We arrived in Bregenz last night having drove here from Zürich in quite appalling conditions. We had hoped to make it further
to either Innsbruck or Münich but neither of us were really
prepared to drive much further in these conditions. Either
way, we quickly found the centrally located Best
Western Weisses Kreuz in the centre of town and had a quite
an enjoyable meal at their restaurant which had an excellent
selection of Austrian wines before retiring for the evening.
After an enjoyable breakfast, we took the short walk from our hotel to the Old Town ("Altstadt") of Bregenz. Bregenz is small and set on Lake Constance (Bodensee) the meeting point of the three nations of Switzerland, Germany and Austria. We stayed on the other side of the railtracks - living in Zürich, we know about lakes and railtracks! So the Old Town it was......
The Altstadt, a short walk from our hotel the
Weisses Kreuz, the Altstadt towers above the remainder
of the town on a rock. We skirted round the edge and took
a set of steepish steps up to and into the walled old town. 
While
present day Bregenz dates from around the 10th Century the
missionaries St. Columbanus and Saint Gall worked here between
610 and 612 - St Gall was later to be responsible for the
founding of St Gallen in Switzerland. The
Upper Town / Altstadt is the oldest part of Bregenz and dates
from the 13th to 16th century so many of the buildings have
that "quaintness" and decorations that one associates
with this periods - which makes it's a great place for a
morning stroll.
We made our way towards the Martisnturm which has a late
Roman core but now sports an imposing Baroque-style onion dome
which has become something of a landmark here in Bregenz. The
tower is now home to a museum of armourments which is open
from May to September - so I can't report on it's contents! 
The
nearby Rathaus (now a residental building) also boasts an imposing
and impressive exterior. We headed back into the main part
of the city through Martinstor - the fortified gateway into
the Altstadt.
On the way down, we stopped in at a lovely little cheese shop which sported all sorts of goodies from the local area. The region of Bregenzerwald is reputed for it's cheeses - and the Cheese Road stands a testament to that. Perhaps we will do this on another trip? Anyway, having rummaged around the cheeses, debating which one to take, I left with 100 grams of rather pleasant beer cheese. Which was nice.
Down
the hill an up another we headed in to the Catholic
parish church of St. Gallus which is apparently on the
site of a chapel founded by Columban and Gallus. The church
is in the Gothic style with Baroque-style interior decoration.
The first documentary evidence of the church is in 1079. But
after the fire 1477 the tower was reconstructed and the church
was extended. From 1737-1740 the church was remodelled after
a design by Franz Anton Beer which gave the church its present
appearance. The exterior of the church was restored 1968-1972
and the interior between 1973/74.
Bregenz is a pleasant place to spend a night and potter around for some hours. I'm not sure that I'd want to spend days on end here as a tourist, but as a day it was great. The old town is pretty, the buildings are excellently decorated and it's well connected which makes it a great place to break a road trip.
After
having looked around Bregenz, we continued on to Salzburg -
our final destination for the weekend. The GPS in our Saab
underestimated our journey time by around an hour - which meant
we arrived later than expected. Not to worry, though, the Austrian
countryside made a pleasant drive and we were in no rush anyhows.
While the drive was most enjoyable it was a pleasant to arrive at The Hotel Sacher - our hotel for the coming nights. Our car was immediately taken to the car park for us and reception couldn't have been more welcoming. Our Sacher Torte arrived in the room shortly after us and we put our feet up with a slice of torte each and some fruit each. We took dinner in the "Zirbelzimmer" downstairs in the hotel. The Zirbelzimmer does a strong line traditional Salzburger cuisine. My pheasant dish was excellent and the selection of wine is excellent.
