Heidelberg, Germany

 Our next stop was the pretty city of Heidelberg which is located on the Neckar River…

We were there early in the morning and the rowing teams were practicing on the river, our guide told us that the English had brought the sport to the town many years before…

Here you can see the large houses on the riverbanks which indicates a very prosperous city…many of them cost in the millions of Euros.

It is a very walkable town centre with a lot of history including the founding of the prestigious Heidelberg University in 1386 which is Germany’s oldest university. There are around 40,000 students in attendance which certainly influences the culture of this small city. Here is a photo of the university library…

As usual we met up with a guide for a walking tour and she was very informative, here she is showing our group the map of the city…

On the hill overlooking the city are the ruins of the Heidelberg Castle which was originally started in 1214 and added onto over the centuries…

The ruins are one of the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps. Depending on who was in power at the time the castle was either attacked or rebuilt so there are different parts to the castle such as the English Castle built by a German for his English bride Elizabeth Stuart who apparently enjoyed the views of her gardens and the river from her rooms. 

We did not have time to visit the Castle so this is a view to the river courtesy of Google…

Another view of the castle from the town…

It really can be seen from most everywhere in town and is one of the main reasons that millions of people visit here every year.

Another dominant feature of Heidelberg is the massive church in the town square…

It is the Church of the Holy Spirit and it was built between 1398 and 1515. It was originally a Roman Catholic Church but the church changed hands 10 times over its history. At one time there was a wall separating the nave so that Roman Catholics and Protestants could worship at the same time. This wall was removed in 1936 and today it is a functioning Protestant church.

As in olden times all around the base of the church merchants still sell their wares…

One interesting story relates to these scratches on the walls of the church in the shape of pretzels…

Each year depending on the wheat production the average size of the pretzel would change, the size would be marked on the walls of the church and when you bought your pretzels if yours were smaller than the inscription you could complain to the authorities and the baker you bought them from would be fined! I wonder if that would help the price of bread today?

There are many small squares in Heidelberg such as the Kornmarkt Square with a statue of the Madonna in the middle. It was placed there in 1715 and since it depicted the mother of Jesus it was believed to be supportive of the Roman Catholic Church. Since this was a time of Reformation and separation from the church it was said to be an affront to the Protestant reformers of the time. It seems in Heidelberg there were lots of religious tensions. 

Some scenes from the city…

Lots of cute places to eat…

And beautiful bakeries…

They call these snowballs…

This building belonged to a rich cloth merchant and is now a boutique hotel…

It is very elaborately decorated with sculptures that depict the family of the time and the type of business that they owned. 

Another popular building in Heidelberg is the Jesuit church which was beautiful in white…

The Town Hall built in and located on the main square was originally built in 1701- 1703…

Being on a river the town has a number of interesting bridges…

The Old Bridge was built in 1788 and is made of sandstone…

Here you can see markings that indicate the height of floods here on the river with the highest one being in 1784. 

The Tower Bridge was built in 1788 with gates at one end to protect the town. It is a big tourist attraction and very crowded even in early morning…

The Monkey monument is also a popular photo spot. It is said if you rub the mirror will attract wealth. It is well worn! 

There has been a Monkey monument on the bridge since the 15th century shower this one was erected in 1979. 

As the day went on the squares became more crowded with tourists. 

We settled for a coffee….

The food on the ship continues to be plentiful and tasty. We decided two meals a day were enough, otherwise our clothes wouldn’t fit! 

In the evening there was always some type of entertainment with this evening lots of German polkas by a talented trio…

So far, so good!