Sitting plump at the foot of the Black Forest’s wooded slopes and vineyards, Freiburg is a sunny, cheerful university town whose Altstadt is a story-book tableau of gabled town houses, cobblestone lanes and cafe-rimmed plazas. Party-loving students spice up the local nightlife and give Freiburg its relaxed air.
Freiburger MünsterCATHEDRAL
With its lacy spires, cheeky gargoyles and dizzying entrance portal, Freiburg’s 11th-century minster cuts an impressive figure above the central market square. It has dazzling kaleidoscopic stained-glass windows that were mostly financed by medieval guilds, and a high altar with a masterful triptych by Dürer protege Hans Baldung Grien. The tower can be climbed.
RathausplatzSQUARE
Join locals relaxing in a cafe by the fountain in chestnut-shaded Rathausplatz, Freiburg's prettiest square, then pull out that camera to snap pictures of the ox-blood-red 16th-century Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) with the tourist office, the step-gabled 19th-century Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) and the medieval Martinskirche with a modern interior.
AugustinermuseumMUSEUM
Dip into the past as represented by artists working from the Middle Ages to the 19th century at this superb museum in a sensitively modernised monastery. The Sculpture Hall on the ground floor is especially impressive for its fine medieval sculpture and masterpieces by Renaissance artists Hans Baldung Grien and Lucas Cranach the Elder. Head upstairs for eye-level views of mounted gargoyles.
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