Blue water
Turquoise colour.
marsupium photography — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ziko van Dijk — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Schilling Thomas — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Chakrabortymonalisa — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ziko van Dijk — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Blautopf, the «Blue Pot», is a spring considered the source of the River Blau, in the karst country on the southern edge of the Swabian Jura, in the town of Blaubeuren in southern Germany, about 15 km west of Ulm and 60 km southeast of Stuttgart in a straight line. It drains the Blau cave system, and the Blau then runs 14.5 km before joining the Danube at Ulm. High water pressure has shaped the spring into a funnel 21 metres deep. Its striking blue colour, which varies with the weather and the flow, comes from tiny limestone particles suspended in the water that scatter the light. The spring is a small round pool of brilliant turquoise blue, surrounded by dense green trees whose branches hang over the water. On its bank stand an old wooden mill and the tower of Blaubeuren Abbey, and trees and sky are mirrored in the still surface. Visitors walk the short path around the spring and visit the mill and nearby abbey. Swimming and diving are forbidden; the caves below are dangerous and only specialist divers go in. The blue is brightest on sunny, dry days.
Turquoise colour.
On the bank.
Nearby.
Blaubeuren, near Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
No, swimming is forbidden.
On sunny, dry days.