The Blautopf (Blue Pot) is the beautiful, extremely blue source of the Blau (River Blue). There are many legends about this spring, but the most important one is rather young. In the 19th century the famous German poet Eduard Mörike published a book called Das Stuttgarter Hutzelmännle. Written like an old fairy tale, the background story of an shoemaker journeyman who travels from Stuttgart to Blaubeuren is used to tell varous of the old legends. The most famous is those of a mermaid named Schöne Lau (Beautiful Lau). She was not able to lough any more after her baby died, so her husband, a water king from the Black Sea, banished her to this place, until she would have loughed three times. The straightforward locals taught her to lough again.At the shore of the Blautopf lies a medieval hammer smith, which is powered by the water from the Blautopf. The huge hammers are driven by the springwater running down a water wheel. A small Visitor Center in the same building shows a video about the exploration of the Blautopf cave. Part of this film was made by Jochen Hasenmayer using a selfmade underwater super-8-camera. It is called Tauchfahrt in das Reich der schönen Lau (Dive into the realm of the Beautiful Lau) and takes 45min.
