Hey guys,

Today I would like to tell you about my day trip to Heidelberg. This trip is already some time behind me. I went to Heidelberg because I had enrolled at the university. In the end, I ended up in Cologne - but I was able to get to know this great city a little. And I would say it really is one of the most beautiful cities in Germany, even though I haven't seen everything yet, especially not the typical sights in Heidelberg.

And since I enrolled at the university, I mainly saw the university buildings from the inside and the old town.

In the pictures you can see buildings of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. I have to admit that I enrolled here not only because the university has an excellent reputation, but also because the city is simply beautiful with many castles, a historic old town and probably the most architecturally beautiful university in Germany.

Heidelberg is located in Badem-Württemberg.
The university probably looks so beautiful because it is the oldest university in Germany and one of the oldest universities in Europe.
The university was founded as early as 1386.

The University Library

And now to the library:
The construction of the university library also dates back to 1386. This library had already assumed a large and significant scale in the 16th and 17th centuries. The largest part of this library, which was already very well known at that time, was given to the Vatican in Rome as war booty in 1622 during the Thirty Years' War. Teaching at the university was thus put on hold for the time being.

In 1816, the first German-language manuscripts from the Bibliotheca Palatina were returned to Heidelberg.

The University Library, which is the main library in the Old Town at the Neuenheimer Feld branch, is also the central library in the library system of Heidelberg University. In addition, there are 49 decentralised libraries for individual subjects. Together they form a unified library system.

The library from inside

And now enough about Heidelberg University. Because Heidelberg has so much more to offer: The old town. Because that's what Heidelberg is known for. The Old Town is the heart of Heidelberg, so to speak. There are also many historic houses here. The Alstadt was first mentioned in a document in 1196, more than a century before the university was founded. What I like so much is that you can find everything here at once: a city with beautiful house facades, mountains and a river called the Neckar.

One of the most historic cities in Germany

What fascinated me most was the medieval layout of the city: There are countless narrow streets and old baroque buildings. In addition, there is a castle (of which I unfortunately could not find a picture in my photo gallery), which lives above the old town, and many monuments.
And that's why about 3 million people visit Heidelberg every year (probably a little less during Corona).

The Old Town of Heidelberg is a district in its own right on the southern bank of the Neckar. It lies between the river and the slope of the Königstuhl below Heidelberg Castle.

And this number is surprising: although the old town seemed relatively well built-up to me, this part of town still includes the entire forest area of the Königstuhl. At 564 metres, this is one of the highest mountains in the Odenwald. And that's why only about 10 % of the old town is built on.

The old town also offers many beautiful squares that are worth visiting. From west to east, these include Bismarckplatz, Friedrich-Ebert-Platz, Universitätsplatz, Marktplatz at the Heiliggeistkirche, Kornmarkt and Karlsplatz.

The core old town today has got a rectangular ladder layout. This was the custom in the early Gothic period. Three streets thus ran parallel to the river and were divided by cross-streets into areas, all of which had a fairly similar layout. These three streets are the Lower Street, the Main Street and the Ingrim Street.
Where the axes intersect was the centre of Heidelberg: the market square.

In the early 13th century, the city wall was built around Heidelberg. The so-called Hexenturm, or witches' tower, reinforced the city wall in the direction of the Rhine plain.
There were also city gates. These were located at the end of the two main streets and at Steingasse on the Neckar.

What do you say? Have you ever been to Heidelberg? What did you like best about the city?

Actually, there is so much more to tell about Heidelberg. But maybe that's for another time with more photos of the more "usual" sights. Until then, I hope you enjoyed the post. Feel free to leave me your feedback and give me a vote. See you next time!