Destination: Heidelberg, Germany

Following two nights in Frankfurt, my next destination was Heidelberg, a college town situated along the Neckar river in southwest Germany. It’s not too far from the Rhine river, and it’s known for its pretty landscapes, pretty architecture…just about anything pretty. Even though I didn’t know much about Heidelberg before, I had heard good things about it, which was enough of a reason to go!

I took the Flixbus at 13:15 from Frankfurt. Journey time took about one-and-a-half hours, and soon enough, it arrived on-time to the Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof, from where I got off and headed to my Couchsurfing host’s flat, about 20 minutes on-foot. His place was located across the Neckar, not too far from the Philosopher’s Walk, which I would be seeing that afternoon.

Arriving at the apartment complex, I followed my host’s instructions on how to get in. Long story short: prior to arriving, I had been in contact with my host– he told me that he would be out of town when I arrived, so he left the spare key outside of the complex (in a flower pot) and I had to dig a bit to find it. Eventually, I found it in a plastic bag– slightly muddied, but still was able to access the door outside. Next part was to get into his own apartment, and he’d hidden the second key inside a cupboard on the staircase, so I did that and was finally able to get inside. It was a little intricate, but I found it pretty clever, and I eventually got in, anyway! He wouldn’t be returning until later that night after I would be asleep, which was fine by me.

After dropping off my belongings, I almost immediately went out again to do the Philosopher’s Walk, a picturesque stroll in a woodsy part of town. It’s famous for being a place for intellectuals (e.g. professors, philosophers) to walk along and ruminate about life– a very romantic perspective, that’s for sure! Not only that, but it also offers the iconic views of Heidelberg’s Stone Bridge and castle from above, as the walk is situated on one of the hills surrounding the town.

Reason why I wanted to do the walk right away was that I’d checked the weather beforehand, and it’d read that the day I arrived in Heidelberg would be the best time to do it: the following day would rain, even snow, which didn’t make for ideal conditions for visiting. I was glad that I went when I could: while the weather was frosty, it was sunny which made for a gorgeous walk. Auburn leaves were scattered everywhere, and I swear that this photo I took looks like something from a computer wallpaper– it was unbelievably beautiful!

It was late afternoon when I went– that said, I wanted to wait until it got dark to capture the beauty of Heidelberg lit up at night. After taking a couple shots of the views in the daylight, I waited in the cold (really, it was freezing!) until sunset, and from there, I got the castle and Stone Bridge with their lights, glowing warmly in the winter night.

Sometime past 17:00, I headed to the Stone Bridge, taking the steep, cobblestone path down to the Neckar. I admit, it was a bit risky to take that path– despite it being more direct than others, it was rather slippery from the rain earlier in the day, not to forget already pitch-dark. Definitely had to be careful making the descent, even using my phone’s flashlight to help, and eventually, I made it to ground level in one piece. The Stone Bridge was even more beautiful close-up: simple, but enigmatic.

Crossing the Stone Bridge, I headed into the Old Town, where several Christmas markets were going on. I started at Marktplatz, where I bought some fries with Hollandaise sauce as my “dinner”– then again, I was absolutely starving, and I just needed something quick (and ideally hot) to get me through the evening while exploring the other Christmas markets. I also quickly popped into Karlsplatz which was just adjacent to Marktplatz, where it had some lovely, glowing Christmas trees– I could see the castle looming in the background as well.

I took the Hauptstraße, which is the long, main street of Heidelberg’s Old Town which connects the other squares together. I visited the Universitätsplatz, where the Old University is located. Still feeling hungry, I got some currywurst since I hadn’t had it since my trip to Berlin in 2012– I was craving them, anyway. Continuing down the Hauptstraße, I passed through several smaller squares with Christmas markets before arriving at Bismarckplatz, a square that’s sandwiched between two busy streets and the Galeria Kaufhof, a large commercial mall. I got glühwein at the Christmas market there before walking back to my host’s apartment– even though it wasn’t even 19:00 yet, I was already feeling tired and just wanted to stay inside for the rest of the night (and out of the cold!). After a hot shower and some downtime, I turned in for the night– I heard my Couchsurfing host return past midnight, but he simply just went to his room to sleep.

The following morning, I greeted my host when he woke up and together, we enjoyed a simple brunch in his flat while making pleasant conversation: I learned that he was Austrian, but had moved to Germany when he was eighteen, so he pretty much lived in Germany most of his life. Later, I left around 11:00 to explore Heidelberg in the day, since I would only be there for two nights and one full day. I headed into the Old Town, where I first visited the Studentenkarzer, an old student prison used until the early 20th century to punish those who behaved badly in school. It was literally a prison, with a small room containing nothing but a bed and desk. The walls were heavily graffiti’d from bored student prisoners who had nothing else to do besides wait until they got out. It was quite fascinating, with the graffiti’d walls as a sign of liberty and youth for the college town itself.

I’d paid 2,50€ for the Studentenkarzer, but the ticket also entitled me to visit other sites within the Old University, as it was located there. I also checked out the exhibition of the university’s history inside the ground floor of the building, before going upstairs to see the Great Hall, its crowning jewel. It has traditionally been used for university lectures, although today it’s more so used for school ceremonies and concerts. Going inside, you can’t but feel taken away with its golden arches and high ceilings, upon which frescoes were painted. Although it’d been 2,50€, it certainly went a long way with seeing these university treasures!

After the Old University, I headed to the Heidelberg Castle, which required somewhat of a hike up– upon reaching the top, I first checked out its gardens (devoid of flowers, since it was winter) before stumbling upon its viewing terrace from which I got spell-binding views of the castle in contrast with the town and Neckar river– if I’d thought that the views from the Philosopher’s Walk were pretty, those from the castle were just as gorgeous!

Deciding to check out the castle itself, I paid 4€ to enter the courtyard, as well as check out the world’s largest wine barrel and the Pharmacy Museum. I climbed on top of the former and went through the historical exhibitions of the latter before checking out the terrace outside– to my surprise, it started snowing, and I then chose to leave the castle grounds to return to the Old Town below. While it was nice to see, the Heidelberg Castle doesn’t have much inside of it, really.

I was starving like crazy as I made my way back to the Old Town on my way back to my host’s apartment, since I was otherwise done for the day. Eventually, I settled on an Italian joint where the food was actually Italian (i.e. the people working there were Italian)– a salami panini and minestrone soup certainly took my hunger away quickly! Just before returning to the flat, I passed by a cute pastry shop where I got some small cakes as a gift for my host, and we had it for afternoon tea when I got back. The rest of the day was spent at the flat until the next day, when I caught my Flixbus in the early afternoon to my next destination in Germany, thereby ending my stay in Heidelberg.

Just like with Frankfurt, my stay in Heidelberg was short, but sufficient. Compared with the other main German cities I stayed in, Heidelberg was quite small, and I think that a full day in town is enough to see everything. All the same, it was incredibly lovely, as it’d been well-preserved throughout the centuries (one of the few German towns that’d been spared during WWII) and offers both history and nature for visitors. I didn’t spend too much time with my Couchsurfing host, since we were busy with separate plans, but we made time for some thoughtful conversations. Overall, it was a pleasant stay in Heidelberg, and I’m glad to have crossed it off my bucket list!

Coming up: Nuremberg, Germany!

 

— Rebecca