TdE - Day 24 Ulm & Blaubeuren

Route: Ulm - Blaubeuren (and retour) plus some time in Ulm
Distance: 44 km
Elevation: 114 m
Duration: 2:46 h
Weather: Sunny and warm, 12 - 31 C 

When I was coming towards Ulm yesterday I wanted s as bit of a rest from cycling, so after considering a bit more after arriving I decided to make a 2 night stop in Ulm, so today I had time to explore the surroundings of Ulm, or as the German tong twister says: 

“In Ulm, um Ulm und um Ulm herum” war ich heute.

The main destination for today was Blaubeuren, a small village about 20 km from Ulm, that is famous for its small lake that is both the rich source of a river as well as the entrance to one of the largest under water cave systems in Germany. And it’s known for its blue color: 

I had visited Blaubeuren with my mother when I was maybe 10 years old and y mother still remembers how much I complained about the lake not being blue AT ALL! Apparently that day it wasn’t blue, but maybe grey… which was a huge disappointment for me back then. 

Luckily today it was BLUE, very BLUE:

I had a piece of cake in the mill right on the shores of the lake, then walked around the lake once and after that set out to discover the world around the famous blue spring. And I was in for another surprise. Right beside the spring is an old abbey, which started out as a Catholic abbey but since then change hands between Protestants and Catholics several times before finally remaining in Protestant hands. But one can still visit the monastery, including a bathing  house where monks were allowed to bath once a month. Which apparently was s as LOT in the “good old days”. Other religious orders were taking a bath only at Xmas and Easter. 

I took my visit very relaxed, but at some point I had seen everything there is to see in this small (but nice) village and then returned the same way I had come. 

The afternoon I mainly spent on a bench along the Donau in Ulm, reading a magazine and relaxing in the shade, before heading into town for a quick walk through the center. 

Ulm was probably a very nice medieval town prior to WW2, but except the main church (with the highest church tower in the world) not a lot remained. Although there is a nice view from the river: