Walk with me - Diessenhofen in Thurgau
I've been living in Switzerland for almost 8 years and I don't remember such a warm and sunny autumn. It would be a shame if we would be sitting at home! Last Sunday we visited Diessenhofen- a small charming town that retains its medieval appearance. There are many beautiful sites to visit and experience here.
Would you like to walk with me?
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Diessenhofen
Diessenhofen is located in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. The first mention of the village is from the year 757 when the priest Lazarus from the monastery of St. Gallen assigned a church to the village.
We parked our car in the Altstadt (City center) and started to walk towards the river Rhine. We passed by the Siegelturm (Seal Tower) with the lunar clock. It was built in 1545 by Martin Heünseler. There are seals and important documents stored in the Siegelturm for many centuries. It is listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.
On the other side of the Siegelturm there is the historical fountain Siegelturmbrunnen (Seal Tower fountain) with the legendary flag-bearer on its pedestal. The fountains in Switzerland are very well maintained. Diessenhofen donated 20k CHF (around 20k USD) to The Ernst-und-Hanna-Hauenstein Foundation to support their efforts and keep the fountains in the town preserved.
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Rheinbrücke
After we walked for about 10 minutes we came to the Rheinbrücke (Rhine Bridge). The bridge is built on the border between Switzerland and Germany and it connects Diessenhofen in Switzerland with Gailingen in Germany. There is a border control on each side of the bridge.
The first mention of the bridge dates back to 1292. The bridge has a long and interesting history. It was heavily damaged over the years, mainly because of the flood. It had to be rebuilt in 1667 and it was completely destroyed by Russians in 1799. The Rheinbrücke as we see it today was built in 1814. It was again damaged during the World War II and the front part of the bridge had to be rebuilt.
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It is a road bridge but there is a sidewalk for pedestrians. Let's walk to Germany and look in the direction of Switzerland 😊
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The dominant landmark on the right side is the reformed Church of St. Dionys which was first mentioned in 1468. There is the former St. Katharinental Monastery hidden behind the trees. Today, there is a health clinic situated in this complex.
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On the left side we can see the wooden Hänkiturm (It's in Swiss German, so I can't translate it). We will go there later in the afternoon..
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Let's go back to the town..
Unterdorf Castle
Yes, there is a castle in almost every Swiss town 😊
The Unterdorf Castle serves as a training center and seminar hotel. It also houses a well-known restaurant. The castle was built in the 12th century. The Unterdorf belonged to the Kyburg family until the 15th century. In 1474, the castle was bought by Johaness von Randegg. The castle had various purposes over the years. There was a time when it was split into many apartments as well.
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There are two ways to get inside of the Unterdorf. You either book a table at the restaurant or a room in the hotel. We didn't do any of these two, so we stayed outside of the property..
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There is a nice garden behind the Unterdorf and I'll make sure that next time we will book a table in the restaurant, so that we can walk around together 😊
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Hänkiturm
Before we go back home, let's visit the Hänkiturm. We will walk along the river for 5 minutes to get there. Look at the trees! The leaves are slowly changing their colors..
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There are a few iron statues along the Rhine..
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And one wooden fellow..
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We finally reached the Hänkiturm.
The tower was probably built in 1391 directly on the river Rhine. It was built to protect the town. In 1616 it was rebuilt to a prison. In the 19th century, its roof was broken down and the walls were raised higher up by Heinrich Hanhart who used the building for fabric dyeing. After his dead, the building was left empty. In 1947, it was restored by Diessenhofen.
I am a bit disappointed that the building is not open to the public. It would be a great museum!
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While we were walking back to the car, a guy parked his car right in front of us, so we couldn't continue on the same path. It was very strange as there was no parking space. We just looked at each other and walked around the car.
All of the sudden, the guy jumped out of the car and it turned out that he was a waiter that we know from our favorite restaurant in Schaffhausen. We barely know the guy, but he recognized us and properly introduces himself, his wife and their daughter. They live in Diessenhofen and were on the way to a city nearby. This is how you make new friends!
We were surprised that he recognized us as we didn't really talk to him before - well, he just took our orders 😊 They invited us for dinner and we will hopefully meet them more often..
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I hope you have enjoyed our walk in Diessenhofen!
All photos are taken by my Nikon D3200 AF-S NIKKOR 18-55 mm 1:3.5-5.6 G II (except of the ones indicated in the text)
Thank you for reading,
Cheers,
Martina
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Wow... I love that last wooden tower that was built to protect the people.. and then turned to a prison. Another interesting tidbit from an incredible storyteller (Martina) :) ... Great job :)
Very strange, right? These are two completely different ways of using the building :) Thank you Dave! I hope you won't get fed up with my posts anytime soon ;)
omgosh... no way... you honestly experience some of the coolest things I've seen here. Very interesting indeed! :)
A post from the Alps will be coming next week ;)
Great idea to go out and explore Diessenhofen. Happy to see the Rhine in autumn colours!
Thank you Dan. I'm sure you're spending your free time outside as well :)
How did you know that? :) Life is too short to stay locked inside on a beautiful autumn day regardless of location. That's why I'm late with my post this week :))
Well Dan, you don't really seem like a person sitting inside, do you? ;)
I hope you will make some posts from your current adventures too! :)
Upvoted and resteemed! Wow what a beautiful walk. I love water and trees and this has plenty of both.
I am so pleased to hear and see your weather is so lovely, that means more excursions for you and more posts for us 😍
You are just so prolific these days - I just realized I don’t know your actifit account so am missing out on giving it upvotes and comments.
