My first impression of Heidelberg was that it’s cleaner and quieter than Frankfurt. It’s also much smaller. There’s less English on signs, maps, and menus which makes me wish I’d managed to keep up my high school German! It’s also much more historically authentic because, unlike Frankfurt, it was almost completely spared during World War II. Since it wasn’t an industrial centre or a transport hub, it wasn’t a target for Allied bombing.

We arrived by train shortly before noon yesterday, dropped our suitcases at our hotel, and headed for the Altstadt (Old Town) where we enjoyed wandering the narrow streets.

We saw several ancient churches including St. Peter’s, the oldest church in the city. Parts of the tower date back to the 12th century.

The Alstadt is also home to Heidelberg University, the oldest university in Germany. The building on the right in the next photo is the University Museum.

One building of particular interest is the former student prison, used to detain unruly students from 1778 to 1914! Part of the stone interior is now a shop selling university t-shirts, hats, and other memorabilia.

The imposing Rathaus, or City Hall, with the fountain of Hercules in front, overlooks Market Square and has appeared as it does today since 1701.

A short walk from the Market Square took us to the Old Bridge across the Neckar River.

The bridge offers a great view of Heidelberg Castle on the hillside above town. We’ll be exploring that today!

Walking  back along the river toward our hotel, we discovered a bit of serendipity. Looking over the balustrade, we spotted a short stretch of white sand complete with beach chairs and a kiosk selling beverages. Our tired feet took us down the stairs to investigate further and we ended up taking a wonderful and unexpected break there!

I can’t begin to imagine how many miles we’ve put on these feet over the past few days, but they were very happy to take a break! We’ve always said that walking is the best way to see a city and it’s moments like this one that we’d miss if we always depended on transit to get around.

We are going to take a bus to the castle this morning though as it would involve retracing a lot of the steps that we took yesterday and our legs could use the rest!