Freiburger Bächle (Freiburg gutters)

"If you enter Freiburg as a stranger, you will be pleasantly surprised by the many open watercourses that flow crystal clear in the streets. " City description from the year 1896

Simply let your mind and feet wander! The gently rippling, clear water of Freiburg's little streams tempts more than just children to splash around in the cool water. The streams, fed by water from the Dreisam river, run through countless alleyways in the old town. They act like a magnet for hands and feet - of all ages.

Water makes a city liveable and lively - then as now. In the 12th century, when the city was founded, the shallow cobbled channels supplied people with drinking, service and fire-fighting water.

Today, the Freiburger Bächle are the venue for the unique Bächleboot race, the setting for bloody crime novels and an insidious trap for singles, because anyone who accidentally 'dips' into the Bächle is said to have to marry a Freiburg man or woman.

Author: Nicole Bee