As part of our Easter trip to Germany, a day trip to the university city of Heidelberg was on the agenda. Heidelberg is famous for the ruined castle, picturesque scenery by the River Neckar and the world's largest wine barrel. However we chose to visit Heidelberg as it shares a connection with a suburb in our home-town of Melbourne; where the Heidelberg School of artists flourished during the 19th century, painting famous landscapes of the Australian bush. This blog post covers a second day trip to the city of Marburg, also home to a university, a preserved old town and connection with the Brothers Grimm of fairytale fame.
Train travel
The Easter trip involved using different connections on the German rail network for transport between our 'base' in Frankfurt with the various day trip locations. As we were crossing different states in Germany, we were not able to use the regional (Lander) tickets that we had used on previous trips and had to buy point-to-point for each journey.
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| Railway stations were a big part of this trip |
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| Mei hanging out of a stationary train at the platform |
Arrival in Heidelberg
We caught a direct train from Frankfurt to Heidelberg that took less than an hour. On arrival, we headed for the river front where we encountered a cute family of ducks and ducklings foraging in the grass.
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| The duck family |
The city of Heidelberg has developed on both sides of the river, with houses built on the steep slopes of the surrounding hills. The most prominent feature is the castle - ruined during the 1600's and although some attempts were made to restore it, it has never been brought back to a complete state.
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| View of Heidelberg Castle looking up from the Old Town |
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| View of industry along the River Neckar |
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View of Heidelberg Castle and the Old Town
from the opposite bank |
Exploring Heidelberg
As the day we visited was Easter Sunday, we were concerned that many businesses would be closed, however to the contrary most were open and supporting the influx of tourists. Whilst walking down the main street, we saw a shop selling schneeballen (snowballs) - a snack famous from the town of Rothenburg. There were a lot of different flavour choices and as it looked very sweet, we bought a nougat one to share between the two of us. Predictably it tasted like a crunchy dry sugar ball.
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| The different flavours of schneeballen available |
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| The shop menu |
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| Mei trying to eat the snowball |
Full of sugar, we walked around the squares near the cathedral and fountains with a statue of a Madonna with child.
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| A pretty fountain near the path to the castle |
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| Square with the Cathedral |
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| Square with the Madonna statue |
Visiting Heidelberg Castle
There are a few ways to visit Heidelberg Castle and enjoy the amazing views: 1) By car / taxi following the road to the main gate; 2) Use the funicular (lift); 3) By foot. We chose the latter and it was a bit of a workout. The path is cobblestone and if the path is wet, it is best to have proper hiking shoes with grip.
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| View from the castle |
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| Looking at the cathedral from the castle |
It is possible to visit the Castle grounds and walk the perimeter for free. However, to see the attractions inside, a ticket must be purchased. Toilets, audio guides and food vendors are all located near the visitor center.
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| Castle ruins |
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| Archway at the front of the castle |
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| Close up of the decorations on the arch |
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| Walk decoration, shield holder |
After entering the restricted area, the first sight is of the courtyard where several majestic buildings frame the space including a bakery, historic wine cellars and a medieval pharmacy.
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| The central courtyard |
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| Close up of the decorations and statues on one of the buildings |
Big Barrel
Heidelberg Castle is home to the largest wine barrel in the world (Heidelberg Tun). To trick visitors, there is a barrel at the front entrance but this is just a replica. The real deal is in the cellar to the right hand side of the bar. The barrel is so large that you can climb steps to the top and pose for photographs. The bar serves food and lunch was a tasty plate of currywurst and beer.
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| Outside the replica barrel |
The actual barrel is the fourth one built, dating from 1751 with a capacity of 221,000 litres.
Historic Pharmacy
Back in the courtyard we visited a historic pharmacy that was used by the castle but also has an exhibition showing the timeline in the development of medicine and the profession.
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| Building that houses the pharmacy |
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| Ceramic jars holding ointments and other medicines |
Walking around the perimeter
After a few photographs on the balcony where we had a view of the river, we walked around the perimeter of the castle. The most iconic part of the ruins is of the Fat Tower split in the middle, as described by the author Mark Twain during his travels in the 19th century.
At the end of the garden, we stopped at another scenic lookout point where the castle and the Old Town of Heidelberg can be seen together.
Lunch - Restaurant Schnitzelbank
For lunch we visited the historic restaurant Schnitzelbank that was very popular with students and tourists. There are only a limited number of tables, so we had to share and traded travel tales over a lunch of pork knuckle and white wine that came out in a very uniquely shaped bottle
Heidelberg Old Bridge
Crossing the stone bridge (decorated with statues), we were on the other side of town where we walked the popular trail known as the Philosopher's Walk.
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| Old Bridge |
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| View of the Old Bridge from the top of the hill |
Climbing the hill (Heiligenberg)
When we reached the foot of the trail, it was blocked off with a barrier that all the tourists were ignoring. We soon found out the reason: a small landslide had damaged some of the path's structure.
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| Mei in front of the barrier blocking entry to the path |
The Philosopher's Walk led up to the top of the hill where there were three historic sites to visit:
Heiligenberg Tower and ruins of late 11th-century Monastery of St. Stephen
We climbed the tower and had views of the surrounding hills.
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| Heiligenberg Tower |
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| At the top of the tower |
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| Ruins of the monastery |
Monastery of St. Michael
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| Olie taking a photo |
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| The photo of Mei through the window |
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| Ruins surrounded by a fence |
Thingstätte
An open air theatre that was built during the Third Reich for political rallies.
Marburg
The next morning we caught a train from Frankfurt to the university town of Marburg. The tourist information center is located next to a large church and close to the preserved old town.
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| Church next to the visitor's centre |
The visit to Marburg had been recommended by Mei's work colleague as it was a pretty town with old buildings, a castle and a trail with icons from the Brother's Grimm fairytales.
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| Pretty streets with timber houses in Marburg |
We walked to the central square where the town hall was located. It was decorated with pots of flowers, statues and fountains.
Walking up the hill towards the castle we saw a large red shoe from the tale of Cinderella and a large frog from the story: Frog Prince. Marburg is part of a larger 'fairytale' tourist trail in the area that celebrates the work of the Brother's Grimm.
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| Big red shoe |
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| Frog Prince |
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| Other animal decorations on the way to the castle |
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| Interesting hog's head water fountain |
At the castle, we took a look around but the highlight was being at the balcony when all the church bells in town rang for midday and the sound echoed throughout the valley.
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| At the castle |
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| View from the balcony |
Next blog post:
Winchester, UK
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As part of our Easter trip to Germany, a day trip to the university city of Heidelberg was on the agenda. Heidelberg is famous for the ruined castle, picturesque scenery by the River Neckar and the world's largest wine barrel. However we chose to visit Heidelberg as it shares a connection with a suburb in our home-town of Melbourne; where the Heidelberg School of artists flourished during the 19th century, painting famous landscapes of the Australian bush. This blog post covers a second day trip to the city of Marburg, also home to a university, a preserved old town and connection with the Brothers Grimm of fairytale fame.
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