Heidelberg: Thurs 5 – Sat 7 Sept: Accommodation
Thurs 5th Sept
It was a cloudy start to the day for our last morning walk around Köln but this soon cleared to yield blue sky and sunshine for our drive down to Heidelberg. There was a bit of time after checking out of our hotel in Köln and before checking in at our next accommodation and so we visited Idstein on our drive down to Heidelberg. Idstein is a small town with the most beautiful half timber houses dating back to the 15th to 18th century. We used the GPSmycity walking guide to navigate our way around the pretty pedestrian zone area for about an hour and I would highly recommend using this if you ever find yourself in Idstein.
We were back on the road after our visit to Idstein and made it to Heidelberg just after 3 pm for our apartment check in. Once again, we found ourselves having to lug our bags over the cobbled streets of the pedestrian only zone to access our apartment. The apartment was in a great location, being on the longest pedestrian shopping street in all of Europe. It was huge and nicely furnished but did not have any air conditioning and was stifling hot when we entered as it was 30 degrees outside and not much lower than that on the inside! The huge tub of ear plugs left by the master bed didn’t send the best of messages either. Both issues were slightly irritating for me as I’d ticked a/c on my list when searching for lodging and had checked the reviews to note for any noise issues, but, we would make do for our two night stay. I admit that one of the first things I did when I logged on to the Wi-Fi was to check all of our subsequent bookings to make sure air conditioning was included. Thankfully, it is only forecast to be around 23 degrees tomorrow so, fingers crossed.
We set back out at around 4.30 pm and explored Heidelberg Old Town with help again from GPSmyCity. Our apartment was slap bang in the middle of all the local action and surrounded by a multitude of cafes, bars, restaurants and shops. We found the area to be buzzing with activity, and especially with loads of students, and we weren’t surprised to learn that 1/4 of the population is made up of University students. As an aside, Heidelberg University was founded in 1386 and is Germany’s oldest, and one of Europe’s most prestigious, universities. Heidelberg is a very pretty city and follows a similar formula to many we’ve seen thus far; situated on the valley floor, either side of a river with a castle perched high above.
It was after 6pm by the time our self-guided walk finished and, unable to find any restaurant that served up vegetables on their menu, we stumbled on Hotel Hackteufel which at least had air/con working in its restaurant area so that clinched it for me. A/C is rare in most venues as, up until recently, they’d really only had to worry about heating for their winters. Times have changed though and rather quickly! We had a nice meal there but we were home by 7.30 pm in time to do some washing. We were both pretty tired after a long day of travel so an early night was just fine.
Fri 6th Sept
It was a much cooler morning than yesterday which was a huge relief. The forecast maximum for the day was only 23 degrees which was a much better temperature for our one full day of exploring Heidelberg. We set off for a morning walk but there was no coffee stop at the end as there were no cafes open at 8 am; most don’t open until after 9am.
We had a walking tour booked for later in the day but we used the morning to catch the funicular up to the ruins of the Schloss Heidelberg, dating back to the 13th century. The Castle was sacked during the Thirty Year War, between the Catholics and the Protestants, but more significantly during the Nine Year War, when Louis XIV went on his rampage, and it was never rebuilt. This was a fascinating visit and one I’d highly recommend. We used the audio guide which helped to make our meandering more meaningful and I don’t think a visit would be worthwhile without some form of guidance.
Our city walking tour didn’t start until 2.30 pm and this was with Dina from Heidelberg Free Walking Tour and it was excellent. Dina was originally from Iran but fell in love with Heidelberg and has made it her home. She shared her passion for the city as she took our small group, of just 5, around the city and gave a clear and concise potted history of the main events that had impacted Heidelberg. We wound through parts of the city we would not likely have explored and I even found a restaurant in our passing that looked very chic and had cloth napkins! Something we hadn’t seen yet in our travels and, if I hadn’t already booked a restaurant for tonight and we’d had another day here, I would have booked in here. There was one slightly strange event though on this walk and this was when the only other lady on the tour, who was from Zagreb, Croatia, asked where I was from. She had no idea where Sydney or Bondi Beach was and I’m not even sure she knew where Australia was located. It was a great walking tour of the city and I would highly recommend this tour if you are ever in Heidelberg.
It was almost 5 pm by the time our tour finished and Mark had a pre-arranged meeting with someone who currently lives in Heidelberg but who was originally from Australia and who he thinks he knew from school. It turns out this was correct and the guy was one year above Mark at school. What a small world! They had a good time catching up on shared memories and experiences from their time playing footy together on the northern beaches. I caught up with Mark afterwards for dinner at Kulturbrauerei Heidelberg, which had been suggested by our apartment host and also by Dina, our tour guide, so that was a good omen. This turned out to be a great find as my trout dish came with a side of grilled asparagus so it was worth it just for that. Hallelujah, finally, some green vegetables on this trip! No cloth napkins though.
We had enjoyed our short visit to Heidelberg and could probably have had one more night here, as this would have given us two full days for exploring rather than just the one that we’d had. We depart tomorrow for a 3 hour drive down to Basel, Switzerland.
