When taking the highway in direction of Singen at Stuttgart, Bodman is one of the first places at Lake Constance that you will notice.

On mountain Bodanrück the castle ruin of Altbodman stands firm among big trees. From there the view of Lake Constance and scenery is simply marvellous and sometimes you can see a rainbow. The former castle was burned down in 1643 at the end of the Thirty Years War by the French commander of Überlingen after having a booze-up. The owners, family von Bodman did not rebuilt the castle. Years later in 1900, a viewing platform was built at the castle’s former place. Today the ruin has been renovated and can be visited.

Small but worthwhile excursions

Marien's gulch is one of the most popular excursions at Bodanrück. Above Marien's gulch, hidden behind trees, lies the castle ruin of Kargegg. This castle has been destroyed by insurgent farmers far back in 1525 during the Peasants' War. Today, only the south wall and parts of the west and east wall are left of the former palace.

The monastery of Frauenberg has a special history, of which today reminds a sandstone obelisk. On 16th of September 1307, the Bodman family of knights and relatives were gathered in the castle when suddenly a thunderstorm came up, upon which a flash hit and burnt down the castle. Seven members of the family as well as three employees lost their lives. According to hear saying the nurse saved the baby family holder by putting him in an iron kettle and let it roll down the mountain. The obelisk is the place where the kettle is said to have stopped. The father of the saved baby gave the mountain to the Cistercian monastery Salem under condition to build a chapel and priest's house on it. In May 1309 the chapel was consecrated.

Castle Bodman and park

In 1760 count of Bodman and its noble family moved into their first castle. Today's castle was built in the middle of the 19th century and later extended by adding the southeast and southwest wings. Still today the castle is inhabited by Wilderich Johannes Graf von und zu Bodman and thus cannot be visited.

For further information: http://neu.bodman-ludwigshafen.de/

Photo: Robert Schneider/Shutterstock