Castles in the Air, and on Very Tall Hills

Traveling with me is always a balancing act

I was just about to post about our entry to Cambridge, when I realized while going through pictures that I’d missed one other German city – Cambridge’s sister city, in fact. That city is Heidelberg, the jewel of the Neckar River Valley. It’s fairly famous and therefore draws large amounts of tourists, completely disproportionate to its size but probably not to its quaint beauty.

Like Cambridge, Heidelberg has over 100,000 people but is dominated by a university. Walking up and down the entirety of the Hauptstrasse is a good way to get a feel for that part of the town. Many of the university buildings are either very old and won’t let you in or new and in use and won’t let you in. But they’re nice to look at from outside.

Looking quite schloss-y

The main thing to see in Heidelberg, as you may have guessed by now, is the large castle (affectionately known as the 'Schloss' - Germans sometimes pick odd sounds to express their affection) at the top of a rather steep hill. It’s a bit of a ruin, but the ruining didn’t actually happen until the 16th and 17th centuries, when a combination of lightning damage and French sabotage spelled its doom. The red bricks of the castle make it shimmer like something out of a fairy tale. Mark Twain said of it that

“Nature knows how to garnish a ruin to get the best effect. One of these old towers is split down the middle, and one half has tumbled aside. It tumbled in such a way as to establish itself in a picturesque attitude. Then all it lacked was a fitting drapery, and Nature has furnished that; she has robed the rugged mass in flowers and verdure, and made it a charm to the eye. The standing half exposes its arched and cavernous rooms to you, like open, toothless mouths; there, too, the vines and flowers have done their work of grace. The rear portion of the tower has not been neglected, either, but is clothed with a clinging garment of polished ivy which hides the wounds and stains of time. Even the top is not left bare, but is crowned with a flourishing group of trees & shrubs. Misfortune has done for this old tower what it has done for the human character sometimes − improved it.”

After briefly losing our breaths climbing the hill, we toured around the lovely grounds of the castle on what turned out to be another beautiful day. We didn’t actually pay to go in the castle (I’d been in it before, but it's not as cool as the grounds). The best way to see the castle is from just outside it, which also affords a nice view of the rest of the valley.

Got the jumping picture on the first try - for once

There’s another cool view of the castle from the Old Bridge spanning the Neckar River, whose reddish tinge matches the castle’s. I’ve heard that the Philosopher’s Walk, a hiking trail up the hills on the other side of the river, gives a pretty cool view of the castle and city also, but we didn’t have time to do it.

That's funny, the damage doesn't look as bad from here...

So if you want to see a charming old German city with fairly uniform architecture, and if you don’t mind your spouse serenading you with songs from The Student Prince (Laura put up with it pretty well), Heidelberg may be worth a trip. 7.5/10.0.