Experience nature in the city

Freiburg received an extraordinary gift from its twin city Matsuyama in Japan in 1990. The garden architect Yoshinori Tokumoto had planned a Japanese garden including a temple, waterfall and stream for his friends in Freiburg. Matsuyama's city council also sent three Japanese gardeners to create the garden with their Freiburg colleagues in the lake park "Seepark". The result is a German-Japanese success story: the large boulders over which the water flows into Lake Flückiger come from Schauinsland, the stone lanterns are originals from Japan. The plants come from Freiburg's municipal nursery, but the gardeners from Freiburg's garden department learnt how to tie and cut them directly on site in Japan. 

The people of Freiburg quickly took their Japanese garden to their hearts, and today it is one of the reasons why the lake park in the west of the city is one of the locals' favourite destinations. The ten-hectare site used to be a gravel pit and was transformed into the Seepark for the 1986 State Garden Show. It is a real asset for the city: Lake Flückiger is ideal for pedal boating, Freiburg residents meet here to go for a walk, play mini golf, take a break in the café - or even in the Japanese Garden.

It's a feeling like you used to get in the playground, only better: legs forward, back back and feel how your own body sets the swing in motion. Freiburg's most beautiful swing hangs on long ropes from the Mariensteg, the art nouveau bridge that spans the Dreisam river in the Wiehre district. However, if you want to swing here, you have to cross the water. The path leads through the riverbed to the swing board, but the pleasure is worth the wet feet. Those who prefer to stay on dry land can walk along the riverbank to the fish ladder. The massive structure below the Schwabentor bridge was actually built to make it easier for fish to find their way into the Dreisamtal valley - and has become a sun spot for Freiburg residents, who can soak up the sun on the large stones.

No one has been buried in the old cemetery in the north of Freiburg for 150 years. But the ornately decorated gravestones still stand here and lend the park a dignity and devotion all of its own. Established in 1683, the deceased of Freiburg's bourgeoisie were buried here for almost 200 years. The inscriptions on the stones commemorate famous Freiburg families, scholars and aristocrats - and they tell stories of love, suffering and great emotions. For decades, a mystery has surrounded the grave of Charlotte Walters, known as the "sleeping beauty", who died at the age of 16. Legend has it that her lover could not get over her death and laid flowers on her grave every day. However, this still happens almost every day - and nobody knows who regularly places fresh flowers in the arms of the sleeping beauty. 
 

6,000 plants from all over the world grow in the Botanic Garden of the University campus Freiburg. In four show greenhouses and extensive outdoor gardens, you can stroll through jungle plants and succulents, see medicinal and poisonous plants, ferns, vines and delicate mountain flowers that are otherwise only at home on the highest peaks. But it's not just this botanical journey around the world that is fascinating, it's also the researchers' favourite use of the Botanic Garden: Bionics is the name of the field in which specialists investigate which ideas from biology can be transferred to technology. From the lotus effect in washbasins to Velcro fasteners - humans have already learnt a lot from plants. And the researchers in Freiburg are certain that nature is still a few innovations ahead of humans.