2005 Danube River Cruise

Page 5:
DAY 5 – October 26, 2005 – Heidelberg, Germany
The castle was built from roughly 1400 to 1620. As a result, the castle is a mix of architectural styles. The castle rests on the northern slopes of Konigsstuhl mountain, about 328 feet above the town Late in the 14th century the rulers of the Palatine choose this site to build a fortress. Some parts of the castle are now being used as in former times, for banquets, concerts and theater performances. Weddings continue to take place in the chapel. In the castle is the biggest wooden barrel ever to have been filled with wine. The barrel was constructed in 1751 and it holds 221,725 litres (58,000 gallons) of wine. (sorry no photos of the barrel. – too many people around it)
View from the castle over the city, the Neckar River and the old stone bridge build in 1788. As you can see by the umbrellas, it was a rainy, grey day, so the photos are misty. Today Heidelberg has a populatiion of 135,000 and more than 28,000 students. Every 5th person is a student attending either the University, Teacher’s College or the Academy of Music. Home of a 600 year old university, founded in 1386, was one of the greatest medieval universities.
Haus Zum Ritter – It is the only private house to have survived the wars of the 17th Century without any major damage. This magnificent Renaissance building was erected in 1592. After destruction of the town in 1693, this house did duty as the town hall for 10 years, and from 1703, i.e. for almost 300 years it has been used as a hotel. Our group enjoyed a scrumptious, warming lunch after our tour of the castle in the Ritter Hotel. We had some free time to shop the streets of the old town, before driving back to the boat. It took us approximately an hour and a half to get here in the morning driving through the grape growing countryside, and listening to history lectures by our guide. After dinner there is entertainment by a live band in the lounge and we sail for Miltenburg to overnite.

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