heidelberg is actually a really idyllic and beautiful city - if it wasn't for the millions of tourists running around. i don't know if it's less frequented on week days, but i can attest to you that on weekends the city is overflowing. i think i would've enjoyed heidelberg a lot more if the city had been filled with less people, but unfortunately we had chosen to visit on a saturday - something i wouldn't do again in the future. i like my cities crowdless. that's why i didn't really enjoy walking around the city as much as i probably would've otherwise. i was really exhausted by the end of the day. people always drain me off my energy.
our time in heidelberg was also a rather wet one, it rained for a good portion of time while we were there ( hence a lot of my pictures came out pretty gloomy - i'm not really good photographing in cloudy conditions ). only in the evening the sky cleared up and let the sun through to reward us with wonderful light by the neckar river.
i don't have a lot to say about heidelberg, i guess because i was just overwhelmed by the whole meandering of the people. i'd really like to revisit on a much calmer day, even though, according to the publicity of the city worldwide, i doubt there's ever a calmer day, haha.
a few facts about heidelberg: it's a city in the state of baden-württemberg, in the southwest of germany and it is situated near the neckar river. it is most famous for its castle ( obviously ) and also for housing germany's oldest university. it was and probably still remains a city of philosophers, intellectuals & keen thinkers. the old city is really magnificent and has a lot of remarkable buildings to offer. heidelberg is also very well known for the 'old bridge', a sandstone bridge over the neckar river. i loved spending my time by the river the most, any body of water is always helpful with soothing me down after hectic hustling & bustling.
anyway, here is pt. III of the heidelberg series.
in this villa the fraternity of 'alte leipziger landmannschaft afrania' have their headquarters. fraternities are a big part of german university culture ( sororities as well, but not in such a huge scope as the male associations. )
view from the castle down heidelberg.
the density of houses inside the old core was rather remarkable. everything is so narrow and at close quarters. as a focal point you can see the church of the holy spirit.
the kornmarkt ( corn market ).
from the kornmarkt you can have a glimpse at heidelberg castle. the crowds here were still tolerable, but it got worse the more we ventured into the town. since i hate shooting pictures with people in them, i missed quite a lot of opportunities. the layout of a city, in my opinion, is best captured without any people in the frame, unless you want to showcase the size of a building. that's why lots of my pictures are often without or with very few people inside them, i wait a little to have them out of the frame. but sometimes it's just not possible, and then i have to deal with it somehow, haha.
walking up to the old bridge. there were a lot of asian restaurants in this place, and indeed, you could find a lot of asian people running around in bulks. heidelberg is one of the top destinations of chinese/japanese/korean tourists ( west & south germany actually always was ), so it was really no surprise to me. we also heard a lot of american voices, but other languages, too, like indian, french, spanish and a lot more i couldn't identify. i'd say heidelberg was being really international that day.
the portal that leads onto the old bridge.
prince elector carl theodor, the erector of the old bridge.
the whole castle in fully glory from down below.
the neckar river determines the townscape a lot.
flowing towards mannheim, where it will open out into the rhine river.
on the other side of the river there were quite a bunch of expensive-looking villas and complexes. they are part of the district neuenheim.
veiled woman, at the foot of the prince elector.
this face was kind of creepy.
on the bridge, with another view back to the castle and old city.
we walked through little alleys, and soon also found a cafe to have some coffee and cake.
this building was part of an ensemble called 'heuscheuer & marstall'. this is the heuscheuer building, which was once used for storing hay for horses. the horses were housed inside the marstall, some kind of arsenal building ( you can find this building next to the heuscheuer, i didn't manage to get a decent photo, though ). nowadays it's a auditorium of the university.
'we don't have wireless LAN, talk to each other. pretend it's 1995!'
something about the golden letters and the bee hive made me want to capture the facade of this building. i also loved the word knösel, which reminded me of brösel, which is a slang word for crumbs, which then made sense, because this was a confectionary.
more exploring of heidelberg streets. there were so many beautiful alleys, and lots of baroque/classical architecture. it reminded me of my most favourite thuringian city weimar, where you can find streets like this as well.
the knight's house. beautiful example of renaissance architecture.
gargoyles on church roofs.
madonnas like this can be found everywhere in germany, but not always are they so stunning like this one.
schneeball ( snowball ) pastry! i didn't get one, but they looked truly delicious. it's a shortcrust pastry, often covered with icing sugar, chocolate or desiccated coconut and can be filled with marzipan or cream. will definitely check this out if i ever stumble upon them again. yum!
jesuitenkirche ( jesuit church ). a little bit untypical for us, we didn't enter any church buildings this time. we had already spent so much time at the castle and inside the apothecary museum, so we decided to just explore the city's streets.
the new university building, there's also obviously an old one, but i wasn't on the lookout for it. just shows that our time in heidelberg city was very brief and not in depth, haha. this building is a mix of bauhaus/neue sachlichkeit. i kind of like it. it's dedicated to the vivid mind, as the inscription above the entry insists.
finally the sun came through & we got to spent some more quality time by the neckar. district neuenheim seems to be a place of the rich & the famous.
the old bridge from afar.
another picture of the bridge tower.
just sitting by the river and watching the water move is a very therapeutic way to forget about the former colliding with the masses, ha.
the bridge was a treat for the eyes in the evening light.
in the back you can see the karlstor weir. i'm also pretty sure that the neckar valley must be a beautiful area to visit, and i sure hope i will get to see it in the future.
all in all, i was already pretty overwhelmed with the castle and the museum and running around in heidelberg sure wasn't enough to get to know the city more. i agree that it was a very charming city, no mattter how many tourists were clogging up the streets. i hope to return on a less crowded day again, and explore the city in depth even more, maybe even with a short venture into the neckar valley. maybe heidelberg and me won't be on such split terms anymore if it gets the chance to convince me otherwise ;)
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