For the winter semester 2023/2024, I was appointed as a guest lecturer at the University of Constance. As part of the “Schlüsselqualifikation N“, four seminar days were available over two weekends to introduce the topic of “sustainable travel” to participants from various courses of study. In the seminar, the students learnt about the green travel concepts “Slow Travel” and “Micro Adventures”.
This content was supplemented by contributions from invited speakers. Nadine Hölzl, Sustainability Manager at Regio Konstanz-Bodensee-Hegau e.V., gave an insight into her work. The “Regio” aims to promote tourism that is orientated towards environmentally friendly principles. Members of the cross-border Regio association, which covers the western Lake Constance region, are the district of Constance, 28 municipalities in the German-Swiss holiday region and other supporting members.
Nikolaus Ricken, teacher and passionate individual traveller, reported as a Slow Traveller on his long-term trip by bike through Europe and South America as well as by catamaran from Europe to the Caribbean. He had already told me about his sailing trip in an interview in 2022, but it was even more exciting to listen to his diary entries in person and see the photo slide show.
However, the main project of the seminar, which took up the most time and effort, was the joint development of a Slow Travel map for the city of Constance. This is now available digitally for all interested parties via the map service Umap, which uses Openstreetmap data as a basis: to the map (no app required). The map is a contribution to sustainable tourism in Constance and provides the following information:
Five city tours
- Tour 1 | Pleasure off the beaten track
- Tour 2 | Day of reflection
- Tour 3 | Historical Constance
- Tour 4 | Lake promenade
- Tour 5 | Rainy day tour
A bike tour
- Tour 6 | Bike trip to Reichenau
Places worth seeing, categorized according to the seven Slow Travel criteria
- Mindfulness + Creativity
- Places of the local
- Doing good
- Sights + culture
- Digital-Detoxing
- Cafés, restaurants, shops
- Oases of tranquillity
On the last day, a self-guided tour of the city of BUND and Bodensee Naturmuseum Konstanz was planned. During the 1.5-hour walk, 18 stations are visited, which are assigned to the themes of nature and culture. The audio descriptions – spoken by an actress from the Constance Theatre – can be downloaded onto your own smartphone. However, the joint tour had to be cancelled due to major disruptions to the public transport network (onset of winter with heavy snow fall).
The seminar ended with a joint visit to Café Mondial in Constance, which is located right next to the Palmenhaus and is also part of the Slow Travel map of Constance. The café was founded in 2015 as a non-profit organisation by committed people from Constance to create a space for creative get-togethers. It is a place where people can realize their own ideas and events such as games afternoons, dance evenings and language courses take place – and most importantly: it is a place of inclusion where the motto is “pay as much as the offer is worth to you or as you can”.
Article by Anika Neugart.
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like …
22 December 2020
How to enjoy meals. Slow Travel dining
Slow Travel has to be learnt. Each action or activity should unfold itself to its fullest during traveling. The Slow Traveler is directing his senses consciously – also to activities, which happen casually in daily life, like meals.