Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 21, 1993 TAG: 9311210216
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: F8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB WILLIS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Twain put up at the Schloss Hotel, on a precipice overlooking the city. Awakening during that first night, he went into one of the balconies of his bedroom "and saw a wonderful sight. "Away down on the level, under the black mass of the Castle, the town lay, stretched along the river, its intricate cobweb of streets jeweled with twinkling lights. . . . it was as if all the diamonds in the world had been spread out there. . . . "One thinks
Heidelberg by day _ with its surroundings _ is the last possibility of the beautiful; but when he sees Heidelberg by night, a fallen Milky Way. . . he requires time to consider upon the verdict."
Twain, at bottom a cynic, was not given to raptures. A three-day visit to Heidelberg more than a century later made clear to us why he and millions of others have found the city enchanting: the epitome of old romantic Europe, wherestudents drank, dueled and _ as in Sigmund Romberg's "The Student Prince" _ fellin love.
My wife, Karen, and I came to Heidelberg from Paris by rail, using Eurailpass _ a good deal for many visitors to Europe. There are several versions of this pass, at various prices (subject to annual change). Ours were good for travel on any five days within a two-month period and cost about $300 apiece. That's for first-class accommodations, but make reservations 24 hours ahead to be sure of your seats.
Arriving in early afternoon, we put up at the Hotel Central, only a block anda half from the train station. Nothing fancy, but clean and roomy. We had a king-sized bed with down pillows and comforter; attached bath and toilet (not always standard in older European hotels); a large wardrobe, a table, a couple of chairs, and a telephone. Continental breakfast _ rolls, butter, jelly, cold cuts and coffee _ was included.
At the prevailing exchange rate, the hotel cost a little over $100 a night: quite reasonable for Heidelberg, a tourist mecca where it's estimated 350,000 visitors spend the night annually. (The population of the city itself is 133,000, plus 27,000 students at Europe's third-oldest university _ founded in 1386.)
Many of the sights are within an enjoyable walking distance (and the area has375 miles of hiking trails). If time's limited, however, take a bus or streetcar. They run all over the city and suburbs, from early morning until after midnight. Buy a 24-hour pass: for 7 marks (about $4.25), this allows two people unlimited use of the transit system during the period, a considerable saving over individual tickets.
A two-hour bilingual bus tour, starting outside the train station, cost us $20. That's always helpful in giving an overview of an area and some idea of which attractions you might like to come back to. Heidelberg has plenty of those, but chief among them is the Schloss (Fortress) or Castle, the city's most famous feature. It's visited by some 3 million people a year. Mobbed? Maybe at times. We found it pleasantly bustling. And a photographer's delight, up close or at a distance. From the town below, in the early light of morning the Castle appears to brood somberly over the city; later, the setting sun bathes it in shades of gold.
On summer nights it is spotlighted. Once or twice a year, it is brilliantly illuminated with colored lights, along with a fireworks display. From its own balustrade, one gets a splendid view of the city, the river and surrounding valley.
The Castle comprises several buildings of varying architecture, some in outwardly good condition, others in different stages of ruin. Construction beganin 1300 and took some 400 years to complete. Over the centuries, buildings have been damaged or destroyed in war, by lightning, fire _ or by lords of the Castlewho wished to change its design.
If possible, take the $2.50 guided tour, the only way to gain admission to much of the interior. If you lack time for that, there are other, accessible features. One is the Great Vat, testimonial to earlier generations' love of the grape. Completed in 1751, it required wood from 130 oak trees, and it succeeded two other huge vats that were not as large.
"It is a wine-cask as big as a cottage," wrote Mark Twain, "and some traditions say it holds eighteen hundred thousand bottles, and other traditions says it holds eighteen hundred million barrels. I think it likely that one of these statements is a mistake and the other one a lie."
You will still encounter varying estimates of its capacity, one being 221,726liters, or more than 58,573 gallons. Whatever; reputedly it was filled three times in the past (with wine paid as taxes by owners of local vineyards), but now it holds only some water.
Near the Great Vat stands a statue of its guardian, the dwarf Perkeo, who wascourt fool for Electors Karl-Philipp and Karl-Theodor. Legend (of which the Castle has an ample supply) says Perkeo drank 18 bottles of wine a day, and diedwhen he drank a glass of water by mistake. He lives on as patron of Heidelberg'scarnival and as a symbol of fun in the region, the Palatinate. Among the striking aspects of the pink-sandstone Castle are the walls of the Ottheinrich Building, built in German Renaissance style. The entrance takes the form of a triumphal arch. Along the three-story facade, windows alternate with niches holding statues of Old Testament heroes, symbols of the five virtues, and gods of antiquity. But above the ground level, the windows open only to the sky; there are no rooms behind them. The effect is extraordinary.
Adorning other parts of the Castle walls are statues of Electors and various grandees in bulky fighting garb. It had to be deucedly uncomfortable to go to war in those days.
The grounds are well-kept, with lush gardens. Look for Elizabeth's Gate, which Elector Friedrich V had built in 1615 for his wife, Elizabeth Stuart of Scotland. It was constructed in one night as her 19th-birthday present.
