Ever heard of the Blue Banana?

Yeah, neither did we. But Freiburg im Breisgau is one of the cities located in the so called Blue Banana corridor, which covers one of the worldwide highest concentration of money, industry and population. Thanks, Wikipedia!

Left: The Martinstor - one of the towers spared by destruction in WWII.
Right: Traveling back in time on a side street.

The city is about an hour drive away from our new home. We had been in the outskirts a few times to shop around (They have IKEA, too.) and to run some errands but we never made the effort to visit downtown as we had learned that Freiburg got heavily damaged during WWII. However, there is a small core that escaped the bombing.

Freiburg (literally translated: Free fortified town) was founded in the 12th century, and soon became a university town as well as an ecclesiastical center. The construction of the Freiburg Minster took over three centuries and was completed 1513.

Due to its location the city also became an important corridor for trade. In the old times all goods had to be channeled through this red building, a merchants hall built 1530, for taxation purposes.

Another interesting landmark of the old town are the so called 'Bächles', water filled runnels that can be found in almost every street. in the 13th century the water supply was supposed to provide drinking water to the population and help fight fires, as well as dispose of rain water and dirt.

After this historic excursion in temperatures well beyond 30C, we needed a Biergarten to the rescue.

The food and drinks in the restaurant Zum Rauhen Mann (the rough man) were excellent, and despite the name (we expected meat platters galore) there were plenty vege options on the menue. Our favourite drink on those hot days is the Radler, an ice cold mix of beer and lemonade, very refreshing.

Again, we learned some more about the region we live in, and Freiburg will certainly continue to seduce us with its various culinary options.