Spring in Baden-Baden
“Baden-Baden is so nice that you have to name it twice.”
March has never been my favorite month. It’s like a person who can’t decide whether it’s cold or hot, sad or still happy, generally an unstable character. But what reconciles me with it and makes me await it with particular anticipation is that it serves as a bridge from the gray cold period to the days filled with soft sunlight. I delight in the appearance of the first spring flowers, especially the beautiful but fleeting blossoming of magnolia trees. And today, the main protagonists will be precisely the magnolias.
Now, there will be a brief backstory because this note and the photos didn’t just appear out of nowhere. One person inspired me for this post. We are not acquainted in real life, I don’t know what she(probably even not “she”,who knows) looks like; we simply follow each other on Instagram. Yet, she has one of the most delightful profiles I follow – it’s entirely dedicated to the incredible beauty of roses she cultivates in her garden in New Zealand. Some time ago, I posted on my “flower” Instagram video of blooming magnolias from last year, and she wrote that in an earlier garden of hers, she had some very beautiful magnolia trees and she still missed them. In her words, I felt so much love for that garden from the past and for these beautiful magnolia flowers that I said I would take a couple of photos of blossoming trees specifically for her this year. But as I walked around Baden-Baden, I realized that I couldn’t limit myself to just a couple of photos, and in the end, I decided to make a small photo report about the magnolias of Baden-Baden (well, not only them).
So today I will show you the main points of magnolia blossom and other flowers in Baden-Baden. Perhaps this will inspire you to come and enjoy this delicate and simultaneously luxurious aesthetics of spring blossoms in Baden-Baden yourself, already next March. This, by the way, can perfectly complement visits to excellent restaurants, magnificent hotels, and an interesting cultural program, but today is not about that.
The first floral spot - Alte Polizeidirektion. The building was constructed during the reign of Duke Leopold in 1842/43, and now there is Arztehaus Vincenti… and stunning magnolias.
The next floral spot is a small, but tenderly beloved by me garden with camellias of various sorts, colors and a bamboo grove, located behind famous Friedrichsbad(built 1869/77) but to be even more precise- behind Altes Dampfbad(built in 1846/48).
The path to the third spot passed through Trinkhalle (built in 1839/43, this historic building in the city center served as a resort hall for drinking healing water). Here, there was a slight deviation from the route, because I remembered that while visiting Baden-Baden (which happens quite often), I had never taken a photo of the columns of Kurhaus (where the Casino is located), with their linearity and geometricity, which I adore. So I decided to rectify the situation, and voila, the white columns of Kurhaus are before you.
And so, the third flowering oasis - Michaelsberg. You can get there by going up to the right of Trinkhalle. There is a wonderful Romanian Orthodox chapel of the princely family Stourdza (built in 1863/66), the last rulers of Moldavia. Here you can enjoy magnolias, flowering fruit trees, majestic sequoias… and tranquility.
Well, descending down, you can simply stroll along Lichtentaler Allee and the streets with 19th-century houses that run parallel to it, if you cross the bridge over the river Oos near the rose garden (starting blooming from May-June, it delights with lush flowering and a variety of rose varieties, although in the last couple of years they seem to have diminished, let’s see how it will be this year).
Of course, these are not all the blooming corners of Baden-Baden, but some of the brightest.
I hope you enjoyed this little photo walk through March Baden-Baden, and you received the portion of beauty and spring mood.
