Discovery tour Heidelberg & surroundings

Heidelberg

Heidelberg is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The city is located on the Neckar River at the point where it leaves the Odenwald Forest and enters the Upper Rhine Graben. The former Electoral Palatinate residence city is known for its picturesque old town, its castle ruins and the Ruprecht Karls University, which is the oldest university on the territory of today's Germany.

In 870, St. Michael's Monastery was founded on the summit of the Heiligenberg on the site of the old temple of Mercury. Later followed the St. Stephen's Monastery, and the Neuburg Abbey.

The city of Heidelberg was founded in the 12th century; however, its history dates back to Celtic and Roman times. The oldest written mention of Heidelberg dates back to 1196.

Many of Heidelberg's present-day districts date back to villages that were established as early as the Frankish period in the 6th century. Some of them were first mentioned in documents in the Lorsch Codex, Neuenheim and Handschuhsheim around the year 765.

In 1386, Ruprecht I founded the University of Heidelberg as the third university in the Holy Roman Empire (after Prague and Vienna). It is the oldest university in Germany. In 1392 Heidelberg was extensively enlarged, the city area almost doubled and corresponded to the present old town. Heidelberg benefited from the reign of Ruprecht III, who was elected Roman-German king in 1400, by building the Heiliggeistkirche. His successors made Heidelberg University a stronghold of early humanism towards the end of the 15th century.

Heidelberg Castle is one of the most famous ruins in Germany and the city's landmark. The castle ruins, made of red Neckar Valley sandstone, rise on the northern slope of the Königsstuhl above Heidelberg's old town.

The castle in Heidelberg ("castrum in Heidelberg cum burgo ipsius castri") is mentioned in 1225.

As a consequence of the Palatinate War of Succession (1688) the French blew up the towers and walls with mines on September 6, 1693, and Heidelberg Castle became a ruin. Restoration measures were finally abandoned in 1764 after lightning struck the hall twice in a row on June 24, 1764 and the castle burned down again.

Heidelberg with its song "I lost my heart in Heidelberg" ... it is true, who is once in Heidelberg falls in love with this city.

Heidelberg - Photos

Sights

The Philosophers' Garden is a sun-drenched natural balcony with an abundance of exotic plants. The Heidelberg Bismarck Tower, a monument to the first Chancellor of the Reich, was built in 1903 on the southern slope of the Heiligenberg above the Philosophers' Walk and can be accessed by a staircase.

The Heiligenberg is a 439.1 m high mountain near the Heidelberg districts of Neuenheim and Handschuhsheim.
Handschuhsheim and, after the Königstuhl (570.3 m) on the other side of the Neckar, the lowest of Heidelberg's two local mountains. The Heidelberg Thingstätte is an open-air theater on the Heiligenberg in Heidelberg, built during the Nazi era as a Thing site modeled on ancient Greek theaters. The ruins of St. Stephen's Monastery are the remains of the second monastery on Heiligenberg, built around 1094 by the Benedictine monk Arnold. The Heiligenberg Tower is a lookout tower near the St. Stephen's Monastery, built in 1886 from stones of this monastery.

Ladenburg

(City / Distance to Heidelberg 14,5 km)

Town with a listed old town, and place of activity of Carl Benz. The history goes back to the Celtic and Roman times. Ladenburg calls itself the oldest town on the right bank of the Rhine. First settlement between 3000 and 200 BC as a Celtic settlement Lokudunom.

Two forts are known from the earliest period of occupation in the last quarter of the 1st century AD, after which a planned foundation of the town took place. The epithet of the associated administrative body (Civitas Ulpia Sueborum Nicrensium*) suggests that this took place during the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117 AD). (*formerly also Nicretum)

○ Automobile Museum Ladenburg

The world's first car. The first car driven by a woman. The world's first car garage. (Automobile Museum > external site) Dr. Carl Benz, Ladenburg.

Edingen-Neckarhausen

Local recreation and nature conservation / Distance to Heidelberg 9,0 km

We are not directly in town but between the districts of Edingen and Neckarhausen... we are at the Fischkinderstube (nursery of the fish / local recreation and nature conservation) one of the largest side waters, with about 13,000 square meters, on the entire Neckar and is a reproduction and refuge for fish.

