This morning the boat continued up the Rhine and after lunch we make a brief stop at Worms, which is the starting point for today's trip. Because of the dry conditions this year, the current is strong and level of the river is very low meaning the captain must take more care slowing the cruising speed, which we calculated is about 12kms per hour.
From Worms we took an optional coach trip to the old university city of Heidelberg with the River Neckar running through it. This is a relatively recent city and was set up as a university city in opposition to the control from Rome. It’s red walled castle, which has been destroyed 3 times in its history and is now essentially a ruin, is impressive for the easily visible architectural styles, from gothic, to renaissance to the baroque style. Lisa, the guide (and Geography student) was very informative and made the history of Heidelberg really interesting.
We then visited the old quarter with its mixed architectural styles build on an original medieval city framework of narrow streets and market places. We climbed the over 200 steps to the top of the Catholic Church - at the encouragement of a charming elderly volunteer at the door. It was definitely worthwhile, as the view over the city and surrounds was spectacular. After that we visited the Jesuit church which was impressive for its understated but very impressive interior. By now we’re getting a bit ‘churched’ out and agreed to cut down.
In the short time left, we wandered some of the narrow streets and checked out some of the cake/bread shops with typical Heidelberg specialties, including sweets that look like river stones but are sugar coated nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, etc. and sweet balls the size of baseballs consisting of a biscuity structure and containing any combination of sweet accompaniments. We bought one with nougat and caramel to share with our table companions over dinner. At the end of the excursion we caught the coach back to Speyr where the Alemannia was waiting.
We are now so spoiled that we began bemoaning the fact that the boat was not traveling while we had dinner, but still tied to the dock!
PS: Running out of time to write & upload photos, so I'll just post text for the next few days.
From Worms we took an optional coach trip to the old university city of Heidelberg with the River Neckar running through it. This is a relatively recent city and was set up as a university city in opposition to the control from Rome. It’s red walled castle, which has been destroyed 3 times in its history and is now essentially a ruin, is impressive for the easily visible architectural styles, from gothic, to renaissance to the baroque style. Lisa, the guide (and Geography student) was very informative and made the history of Heidelberg really interesting.
We then visited the old quarter with its mixed architectural styles build on an original medieval city framework of narrow streets and market places. We climbed the over 200 steps to the top of the Catholic Church - at the encouragement of a charming elderly volunteer at the door. It was definitely worthwhile, as the view over the city and surrounds was spectacular. After that we visited the Jesuit church which was impressive for its understated but very impressive interior. By now we’re getting a bit ‘churched’ out and agreed to cut down.
In the short time left, we wandered some of the narrow streets and checked out some of the cake/bread shops with typical Heidelberg specialties, including sweets that look like river stones but are sugar coated nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, etc. and sweet balls the size of baseballs consisting of a biscuity structure and containing any combination of sweet accompaniments. We bought one with nougat and caramel to share with our table companions over dinner. At the end of the excursion we caught the coach back to Speyr where the Alemannia was waiting.
We are now so spoiled that we began bemoaning the fact that the boat was not traveling while we had dinner, but still tied to the dock!
PS: Running out of time to write & upload photos, so I'll just post text for the next few days.
