Surrounded by forest, Germany's oldest and most famous university town is renowned for its baroque Altstadt (Old Town), beautiful riverside setting, and half-ruined hilltop castle.
Before guiding us through a walk in Old Town, we met one of the students attending school here and heard his story about university life in Heidelberg.
The gate to the Karl Theodor bridge.
Spanning the river and joining the two sides of historic Heidelberg, the bridge was built in 1788 and named after the designer and builder.
The Church of the Holy Ghost was built in the early 13th century.
The Haus zum Ritter, a Renaissance building dating from 1592.
The Student Prison was used to keep mischievous students off the streets for 3 days to a month at a time.
Since university students were under the laws and responsibility of the university and not the city, a separate prison was created in the 16th century to house mostly drunken students who were out of line with the orderly image of the university.
Most students landed a night in jail by simply singing loudly through the residential street at night.
By the 20th century the prison became a rite of passage into social acceptance among the university youth, and many tried their hardest to secure a night in that prison, and subsequently graffitied the walls with their name and portrait to be proudly displayed for all to see. Almost like a secret club into the university social life. Every inch of each wall and ceiling is covered in century-old graffiti from some of Germany's oldest students,who were likely have a good time spending their night in the jail.
Heidelberg palace was built over three centuries in different styles--Gothic and Renaissance.
It is one of the most popular castle ruins in Germany.
The Heidelberg Tun is the world's biggest wine barrel that holds 58,100 gallons. The vat was built in 1751.
The German Pharmacy Museum.
A collection of pharmacy items used long ago were displayed.
We then traveled back to meet the ship in Rudesheim. We spend the night there so we can cruise the scenic Rhine Gorge in the morning.
To continue reading about our travels, scroll up toward the top of this page and click in the right-hand column the entry entitled: "The Rhine Gorge and Koblenz, Germany."
No comments:
Post a Comment