Heidelberg

Heidelberg is Der Romantisch Stadt – The romantic town. We think this is because it seems rather Italian and Roman. Either way, it’s only about an hour from Frankfurt, so we thought it would be a good little day trip, rainy and cloudy weather aside.


It very much seems like a little Italian town, surrounded by lush green hills, with vineyards on the hillsides, houses up on the sides of the hills. But it’s still quintessentially German. It’s a good couple of km from the HauptBahnHof, down through the main shopping strip and a number of platzs, before we get to the path leading up to Schloss Heidelberg.

Walking up the path rather than using the funicular (cause like we don’t walk enough!) felt reminiscent of both the hill at Greenwich, and the hill to the lookout behind Apollo Bay. Very steep, but surrounded by greenery and lush. Not much view the whole way, but this was equaled out by the time we got to the top, and the beautiful green gardens. The more time we spend in Germany, the more we’re noticing how green and verdant it all is. Inside the castle – which is very unique and unlike any of the others we’ve seen – it seems to have a palace inside as well, we found an Apotheek museum, which took us back through the history of chemistry, including having a big laboratory in the basement.

Down in the cellar is the World’s Largest Wine Barrel. Unfortunately not full or drinkable, we did get some photos to try and demonstrate size. Once again while down here, it started raining, so we got to walk back down the hill in the rain again. We also took a chance to take a look at the bridge across the river, and wondered exactly what the markings on te side meant. Either they referred to the depth the water had been, or floods, something like that.

Overall, it was very worth the trip.