Day 34 - Fri 3 Jul: Heidelberg

0km, 24-37deg, fine and hot. 

Another hot day in Germany but nothing we couldn’t handle.  Brekkie of muesli, yoghurt, fruit and coffee in our rooms started what turned out to be a great day; albeit a little on the hot side. Heidelberg is famous around the world for its Uni, the Baroque Old Town (including the seriously old Hotel Ritter c1592) and the Castle.  Heidelberg is situated on the Neckar River with mountains both sides, at 568m and 375m.  This is the warmest region in Germany and judging by the temperature today we believe it.   Almonds, figs and the like flourish in the region, which is unusual in this part of Europe.  There's even a thriving colony of wild African Rose-Ringed Parakeets here.   

We all caught the local bus into the city about 8:30am where we trekked up the fairly big hill to the famous Heidelberg Castle.  Well what is left of it after 800 years of fires, lighting strikes, several major battles, part rebuilds, floods and time.  In fact it has been rebuilt several times but it is still a magnificent structure. It's perched high up above the city and has wonderful views over the city and the Neckar River.  Its cellar is home to the largest wine barrel in the world, capable of holding nearly 220,000 litres of wine.  Although it's doesn't hold that much these days due to its age; built in 1751. We had to compete with several tour groups off the river cruise ships to get a look, but we made it! 

After a wander around the castle, which didn't take long as there's not much of it open to visitors, we waited a few minutes for the German Pharmacy Museum to open.  Now that was impressive!  In addition to the vast pharmacy paraphernalia, (Wendy was in her element) because it is in part of the castle we got to see more of the inside of that as well.  

We then spent some time relaxing on the garden terraces (now just lawn) of the castle with its great views.  The castle is served by a funicular so we caught that to the bottom of the hill into the city to save our legs for later. By this time we were all a bit peckish so it was noodles in a box for brunch.  Lucky we refueled as we were about to embark on a considerable climb, up the other side of the river this time.  We wanted to walk the Philosophers Way and we did after much huffing, puffing and complaining.  This walk or way is so called because professors and philosophers from the Uni used to walk out on the forest path and get inspired by the solitude and the great views of the city and castle. It wasn't that great today due to the heat haze and smog which was sitting in the valley.  Anyway this lead us to the Botanical Gardens within the Uni Grounds which was compact but interesting just the same.  

We were a little hot and weary by then so we hopped on a bus to the city where we purchased some nice salads and cold meat for dinner.  Oh and a little tipple to cool us down.   As it is Gunther's birthday today, we all had our take-away dinners in the hotel stairway with nice comfy chairs and a table. Dinner was over by 8pm, by which time we were all yawning and ready for bed.




Heidleberg Old City

Heidleberg Funicular

The Ottheinrich building, part of the Schloss

Heidleberg

Heidleberg

Heidleberg

The Heidleberg Tun, world's largest wine barrel

The German Pharmacy Museum

The Pharmacy

The weighing equipment

The really good stuff, allegedly!

Castle Towers

Castle fountain

The Castle

Heidleberg



Heidleberg Funicular


Hotel Ritter

Castle from the North Bank

Neckar River and Heidleberg from the North Bank

Interesting sculpture - horse and rider when viwed from the correct angle

African rose-ringed parakeet

ABC on the way up to the Castle

Friedrichsbau, part of the Castle


Castle courtyard


The Heidleberg Castle oweder Turret, split by an explosion




The undamaged Castle and grounds


Church of the Holy Spirit (Catholic and Protestant)

Entrance to the Old Bridge

Philosophers Way on the North Bank

Heidleberg Botanical Gardens


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 38 - Tue 7 Jul: Mainz to Frankfurt

Image
Estimated km: 40; Actual km: 45; Total km: 1574; Ride time: 3h04m; Av speed: 14.7 kph   21-33deg, fine and pleasant.   Our last day on the bikes for this tour, where has the time gone?   As Maccas was across the street from the hotel, some (who shall remain nameless) had to wait until they opened to have brekky.   Maccas opens very late (8am) here compared to Oz. They actually serve a nice bacon and eggs breakfast in Germany so it's not too bad for you. Greg had brekkie in the room.   We rode away at 9am and headed back to the city centre of Mainz for a look around.   As it was a short-ride day there was no hurry to make tracks. Market Square, the main square in Mainz, by this time was bustling with fresh food stalls, shoppers and cyclists.   What a lovely way to buy your weekly food supplies.   Market Square is right next to the Mainz Cathedral, yet another massive old church from the 11th century.   About this time in history the Bi...
Read more

Day 12 - Thu 11 Jun 15: Nuremberg

Image
25km (Greg only), 14-26 deg C, cloudy but fine   Poor old Nuremberg was punished for being Hitler's favourite city and the centre for his Nazi regime. The allies bombed it mercilessly leading up the end of WWII. However, the Germans are a resilient bunch so over the decades since then they have re-built this place to somewhere near its former glory.   The city centre has a lovely mix of old and new and the Old Town walls from the 15th century are just about fully intact.   After a wholesome brekkie we caught the tram (#9) out to the partly completed Nazi Rally Centre, now called The Documentation Centre which chronicles all things Nazi.   And they don't pull any punches but say it exactly like it was, warts and all. This place is massive, the parade ground was designed for 100,000 troops and the Congress Hall for 50,000 people.   The commencement of the War brought the whole project to a halt.   The Congress Hall (not finished as designed) now houses Th...
Read more

Day 13 - Fri 12 Jun 15: Nuremburg to Rothenburg ob de Tauber

Image
Estimated km: 77; Actual km: 88; Total km: 550; Ride time: 5h22m; Start time: 8am; End time: 3:05pm; Av speed: 16.3 kph   16-34 deg C, (still pleasant though) fine and sunny.   We awoke to bright sunshine streaming into our motel window; a cycle tourer's dream.  After another lovely Holiday Inn brekkie we headed out into an already warm day. It took 13km to clear the city traffic and noise, and what a relief that was!   If there's any such thing as a perfect touring day this goes close. Apart from a dodgy downhill gravel section (which was a mistaken shortcut) it was smooth cycle paths or back roads all day.  There were a few "lumps" in the journey which got the heart going and blood flowing, but in the main the hills were kind and gentle. The ride was predominantly through farming country, mostly grain, sugar beet and canola, with some nice sections of forests and quaint villages. Our morning tea stop at Dietenhofen appeared precisely on time and had a gr...
Read more