Your first impression of Geisingen in Baden-Württemberg might be, “damn, this place is huge.”
Well, it’s all a matter of perspective… But at least is here room for the Danube, castles and festivals, churches and hiking trails… Awesome, right?
I knew you’d agree. ;-)
Let’s start off with the castles. There are quite a number of them, mostly medieval, by the way. Well, they were at one time.
Take Burg Wartenberg, for example. Not much of this mid-12th century structure remains — but still pretty if you look past its crumbly facade.
It’s been said that you can see the Swiss Alps from up here on the Wartenberg. I wouldn’t know — too busy looking around for other castles to worry about neighboring Switzerland.
I found them, too, by the way. Except they’re not really castles anymore. Ehrenburg (Hausen), Burg Hörnekapf, Burg Neu-Sunthausen, and Heidenburg are all in ruins at this point. Who cares, really, the fact that the Ehrenburg dates back to around to the year 700 — that’s impressive enough for me.
Where do you go from here? How can you top that?
Ahh, Friends, with a party of course! Over in Gutmadingen you’ve got an annual Village Festival (a Dorffest, if you will), and another over in Kirchen-Hausen; while Leipferdingen kicks it with a musical Fountain Festival (Brunnenfest), and Aulfingen’s got a Pfarrbuckfest.
I told you Geisingen’s got churches, too. Over in Kirchen-Hausen, St. Mary’s Church got its start around 600 A.D., but over the last 13 centuries it has seen its fair share of renovations. This is the village to see the St. Antoniuskapelle, once a pilgrimage site during the Middle Ages.
Another pilgrimage site for Geisingen is the St. Michael Church in Leipferdingen. This early 16th century church doesn’t get the traffic it once did, but still worth looking at after all these years.
With all this going on, who has time to find a hiking trail? Not me, but you can if you give yourself enough time. Hopefully you don’t go too far — and find yourself in Switzerland.
Although, I hear they make a nice watch. ;-)
