Freiburg September 2023

We are spending a few days in Freiburg joining other members of the Guildford Twinning Association on this year’s visit to the city.

Guided tour of the Vauban district

Plant covered buildings by the tram stop

We had an excellent guided tour of this area by one of the Freiburg town guides, Lucy. Vauban is a residential district built on the site of a military barracks used by the French until 1990’s. Plans for the area were developed from ideas gathered from local residents:

Public transport and cycling were prioritised over private cars
Building plots were offered in many different sizes to suit a wide range of needs
Co-ownership projects were encouraged

The properties are joined together like terrace houses but they are all different in design. Each house has a private garden front and back.

Most of the streets are wide enough to allow car access but there is no space for street parking. There is a cogeneration plant which produces electricity and heat for the whole district. As a result, the properties do not need their own heating or hot water units.

Parking on the street is illegal, so residents with cars need to buy space in one of the public parking buildings like this one.

Some of the homes, like these ones, are built to be energy positive. The large solar panels on the south-facing roofs generate more power than the buildings need. South facing windows are large to make the most of available sunlight and warmth. North facing windows are small to minimise heat loss.

The area has has schools, shops, open spaces, rooms for local clubs and activities, but interestingly, no sports facilities. This was presumably not seen as necessary by the residents in the early days.

Several of the original barack buildings have been converted to new uses. Houses in the area remain in high demand due to the good quality of life there.

Just a short distance from Vauban is the Heliotrope building, another innovative housing experiment. This was the first ‘plus energy’ building built as a private residence in 1994 by architect Rolf Disch. One of the many unusual features of the house is that it is circular and rotates every 24 hours following the sun.

Buchholz wine tasting

The yard at Weingut Nopper

On our second day, we took the train to the village of Buchholz, just 20 minutes ride from Freiburg to try some of their wines. We started at the Nopper vineyard, where Berthold, the proprietor himself introduced us to his products. He has been working for more than ten years to establish an organic vineyard based on grape varieties developed in Freiburg that are disease resistant. None of his wines are therefore the familiar German wine varieties. He nevertheless gives them names to give a clue to their character, such as ‘Musecco’ for a dry aperitif wine and ‘Souvignier Gris’ for a fruity white wine. Weingut Mossmann was the second winery we visited. This family owned winery produces some excellent award winning wines.

While we were there, a tractor pulled into the yard bringing freshly picked grapes from the fields

Weingut Mossmann has a beautiful tasting room, which is quite a contrast to standing in the yard at Nopper’s winery.

We heard the excellent Freiburg Bakers Band performing in front of the Rathaus on our walk back from the station.

Hiking at Schauinsland, in the Black Forest

View of a farm on a ridge from the top of the Schauinsland

Schauinsland is a mountain area in the Black Forest about an hour’s journey south of Freiburg. We took the cable car to reach the summit, but others had driven or even cycled up the very twisty road. The weather could not have been better and we could see the Vosges mountains and Alsace across the Rhine valley to the west. To the east, we looked over the Black Forest range.

We took a tram and then a short bus journey to get to the start of the cable car

The cable car ride was spectacular.

There is a restaurant and viewing platform at the top. It was so clear that we could see the Rhine Valley, Alsace and the Vosges mountains in the distance.

The cafe was the busiest place on the mountain

There are well laid out trails in all directions.

We walked down the opposite side of the mountain, stopping at the Denkmal memorial, This substantial monument is a memorial to a group of British scouts who got lost on a winter walk in the 1930’s. Tragically several of them died due to the stubbornness of their teacher who insisted on continuing in terrible conditions. The memorial is controversial as it was organised by Hitler Youth and it was used in Nazi propaganda.

The destination of our walk was the village of Hofsgrund. This was originally established as housing for miners working in the silver mine underneath the Schauinsland mountain. We had a very convivial meal with members of the Anglo-German Society at the Gasthof zum Hof.

Dairy farming is one of the Hofsgrund activities these days.

The striking church building stands out amongst the chalet style houses.

Around and about in Freiburg

We had one of our evening meals at Omas Küche joined by several Freiburg artists who have links to Guildford Twinning Association. This is on Hildastraße, south of the old town, in an area of tree-lined streets with large residential buildings of the last century. I took this photograph of the restaurant the next morning on a visit to the Farmer’s Market

The market was much smaller than the daily market around the cathedral. Nevertheless, it was clearly popular with local residents looking for fresh local produce

People were willing to queue at their favourite stalls

A stack of fruit boxes

These grand riverside houses were bathed in the morning sunshine where Hildastraße crosses the river

View of the twin spires of Johanneskirche from Hildastraße

Münsterplatz early on Saturday morning

Roasted chestnuts anyone?

The visit was a good mix of organised activities and free time, we had some excellent meals and the group members got on well together. Many thanks to Barbara and Steve for all their hard work.

The pedestrianised central area has a good atmosphere in the evenings.

Created By

Nicholas Bale

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