Tomatoes, water, wine and views

Last Sunday: Illertisser Gartenlust at Staudengaertnerei Gaissmayer - a fall garden event with lots of vendors of all kinds , great speciality nurseries/growers, food kiosks, concerts, workshops/presentations, tours over the huge grounds of the nursery, which is almost a botanical garden. We were especially fascinated by two vendors, one selling tomato seeds - Michael Schick -, one chili seeds (Rudolf Kerschbauer »Chili-Rudi«):

From there on to Lake Constance, another 1.5 hours, over idyllic side roads through the backcountry. Destination: Friedrichshafen-Fischbach, Hotel Traube am See. There I've spent several summer vacations with my parents, and, later with P. In the old times, it was just one building, family-owned and -operated, guestrooms and a restaurant all in one. Good thing even then was, that they had a small indoor pool! Also, the location at the lakefront is gorgeous.

Today, the hotel has grown immensely, several buildings connected by tunnels, a big garden, a lounge terrace (see photo, P. with welcome drink), a new airy breakfast room, a "sauna world", a new large pool, rooms to relax, a library, a spa area with services offered, and, a wintergarden added to the restaurant. They have different room categories, and, we had a very modern, large, nice room on the top floor of one of the two new buildings (photo), with a great lake view:

The hotel is still owned by the same family Felix, now in its 3rd generation. Old lady Felix is still helping out at breakfast, her daughter is the restaurant manager, her son operates the hotel, etc. Perfect service, and, food is still good. Their egli filet with roasted almonds (photo) tasted like decades ago!

The hotel is located very close to the lakefront, with a promenade, a little concert stage, a nature conservation area, a yacht club and a public lake access. Unfortunately, the water level was very low and swimming not really appealing. The location is a famous kite surfing spot when it' windy. There is one kiosk - almost unchanged - owned by another local family (pic), the son is still operating it, but we still got to know the old owner, Georg Stärr, who was famous for his ride over the frozen lake in 1963 to the Swiss side. With a group of other men he brought a famous bell over which is still in Switzerland now since the lake wasn't completely frozen anymore since then. That's where I always had icecream or a drink with my parents. Boat rental isn't there anymore, though, nowadays surfboards and SUP is more popular or people have their your own sailing vessels.

Monday, we drove the few kilometers to Hagnau, another pitturesque little town surrounded by vineyards (church on photo), but much more touristy. Sat at the lakefront for a while, too, and enjoyed the view.

And, of course, we visited Aufricht (photos below), a great winery in a modern building with a "wine garden", and, bought some of their excellent Pinot Noir and Muller-Thurgau.

We often saw Zeppelins flying over the lake, since the Zeppelin Company & Museum are located in closeby Friedrichshafen and offer flights.

On the way home, on Tuesday, we stopped in Tettnang, the second largest hop-growing region (after Hallertau) in Germany. They were still harvesting hops (photo), and, one of the hop producers, Hopfengut No. 20, is operating a museum, a restaurant and a craftbrewery. This was an interesting stop! Heading on to Mindelheim afterwards, where Peter spent most of his youth. On the photos: the fortress high up with a city aerial and one of the old towers and fortification around the nice little downtown area.