Not part of the Castle's history, but well worth seeing, is the German Pharmaceutical Museum (admission $1.80). Its exhibits go back to medieval times,a reminder of when chemists were looked on as virtual wizards. You can see, among other things, dried beetles and toads once used in medication (if not sorcery), plus a mummy with a full head of hair.
Back down in the city, you'll be able to pick out the American tourists (or those from the area's U.S. military base): They're the ones who cross streets against the traffic signals. Germans are law-abiding, and will wait to get the green light even if no vehicles are approaching.
No worry about traffic lights on the Hauptstrasse, a long, brick-laid street converted a few years ago to pedestrian-only traffic. It is lined with posh clothing and specialty shops, fine and middling restaurants, ice-cream parlors, grocery stores, galleries and myriad other establishments.
You'll also pass the Rathaus, or Town Hall, with its marketplace, and the Heiliggeistkirche (Holy Ghost Church), a huge Gothic structure whose foundation stone was laid in 1400. By the time the roof and steeple were put on centuries later, the prevailing architectural style had changed to baroque. Today the church is reputed for its modern, rich-toned organ.
Side streets lead into picturesque areas and shops that you may find more interesting for browsing. At the end of the Hauptstrasse's pedestrian-only zone is Kornmarkt Plaza, in its center a baroque statue of the Madonna, wearing a crown of stars.
Nearby you can take a funicular railway that will whisk you up the steep slope to the Castle, to Molkenkur _ or (for about $3.30 round trip) all the way to the Konigstuhl (King's Chair) atop the mountain, 1,860 feet up. The restaurant at Molkenkur had been highly recommended to us, but we arrived too late for lunch and settled for coffee and cake on the terrace. The view was somewhat obscured by foliage anyway.
As for restaurants and bars, there are some 300 to choose among. To our liking was Zum Ritter St. Georg, in a Renaissance-era building that's now a hotel. The restaurant reeks with atmosphere: coats of arms, a suit of
knights' mail, hunting paraphernalia _ the game on Zum Ritter's menu comes from its own hunting grounds. One day we had both lunch and dinner there, delighted to find broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and potatoes, the fresh vegetables that had been scarce on other tables. Lunch for the two of us was about $32, dinner about $72.
A tip about tipping: The majority of eating establishments seem to include a 15 percent service gratuity in the cost of the meal. When they do, they're required by law to state this on the check; it's indicated by the initials MWST.
There's an in-town restaurant named for the dwarf Perkeo, with atmosphere andpretty good food, so-so service. Here, the usually reliable Fodor's guidebook betrayed us: To dine "in the style for which this historic old restaurant has been known for close to three centuries," it recommended we ask for a table in at the Castle?" he asked.
We settled for the main dining room. I had sausages and sauerkraut along withdark beer; Karen ordered "hacked" beef (meatloaf) with mushrooms, mashed potatoes and salad. The bill was only $27.
Short on atmosphere but long on good food and friendly service was Futterkrippe. Karen had mushroom and potato soup, a salad, fried potatoes and two big slabs of beef with horseradish sauce.
I had salad and beer in dark sauce. Total bill was nearly $50, but that included a couple glasses of the local beer for me. Germany has some 1,300 breweries that turn out more than 5,000 varieties. I prefer the dark Alt (old) beer, but there are enough choices throughout the country to satisfy the fussiest palate.
On a rainy afternoon we spent a couple of pleasant hours at the Kurpfalzisches Museum (admission about $2 for adults). Its collection is keyeda to the area's past _ all the way back to prehistoric times. There is a plaster cast of the lower jawbone of "Homo Heidelbergensis," earliest evidence of human life in Europe. Found in 1907, it's estimated to be a half-million years old. The museum also has many excellent
19th-century German paintings and drawings. Don't miss Tilman Riemenschneider's 16th-century "Windsheim Altar," with beautiful, evocative carvings of Jesus and the Apostles.
Our last afternoon we entered the 18th-century Alte Brucke (Old Bridge), walking between two baroque towers, one of which was once a dungeon. Next to that tower crouches a bronze monkey, holding up a mirror to passersby, as if to say, like Puck: "What fools these mortals be!"
Across the bridge, we found the entrance to the Schlangenweg (Snake's Path) leading to Philosophenweg (Philosopher's Way). This brick path winds up, up, seemingly without end; at the top I estimated we'd climbed 500 feet. But we were rewarded with a magnificent view of the city below and the Castle across the river. Few cities in the world can afford so many fine vistas from so many different vantage points, the views subtly altering with the time of day.
Need to telephone home? Most expensive way is to use the phone in your hotel room. Cheaper is to go to the local post office; in most sizable German cities, these have a room from which you can arrange calls to anywhere in the world. There are many telephone books for reference. And in your private booth you can keep track of the call's cost in Deutschemarks on a digital display. You may need assistance here, as elsewhere. Don't worry. In two
visits to Germany, the first in 1986 with the Bach Choir from Roanoke College, I found the people, with few exceptions, to be friendly and helpful. English is widely spoken, especially among the young; their language skills put Americans to shame. Of course, they're pleased when you try to speak German, but they're ready to switch to English if you can't find the right words.
It had to be difficult for Mark Twain to leave; it was for me. That city mustbe like none other under the sun. If you love romantic atmosphere, old traditions, historic buildings and dreamlike scenery, you'll love Heidelberg.
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