We drove through Germany from the Czech Republic on our way to Strasbourg, France in early August. The countryside was still green and the temperatures mild and we loved being back on the Euro and able to speak/understand at least a little of the German language after our challenges in the eastern bloc countries. We stopped for two nights in the south-eastern town of Regensburg and discovered the delights of this Bavarian city.
Regensburg is the fourth largest city in Bavaria and one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe. It used to be the northernmost city of the Roman Empire and became wealthy in the Middle Ages as the centre of the saffron and pepper trade. Regensburg old town is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its many churches, monuments gothic architecture and as one of the sites of old Roman Danube Limes. Limes is the Latin word for limit and the Roman Danube Limes were a series of militarised frontier towns that marked the limit of the Roman empire. There’s a History Museum that shows how up to 6000 roman soldiers used to live in Regensburg back in AD 179. There’s also a more modern museum on the river which has a very curious gold ‘eel-like’ sculpture (see pic) out the front which apparently is the Danube Sheatfish – a type of catfish, that depicts life on more recent times.
We stayed on HaidPlatz (pictured above) one of the oldest squares in Regensburg that used to be a large meadow where medieval tournaments were held. Opposite our hotel was the Thon-Dittmer Palais, an old palace with a large open courtyard which has live music events. Steffi Denk & Friends were playing on Saturday night as part of the Palazzo festival and we caught the end of their concert on Saturday night.
We spent our two days and nights strolling around the old city and highlights included the Regensburg Cathedral (Dom St. Peter) with its gothic, Gaudi-esque twin towers craning heavenward, the Ostentor (Eastern city gate) watchtower with its roman clock and the Neupfarrplatz which used to be the Jewish quarter in the Middle Ages. The Jewish quarter was destroyed in 1519 when the city converted to Protestant Lutherism but there are some neat reminders of the Jewish community including a floor relief of the old Jewish synagogue now used as a meeting place and little alleyways of Jewish trade-stores.
Our favourite part of Regensburg however, was the Stone bridge which was built in 1135, and is considered a feat of medieval architecture (it was once the 8th wonder of the world). The stone bridge spans the Danube, Regen and Naab rivers and the far side of the bridge used to be a separate region called Stadamhof that was quit separate from Regensburg (they had a saying “One never marries over the bridge” – a bit like North and South of the Yarra river in Melbourne – haha! We enjoyed a wonderful sunset from the bridge and walking along the rivers on both sides of the bridge.
As our Hotel didn’t have a kitchen or fridge we had to eat our meals out, which is unusual for us but we did enjoy finding the best breakfast & coffee – Malefiz (pictured) which serves up gourmet combinations that made us yearn for home and the best snack bar – Café Lily, their haloumi fries with avocado and spicy salsa are delish. And best wine bar that serves chilled takeaway bottles to enjoy on the river at sunset was the Tipsy Wine Concept Store!