○ Neckarhausen Castle Garden

(Distance to Heidelberg 19,5 km)

Weinheim

(large district town / Distance to Heidelberg 18,0 km)

Weinheim is located in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg. It is located about 18 km north of Heidelberg and about 15 km northeast of Mannheim on the Badische Bergstrasse and has been a large district town since April 1, 1956.

Because of its two landmarks, the Windeck Ruin and the Wachenburg Castle, it is nicknamed the "Two-Castle City".
755 A.D. was the first documented mention of Winenheim in the Lorsch Codex, the document book of the Lorsch Monastery. Accordingly, the name Weinheim does not come from the wine grown in the area, but from Winos Heim. ("Wino" is a Franconian proper name.)

○ Hermannshof Weinheim

(park) The history of Hermannshof began in the 18th century. At that time, it was the site of a stately summer residence owned by Lambert von Babo and others. Around 1820, Friedrich Weinbrenner built a neoclassical manor house here which came into the possession of the Freudenberg family in 1888. After reconstruction, the ensemble of house and garden has borne the name Hermannshof since 1900.

In 1983, a non-profit association "Schau- und Sichtungsgarten Hermannshof e. V." was founded and leased the property from the owner. The manor house continues to be used by the Freudenberg company.

○ Wachenburg (Weinheim)

(Castle / Corporation House / Distance to Heidelberg 25,5 km) The Wachenburg is a social house on the Wachenberg above the city of Weinheim. It was built between 1907 and 1928 by the Weinheimer Senioren-Convent (WSC), a corporate association of student corps, as a conference and meeting place. The construction and maintenance was and is financed exclusively by donations.

○ Windeck castle ruins (Weinheim)

(Distance to Heidelberg 24,5 km) Windeck Castle stands on a hill in Weinheim and was built around 1100. It was severely damaged in 1674 by the troops of the French king Louis XIV. In the 1960s, the ruins were restored and acquired by the city of Weinheim in 1978. Today the castle is a listed building.

A walk from the city of Weinheim is worthwhile and if you want to walk even further, a path leads to the nearby Wachenburg.

Strahlenburg Schriesheim

(Castle / Distance to Heidelberg 17,0 km) Visi

Visit of the Strahlenburg and the Schriesheimer vineyards. The Strahlenburg, is the ruin of a hilltop castle in Schriesheim. Conrad I von Strahlenberg began building the Strahlenburg around 1235 as the ancestral seat of the Strahlenbergs and is first mentioned in a document in 1240 as the bailiff of Schriesheim.

It burned out completely on February 8, 1488 - apparently without any warlike influence.

In 1733, the demolition of the ruins began when the use of the castle's stones for the construction of vineyard walls was officially approved. The Counts of Oberndorff became leaseholders in 1784 and owners of the ruin in 1828. They secured the remains visible today against further decay. The ruin with a castle restaurant is located on a flank of the Ölberg, which is also called Schriesheimer Schlossberg.

Fantastic view over the vineyards that invite you to hike, very good restaurant.

UNESCO World Heritage Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch with The Lauresham open-air laboratorium and City of Lorsch

(Distance to Heidelberg 34,4 km)

In 1461 it was pledged to the Electoral Palatinate, which abolished the monastery in 1564. Lorsch Monastery became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. (Note: Not to be confused with the younger Lorch Monastery in Baden-Wuerttemberg.) The Lauresham open-air laboratory is located in the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Lorsch Monastery, which was redesigned and greatly expanded in 2014.

Frankenstein Castle

(Castle / Distance to Heidelberg 56,0 km)

Castle with literary fame: Frankenstein Castle owes its fame to the fact that it was the namesake for Mary Shelley's famous book "Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus", which was also filmed several times. In 1673, the alchemist and physician Johann Konrad Dippel was born in the castle. It is he who is said to have inspired Mary Shelly to create the figure of Victor Frankenstein. However, this has not been proven. What is clear is that Mary Shelly was traveling in this area of Germany. Therefore, it is possible that she at least discovered a sign to the castle and was fascinated by the name.

Our rating

Travel at any time of year, city breaks, stays of several days. A visit to Heidelberg and the surrounding area is a must when in Germany.

★★★★★

Our star rating

Remark:
Winkler & Cabral & Project Globetrotter are the old labels of the photos, from the beginning of 2024 they will only be labeled "J.Winkler - Art my way".
- My perfect place videos were created in 2020. Author / copyright of these videos: Juergen Winkler

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