Always such a delight so see your posts. Still getting better every day! Go girl you are just so awesome. I would love to fit in a trip to Switzerland while in Europe so fingers crossed I can make that happen. I can’t believe how busy life can be though having said that 😂🍀🦋🌴💛🌈❤️
You are so sweet! Yes, it's a lot of water and trees in this region. Everything is so colorful now. I'm staying mostly at home as I had a minor surgery and I'm too tired from the medication. Also walking is a bit challenging right now.
Honestly, I'm not using actifit as it doesn't seem to work correctly. I didn't have time to look at it but I'll let you know as soon as it's fixed.
I would love you to come over here! :) That would be a lot of fun! YES! You seem to be so busy on your vacation! :) Do you still have family in Spain?
Thank you so much for visiting my dear and I'm sorry for getting back to you with such a delay!
Great post Martina! The river Rhine is so pictureque, and the Rhine Bridge looks really interesting. Diessenhofen has some beautiful medieval architecture, I especially liked the Hänkiturm. Shame you couldn't enter, it'd be cool to see what it looks like on the inside!
Thanks for sharing :)
It is! It's so clean and blue. There is also plenty of fish in the river. I would love to go inside and see how it looks like. But it's maybe not safe and that's why they keep it closed.
Thank you for visiting! Sending many hugs to Spain! :)
Having seen this and the first photo, I wanted to scream yes, the Swiss nature is so beautiful! That bridge between Switzerland and Germany is so cool, I've never seen anything like that! Every picture of this post somehow reminds me of a fairy tale, perhaps because all the castles and architecture? Anyhow, beautiful shots, as always!
Such a fun coincidence with the waiter, you seem to get along with everyone and make new friends everywhere! :)
Yes, yes, yes! :) You are right, Jasmin. It does looks like a fairy tale. The first time I visited Switzerland was during Christmas time. Schaffhausen was decorated with all of those beautiful lights and I said to my husband that it looked like a fairy tale.. I still have this feeling :)
Well, I can make friends when I want to :) but there are times when I like to be alone (or with my closest friends). Oh, I forgot to mention that that guy is Slovak too, lol! :D
Thank you for visiting my dear friend!
Oh my gosh, you said Christmas and now I can't wait for you to share what this magical place looks like during that time of year! It's lovely now during this stunning fall weather, but I'm sure it holds so much charm during the festive season. Though I hope it doesn't get too cold to enjoy it all! :)
That is going to be very challenging as I really suck at the photography of lights. But I'll do my best to show it to you! :)
It's not that cold in this area. Of course it can get too cold from time to time but it's just for a few days..
Haha, well it will be a good challenge then. But I'm not picky, so I'm just happy with anything you share! ;)
I can only imagine how beautiful it is during Christmas time, I'm glad you have such lovely memories, they'll last forever. :)
Awesome way to make new friends! Thanks for taking us on another wonderful tour of your country. I enjoy seeing new places.
Exactly! It was such a coincidence! :) Thank you for stopping by! If you every leave Nicaragua and you decide to come to Europe, I will be pleased to show you around :)
Waaao landscapes are so so beautiful and I am in love with the color of the sky ,
and yea definitely I would love to go on photowalk with you
Thank YOU! Yes, Switzerland is so beautiful and it's not only the Alps! :) The sky was very blue and I liked it as well! When you're here, just let me know ;)
The way the waiter recognised you shows the true heart of the 'delicious castle queen'. Looking at the pictursheque beauty anyone would fall in love with the place and join you on the walk. Great way explore the heaven on earth.
Walk with the 'castle queen' is alwsys adventurous. Get to see so many beautiful places as she never let anything to miss and capture everything....
So every sunday the queen take a round of all her castle property...great to hear that.....good to see the awesome switzerland....👍👌
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Hahaha, so good to read your comment! You always make me laugh :)
And I forgot to mention that that waiter is Slovak like me, lol :D The world is so small, isn't it?
This caste queen is always happy to take you on a walk ;) Not sure if I'm going to visit a castle every Sunday, but there will be definitely a few more to come :)
Thank you for your support!
Thanks Castle queen. Its my pleasure to go on walk with you. And You know what, all Castle are made for you.
So even if you avoid to visit....any nearby castle will pull you around 😉 to explore the beauty. ..like last post where you some accident made you to explore one unknown one....😜
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Oh! When I look at it like you then it makes sense! That accident on the road was work of a castle that was pulling me towards it! :D Great logic!! Thank you for giving me a new perspective ;)
Thank you for visiting @steemflow! :)
Amazing! So funny about the waiter he must have really liked you guys. Looks like the weather was amazing too. The pictures turned out great I hope to visit Switzerland one day too. Can I ask are you German?
I hope you'll be able to visit Switzerland. It's such an amazing country! No, no, I'm Slovak :) I do however speak German as I studied it when I was a child and I live in the German speaking region of Switzerland..are you German? :)
EDIT: YES, you are!! I'm sorry for that silly question :) You have it in your profile :)
Im in Germany but I am American! Really cool you live there, I think Slovak people are so cool! I love your history and the native religion too!
Why did you come to Germany? I can imagine it's very different to what you're used to :)
Thank you! Yes, we are cool! LOL
I will bring a few posts from Slovakia when I'll go there for Christmas holidays :)
Awesome! Can’t wait to see those! My wife is German and my family originally came from Germany. We decided to move back to be closer to her mom. We have three small children so it is better here for us. Its a little different but I really like it here.
Switzerland is so beautiful! You're fortunate to live in such a wonderland! Greetings from Boston USA.
You are right! I feel so blessed that I can live here. The country is so beautiful. There are too many places to see. Have a lovely weekend Mikey!