Schauinsland

Freiburg sits at the edge of the Black Forest, which means the mountains are always in the background when you're there. If you've lived in a flat city like Berlin, this is a wonderful contrast. You look down a street and there are peaks at the end of it. Maybe it can make someone feel trapped, but I just feel a draw to explore (even though I'm not much of a hiker). You can ride a bike out of the centre and be on a mountain path within a few minutes. That proximity is one of the things that makes Freiburg feel so nice.

All photographs taken with my Leica Q2.

Up the Schauinslandbahn from Horben

Schauinsland is one of the most accessible of those mountains and an easy day trip from Freiburg. A short drive takes you to the valley station in Horben, where the Schauinslandbahn begins. Germany's longest gondola railway, 3.6 kilometres, climbs to the summit at 1,284 metres.

The ride up is its own pleasure, calm and smooth, with the view widening the whole way. It wasn't busy when we went, and we had a gondola to ourselves. I'd guess that changes with the season, but on that trip the whole thing felt like a nice little getaway. At the top, a short walk through the forest brings you to the observation tower and the views that give the mountain its name: Schauinsland, look at the land.

The View from the Schauinsland Tower

From the top you can see the entire Rhine plain laid out below, Freiburg as a pattern of streets and rooftops, and on a clear day France beyond it. The tower isn't that impressive as a structure. What it does is get you above the treeline, which is enough for a 360-degree view over the surrounding Black Forest and the valley.

There is something freeing about being at altitude. Just the fact of being above what you normally move through. It makes it easier to let go of whatever you were thinking about on the way up. Taking a higher view of things, if only for an afternoon.

Quiet Spots on the Schauinsland Summit

The mountain doesn't feel crowded, and quiet spots aren't hard to find. Benches are scattered across the summit, one beside a beech tree just off the path, another set on stone feet at the edge of a meadow, most of them facing a long view. When I was up there the summer grass had gone dry and pale, and there were wildflowers along the paths, even at the foot of the cable car pylons. A very nice location for some fresh breaths of good mountain air.