, the tables bend under the weight of the New Year's Eve menus. Champagne bubbles and live bands create an exuberant party atmosphere. A few minutes before the turn of the year, four Swiss excursion steamers join the Bregenz party flotilla, forming a circle around an old gravel freighter loaded to the freeboard mark with fireworks and counting down the last seconds of the old year over loudspeakers. At the stroke of midnight, a pyrotechnic spectacle of colour bursts into the starry night sky and the on-board bands play Johann Strauss' "Danube Waltz".
Before we take a spin on the dance floor to Austria's secret national anthem, we quickly light our Moorwanderung wish list (which we have now written down on paper) in accordance with traditional custom. Will it all come true? We'll know in 366 days. With this in mind, when the time comes again soon: have a peaceful celebration, a happy new year and a year in which all your wish list wishes come true ...
The stages
- Romanshorn > Constance : 20 km
- Constance > Allensbach: 18 km
- Allensbach > Überlingen: 33 km
- Überlingen > Friedrichshafen: 30 km
- Friedrichshafen > Lindau: 20 km
- Lindau > Arbon: 18 km
- Arbon > Rorschach: 6km
- Rorschach > Bregenz: 20 km
- Bregenz > Romanshorn: 28 km
- Total distance: 193 km
Charter
SlowDown Charter AG, berth: SBS Yachthafen Romanshorn (Mole 2). The hire price is between 3200 and 3900 CHF/week, depending on the season. There is also a deposit (1000 CHF), final cleaning (200 CHF) and fuel costs. The excess in the event of damage is CHF 2000. Internet: www.slowdown-charter.chPhone: +41 (0) 765 07 45 47 Prerequisite: Lake Constance holiday licence (see website).
Our boat
Linssen 35 SL AC (steel), length: 10.70 m, width: 3.40 m, draught: 1.00 m, 6 berths (2 twin cabins and 2 saloon berths), WC/shower 2/2, engine 75 hp (diesel). Equipment: refrigerator with freezer compartment, 3-burner gas cooker with oven, coffee maker, heating, bow and stern thruster, autopilot, plotter
Conclusion
For tourism professionals in the Lake Constance region, winter holidays on the three-country lake are the ideal time to slow down. We wholeheartedly agree with this.
Warm socks and thick jumpers are just as much a part of your luggage as sturdy shoes for a snowy hike and slippers for the thermal baths. However, many marinas are closed in winter.
Find out in advance which one is open and when, whether you can get fresh water or siphon off your black water. Internet: bodensee.eu/en
