A short stop in Landsberg
or Landsberg am Lech, to be precise.
We left München this morning to drive to our next destination, Augsburg. As we drove out of the city I was glad to get a glimpse of the Friedensengel - the Angel of Peace, commemorating 25 years of German Reunification.
But the slow moving traffic in front of us was not helping me to take a decent photo. Boo.
Anyway, off we went, passing by the Olympiapark from 1972 and the BMW HQ.
As usual, we chose to take the Landstrassen today, finding the drive through small towns and villages so much more pleasant than the Autobahn.
We passed by so many small churches with classic onion-dome spires. Sometimes there were three or four within sight on this flat, arable landscape.
The villages were pretty and well tended and we enjoyed the journey.
As we spotted another maypole though, those clouds began to look rather threatening.
So we didn’t waste time in driving straight to our first destination, Landsberg an der Lech, where there was another maypole, almost hidden behind the lamp post. I might have missed it altogether had it not been for the huge traffic jam in this part of town.
The dilemma, as always, was whether to follow the road signs or our satnav to find somewhere to leave the car? We followed the road signs on this occasion and were glad to find ourselves in a very convenient underground car park without much trouble. Phew!
We followed the signs to the town centre, heading through the smallest opening in this row of cottages above.
Who would have thought that, in that narrow gap between two cottages was a small bridge over the fastest flowing water imaginable! I found it quite scary, so fast was it running and couldn’t help but feel fearful for someone falling in there. We crossed the bridge and continued on our way to explore what we’d read was a pretty town.
It was indeed! We soon arrived in the town square, where a fountain caught our eye almost before we spotted the Eiscafe next to it 😉
It was in the building with the pink awning, next door to the beautiful town hall, part of which is now the Tourist Office. As is clear from my photo, there are quite a few tour groups passing through here because of its location on the Romantic Road through southern Germany.
Where better to enjoy our eiskaffee and eisschokolade whilst watching the world go by?
So far, we’d stayed dry, but every so often, those dark clouds would bubble up.
We didn’t want to rush, however, when there were small details to notice, like this little figure of St Florian, there above our heads.
We returned to the car park by a different route, crossing that rapid stretch of water a little further along and noting the weir to one side. We guessed that the flow must be managed in some way and peered over the other side of the bridge.
There was the water wheel, the last link of this small hydro system - I wonder what it powers?
From here it was just a couple of minutes to the car park and then another hour or so to our final destination of the day, Augsburg. Neither of us has been to Augsburg before, so we are looking forward to discovering a new city.
It was only when reading about Landsberg to write this post that I learned of the history of this town and the events which happened around here. I’m happy we’ve come so far since then and thank you beautiful Landsberg an der Lech, it’s great to have been here.
