Heidelberg

We sailed through the night— and I slept remarkably well. It was 7:30 before I headed for the bathroom and then made some tea and coffee. We were sailing through a very rural area, and the Internet signal was almost non-existent. This meant that my early morning blog habit and my photo processing were causing severe headaches.

We made our way down for a late breakfast; Jane and Trevor were just finishing theirs. We had a morning’s sailing, so there was no hurry to get ready for anything. Whilst, at first, it was a bit overcast, it did brighten up. It was very chilly, however, and even the crew had their big fleeces on when we traversed the locks. The upshot of this was that the lounge was very crowded as we sat and had a little Kindle time. Jane and Trevor tried to do some laps on deck, but found it a bit too cool to do many circuits. Carole and Ian sat down to join us, and we chatted through the rest of the morning.

We docked in Mannheim just after 12:30, but the afternoon excursion would not leave until 14:00. We wandered down to the restaurant for some lunch and then back to our cabin to prepare for the outing. We were booked on the “Heidelberg at Leisure” excursion. The coach whisked us to the city and dropped us at Neckarmunstplatz (which would also be our pick-up point).

Our guide was waiting for us and we set off into the old town along the high street (Hauptstrasse). Heidelberg University, founded in 1386, is Germany's oldest and one of Europe's most reputable universities. Heidelberg is a scientific hub in Germany and home to several internationally renowned research facilities adjacent to its university, including the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and four Max Planck Institutes. The city has also been a hub for the arts, especially literature, throughout the centuries, and it was designated a "City of Literature" by the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

She pointed out the views up to the semi-ruined castle on Königstuhl hill (where Jane and Trevor were going) and across the river Neckar. Then she walked us toward the various squares, providing a running commentary on the history of the city and the individual houses of interest. Modern Heidelberg can trace its roots to this 12th-century monastery. The first reference to Heidelberg can be found in a document in Schönau Abbey dated to 1196. This is considered to be the town's founding date.

We were going to sit down in the rather forbidding Protestant Cathedral (Gothic Heiliggeistkirche) where she had planned to tell us more of the story of the town, but there was an event in progress. 

Instead, we walked on to the Catholic Church of the Jesuits. Its construction began in 1712. It was completed with the addition of a bell tower from 1866 to 1872. The church was enchanting in its peaceful atmosphere and simplicity. 

We moved on to see the square by the university (and the gaol). We were then left with an hour or so to explore at will. We headed off down some of the side streets and bumped into Carole and Ian, so sat down at a bar and enjoyed a beer in the afternoon sunshine.

We decided to walk along the riverbank and look at the Old Bridge. The old stone bridge was erected between 1786 and 1788. A medieval bridge gate is on the side of the old town and was originally part of the town wall. Baroque tower helmets were added as part of the erection of the stone bridge in 1788. On the side of the bridge, there were marks showing how high the water reached during various flooding events. Like Worcester, several of these were above my head.

On the other side of the river were some stunning houses perched between the river and the cliffs. Our Saga rep, Roco, suggested that none of these sold for under 3 million!

Arriving back at the rendezvous point we met up with Jane and Trevor who told us about the visit to the castle and the vast barrel of wine that is held there. A photo shows Jane dwarfed by this barrel which could contain 221,726 litres of wine.

Back at the ship, we showered and then met up for dinner. We all chose steak and it was cooked just as each of us had specified. From the restaurant, we migrated to the lounge and set ourselves up in the corner ready for the evening’s quiz. As defending champions we had to keep up appearances. There was a fair bit of banter before the quiz started and some teams were clearly quite competitive. They were no match for the Saganauts, however, as we ran away with 30 out of 30 questions and won. We stayed on for a while listening to Andy Foster play various hits from the 60s and 70s - some were even brave enough to dance around their handbags (not the Saganauts, obviously). It was well after 23:00 before we said our goodnights and headed for the cabin.