Excursion to the Longest Covered Pedestrian Bridge in Europe

Tuesday September 10, 2019 -- We gave long thought to what we should do with our vacation week: Mallorca for a few days on the beach, possibly among lots of people? Fly to Nice and spend a few days along the Riviera? Take the train to Verona and Venice, also probably among lots of people? Weather forecast for all these places was for much much nicer than in Switzerland, so we almost gave up our preference for more hiking.

BUT, our dislike of being in crowds trumps the idea of going somewhere "exotic", so we settled for a day trip across the border into Germany on a beautiful day here in "The North", to the town of Bad Säckingen on the other side of the Rhine River, separated from Switzerland by the longest covered pedestrian bridge in Europe (203.7m). We had been here before in February 2016, and knew of a little shop that served the best Gelato, and together with lunch in a Pasta-Pizzeria restaurant on the main square across from the magnificent Fridolin Minster, a walk through the castle gardens and the narrow alleyways of the old town, the cobbled streets.... AND the hike we did the day before at Lago di Lugano, it was just like being in Italy (sort of) but without the crowds. Even the inside of St.Fridolin's reminded me a lot of St.Peter's in Rome.

A "relaxing" day for us, although we did opt to walk from the train station on the Swiss side (Stein Säckingen, Canton Aargau) which together with a walking tour of the town amounted to a 4-km walk just the same...  

The wooden bridge across the Rhine River at Bad Säckingen: The longest covered wooden pedestrian bridge in Europe

The original bridge here was mentioned in 1272 in the Annals of Colmar, was destroyed due to flooding in 1343. Rebuilt several times due to destruction by additional flooding and fire. Construction was paid for by tolls imposed to cross the bridge. 1799 was the most recent rebuild of the bridge. The bridge is 203.7m long. 

The Tower at the castle gardens

Crossing the border from Switzerland to Germany

The bridge from the German side

Some riverside loungers

The tower in the castle gardens. There is a cute Teahouse here too

Very nice cactus garden

Schloss Schönau

Schloss Schönau from the back

Restaurants on the Münsterplatz. In the shade it was quite cold

We managed to find a table with a bit of sunshine!

The bottom of the Fridolin Minster...

And the top of the Fridolin Münster

I loved the indoors of this church: Light and spacious and lots of art

The organ and the ceiling

And the inside of this dome reminded me of St.Peter's in Rome. Smaller scale, way fewer people!

Painted houses on the main square across from the Minster

"Sack" means "Bag" or "Sack" and the town's coat of arms seems to be just that, a sack. (Bad Säckingen).

The Gallustower, built in 1343 to protect against enemies and rising river waters

Cool Geranium Tower!

And just before crossing the bridge back to Switzerland, enjoying Gelato just as if we were in Italy. We spoke Italian with the shop owner, and he was thrilled when we told him that we opted to visit his shop instead of going to Venice...

Back across the bridge, with a few purchases from the German drugstores (still cheaper than in Switzerland). On the other side we took a nearby bus back to the train station instead of walking. 

 A little excursion across the border into Germany (it takes us 2 hours by public transit to get here).