The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany

After a day exploring Stuttgart (and the markets at night), we decided to step out of the city in search of what lay outside of the city.

The recommendation, by and large, was to go to Tubingen and if I’m totally honest, I wasn’t too sure what to expect. I knew there was a row of colourful houses down by the river but that was about it.

With that in mind, we left for Tubingen, expecting to spend very little time in the city and mentally making lunch plans for Stuttgart that afternoon.

We started off with said beautiful and colourful timbered building down by the river and they were every bit as picturesque as I’d expected.

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (2)

On a whim, we decided it was probably worth venturing through the old town for a bit. We didn’t drive all the way here just to spend minutes checking out some colourful buildings.

Well, turns out, I was sooooooo wrong about Tubingen! There’s so much more to that city than we’d anticipated and the old town is easily one of the most beautiful we’ve been to in Germany.

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (8)

But instead of describing it – I’ll show you exactly what I mean as we go along…

Tubingen feels like stepping into a German fairytale book, with its many-hued medieval timbered houses. It looks just like a gingerbread town.

Tubingen is also a University town so, despite how ancient the town is, somehow manages to feel very young and vibrant. It’s just such a great mix as it feels like there’s something for everyone here. (After a fair few years in University towns, it’s safe to say I’m partial to them. 😀 ).

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (12)

We decided to pop into the cathedral for a quick nosey around…

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (16)

The figure with the horns on this old church chair/bench wasn’t actually supposed to be that way apparently. It was done due to a translation error by the carpenter at the time who mis-read a part of the bible. (I think the chair is like centuries old).

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (18)

Leaving the church, we carried on through the city…

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (19)

…to the main square, where the market was in full swing.

Our sights were set much higher though and so off we went, climbing up through the city, making our way to Hohentubingen Castle.

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (24)

The castle is heralded by a rather impressive gate (at which point you can breathe a sigh of relief at the uphill climbing end not too far from this point – though to be fair, it’s really not the steepest nor even the longest uphill walk to get here).

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (28)

Hohentubingen Castle is an 11th-century castle and has understandably, one of the best views in the city!

But before you head off to check out those views, step into the centre of the castle itself!

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (34)

The castle is actually now part of the University so you don’t have to pay to check out its grounds, you can just wander in pretty much when you feel like.

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (35)

The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (38)

Suffice to say, I don’t think you can just randomly wander through its hallways – except, of course for its museum (it is a University building after all) but it’s still definitely worth checking out when you’re here.

Eventually, we headed over to the Belvedere (not sure if it’s officially called a Belvedere but it definitely is one) to check out the view over the city.

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (41)

Walking through the old part of town, you don’t really get a sense of how huge the city is (which makes sense, you can only see as far as down the streets you’re on) but from up here, you get to really appreciate Tubingen in all its sprawling beauty.

Remember how I said I was mentally making lunch plans in Stuttgart, well all of that went out of the window as by this point, it was well past lunchtime! Time had just flown by as I was falling in love with the beauty of Tubingen…

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (46)

Lunch ended up being a quick bite of falafels just past the main square, before more exploring and window shopping on its quaint streets.

By this point, the market had finished and the square had completely cleared out – exposing even more of those beautiful timbered buildings.

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (51)

Suffice to say, as we made our way back the way we came through the city, I’d fallen head over heels in love with Tubingen.

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The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (53)

The Colourful Ancient City Of Tubingen, Germany (55)

It was just so much more than I was expecting – a lot more than just a series of colourful buildings by a river and I left genuinely wondering how we’d never heard about it until just a few days ago.