August 2016 (by yk)
Before we went to Heidelberg for the first time in May 2015, I only knew of Heidelberg as a famed university town. Heidelberg University(founded 1386), the oldest and one of the most prestigious university in Germany, appeared in the novels of Mark Twain and Somerset Maugham and others along with numerous films, and that may have to to with my preconception.
I was quite surprised to find throngs of tourists and vibrant shopping scenes when we arrived there expecting a quiet town filled with serious German scholars. Come to think of it, though, how can a campus town that produced so many philosophers and politicians and Nobel Prize winners possibly be quiet? There had to be loud discussions over coffee and tea & nights filled with liter-sized beer mugs clunking over and over again, right? However, we would’ve preferred sitting in a college bar than a fanciful restaurant geared toward foreign tourists. Too bad that we were there twice in the daytime, and most student bars were closed.
Coincidentally, we started out from Cologn to get to Heidelberg on both occasions. The first time was a lunch stop while we were driving down to Switzerland. It was an easy 2.5-3 hour drive on a busy German autobahn. We were on a river cruise the second time, and it was a much longer but more pleasant way to get there.
The city has a fair share of old buildings and churches aside from the university, which sits right in the middle of the city. Being on a river called Neckar, there are storied bridges to cross and the town center is small enough to cover on foot.
What we learned from our tour guide(provided by the river cruise) was that there was a serious rivalry going on between Heidelberg and the neighboring town of Mannheim, 20 Km northwest, over such earthshaking matters as who gets to be the location of a castle or a big church so on and so forth.
Heidelberg Castle is where most tourist go in this town. One can reach there by the furnicular service from Kornmarkt in the center of the old town. The single ticket for the ride and the castle admission is 7 Euro. If you have some time to kill, this is worth a visit to witness the Renaissance architecture(“masterpieces!” as claimed by the castle website) and to have the wonderful view of the city.
When we drove into the city, we parked in one of the city garages at the western end of the main shopping street called Hauptstasse leading to the old town center(Kornmarkt) area. It was about a 20-30 minute walk, but the walk was not boring since the street was filled with shops and places to eat and drink. Heidelbergberg University is right off of this main drag as well. We even found some bargains at a Mountain Warehouse store, a UK based company with stores all over Europe. A decent lunch could be had for 10-20 Euros per person.
The river cruise boat was parked on a spot on Rhine River, and we were bused into Heidelberg. The photo above was taken after leaving Heidelberg.
Small Wide World 