A
tour of Heidelberg Germany
Our
Rhine River Cruise ended with a bus ride into Heidelberg. So, it was late afternoon by the time we
arrived in Heidelberg and we were given the rest of the day to tour ‘on our
own’ again! During this trip you will
pick up on the fact that we were given a great amount of time in the various
cities to ‘tour on our own’! While this
trip was 18 days total we covered a lot of ground and a lot of countries! It was definitely an introduction tour to all
the countries and cities we visited, leaving us desiring to visit each country
separately to take in ALL the stuff we missed!!!
Soooo,
‘on our own’ in Heidelberg we decided to tour the Heidelberg Castle ruins, a
landmark not to be missed in Heidelberg.
First of all you can’t miss it as it stands 260 feet up the northern
part of the Konigstuhl hillside on the edge of the river; all you need to do
is look up! We were able to ride a
funicular railway up to the castle. The
structure was originally built before 1214AD.
Many destructive events, both natural and man made, have damaged the
original buildings causing re-building and structural changes over the
centuries. Today, only some parts of the castle have been reconstructed for
tourist as you can see in my photos.
This does include the wine cellar and the Great Heidelberg Tun, an
extremely large wine vat situated within the cellars of the Castle. There have been four of these barrels over the
centuries but the present one was built in 1751 and has a capacity of 58,574
gallons of wine!!!
A photo looking out from a remaining window in the castle.
From
the Castle it was an easy walk to Old Town by crossing the Carl Theodore Old
Bridge (the Alte Brucke). Built of
sandstone during the 18th century it remains as one of the last
large examples of classical stone bridge building. There was work being done on the Castle end
of the bridge when we were there but normally there are some interesting
statues on either end. The only one we
saw was of a really big cat playing with a ball! We spent the rest of our time wandering
around Old Town. Old Town is, of course,
the oldest part of Heidelberg, sitting just below the Heidelberg Castle. You can wander down the car free streets
filled with shops of all kinds. The
Marktplatz is the Main Square and heart of Old Town. It contains the Town Hall, the Church of the
Holy Spirit as well as an open market.
The
Heiliggeistkirche – or the Church if the Holy Spirit is the tallest and most
famous church in Heidelberg. This church
was built on top of two previous churches, the first mentioned in written
documents in 1239, then a Romanesque basilica, and in 1398 the foundations for
the present church were laid.
Interesting right??? It took 150
years to complete the build, and for a period of time the church was used by
both Catholics and Protestants – sometimes simultaneously! Today it is exclusively Protestant. Believe it or not in the 1970’s the church
was a popular site for Hippies and the Flower Power movement and in 1972 a Rock
Concert was held in the church attended by students and Hippies.
More
coming soon 😊
Jan 🌷🌷🐾🐾
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