Our mooring location today was in Mainz, Germany. It is the capital city of Rhineland-Palatinate, a western state in Germany and it has an old town, as do most of the major cities on the Rhine.
However, our excursion today was to Heidelberg to visit Heidelberg Castle.
We had a 90 minute bus trip to Heidelberg. I like traveling through the countryside. To me, it’s interesting to see how people live away from city centers, especially in agricultural areas and farmland. And, just like in Amsterdam, farms are exceptionally tidy and picturesque. We saw loads of large farms whose main crop is white asparagus, which is a huge business. The rows and rows of plants are covered over with white foil to keep the plant from growing above ground. White asparagus grows below the ground, but as soon as it grows above ground it turns green. So the foil helps to prevent that from happening. Apparently, white asparagus is a very, very popular dish in Germany.
Heidelberg is an ancient city going back to earlier than the 4th century BC. Not surprisingly, the Romans were responsible for establishing a trading post here in 40 AD along the Neckar River. The city’s founding date is considered to be 1196. Heidelberg University was founded in 1386. Then the The Middle Ages were a turbulent time with lots of wars and various rulers taking charge of the area.
The earliest castle structure was built before 1214 and has been occupied by many various nobility members and royalty, each adding his own building and/or renovating some part.
The castle is a combination of several buildings surrounding an inner courtyard, put together with a haphazard look. Each building highlights a different period of German architecture.
There are numerous architectural styles from many different periods, from very ornate, to very basic and rather plain. It was interesting to learn that the fanciest parts of the castle faced inward to the courtyard. The parts of the castle facing the river valley and viewed by potential raiding armies, we built very plainly without adornment, so as not to give anyone the impression that the castle was opulent.
There were fabulous views from the terrace.
One of the unique items in the castle is an enormous wine barrel, referred to as the Heidelberg Tun. The current barrel, built in 1751, has a capacity of 58,574 gallons. One hundred and thirty oak trees were reputedly used in its construction. It has only rarely been used as a wine barrel, and in fact presently enjoys more use as a tourist attraction.
More castle photos.
These two houses were just outside of the castle grounds. The first is of a fraternity house (I kid you not!) and the second is owned by a famous architect.
We did not enter the castle, but given sufficient time, tours are available to see some of the internal rooms. What we did do was go down to the Old Town of Heidelberg for a quick walking tour. What’s great about Heidelberg is that it is one of the few cities that didn’t get bombed during WWII, so most of the buildings in old town are original to the 1600s, and a few even go back to the late 1200s. The view of the castle 300 feet above the town is wonderful to see.
We had lunch at a recommended typical German restaurant. I thought I knew what I was ordering, but it wasn’t what came to the table. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our lunch sitting outside along the main street in old town.
We did take a quick look inside The Church of the Holy Spirit, which was constructed between 1398 and 1515 in the Romanesque and Gothic styles. One item the stands out in this church is the stained glass. Much of the original and older glass was destroyed over the years. Within the last 50 years, there have been competitions for a commission to do several windows. So many of the windows are modern and very unique.
The other thing that jumped right out was the flag on the altar. Seeing a rainbow flag in a church is always surprising, but this is a Protestant church, so we’re assuming that they know what the flag means.
We had a 30 minute bus ride back to the ship, however, the ship hadn’t arrived yet from Mainz. I think the ship was delayed in leaving Mainz, and we heard that there was a lot of traffic on the Rhine which slowed the ship. But it did arrive on time as per the schedule. The problem was our bus actually arrived over an hour earlier than expected. The bus riders all trooped off to a shopping mall along the wharf to await the arrival of the Avalon Vista.
All’s well that ends well and we were safely back on board in time for dinner. We had another great day touring. The weather has been absolutely spectacular all week so far – sunshine and temperatures in the upper 50s. The cruise director says that we are so very lucky to have this weather as apparently the spring weather in this part of the world is often cold and rainy.
Here’s my parting photo for the day.
