REGENSBURG IS ONE OF GERMANY’S MOST WELL-PRESERVED MEDIEVAL CITIES:
Amsterdam to Budapest River Cruise – Avalon Waterways – Day 9
Regensburg’s Old Stone Bridge
This morning we sailed through the final stretch of the Main-Danube Canal. We were to go on a boat trip through the lovely Danube Gorge to Weltenburg Abbey in the morning and then visit Regensburg in the afternoon but the order of activities was swapped around – no reason given. We visited Regensburg in the morning and then did the Danube Gorge cruise in the afternoon. This turned out well for us as, in terms of photography, the light was better in both places.
Regensburg Walking Tour
Our walking tour of Regensburg started at 9.00 in the morning and as our ship was moored close to the historic centre, we were able to walk into town.
Regensburg is one of Germany’s best preserved medieval cities and its patrician houses are also famous in Germany. The town was lucky that many of its medieval buildings survived the war.
Our guided tour to see some of the city’s architectural highlights began near the Old Stone bridge (Steinerne Brücke). Built between 1135-1146 it is one of the oldest bridges crossing the Danube. From the bridge we had good views of Regensburg old town.
Goliath House
Goliath Haus was one of the attractions we walked past. If you are wondering what Regensburg has to do with David and Goliath, the answer is nothing! Although the painting shows David taking on Goliath, there’s no link between Regensburg and the biblical epic. It seemed that the building that used to stand here was the quarters of theology students, who were called ‘Goliards‘ and their guardian angel was called ‘Golias‘.
Porta Praetoria – a Roman gate
Our rather speedy walking tour then took us to visit the Cathedral of St. Peter, the restored Old Town Hall and the Roman Porta Pretoria – which were gates to an ancient Roman fort built in 179 AD (and which incidentally now leads to a pleasant outdoor restaurant in the Abbey precincts).
Along the way we passed many beautiful patrician houses and the very well preserved tower homes that Regensburg is noted for. If you like dumplings, keep a lookout for Baumburger Turm – at the ground floor of this pink tower house is Dampfnudel Uli, a famous dumpling restaurant.
After the walking tour, we had some free time and went in search of the Alte Kapelle, a white and gold Old Chapel with some stunning Rococo stuccoes. Don’t miss this as it really is worth seeing – which you can see from the number of shots we took. Unfortunately, none of the other people from our cruise seemed to have visited this church, which was a shame.
Regensburg’s Famous Bratwurst
By the stone bridge is the Regensburg Wurstküchl, the oldest Regensburg Bratwurst restaurant. Regensburg is famous for its bratwurst and for those who enjoy sausages, this restaurant is a treat. If you’re walking along the riverfront, just follow your nose and the waft of cooking sausages will lead you there.
Wurstküchl – the famous Regensburg bratwurst kitchen
The place got really busy at lunchtime and whilst customers waited in anticipation of their bratwurst arriving, I was more interested in taking snaps of the kitchen and the sausages being cooked. As a non-meat eater, my enjoyment was in the watching the whole show.
Shopping in Regensburg
By this stage of the cruise, some of the ladies were already suffering from shopping withdrawal symptoms. It’s not that there wasn’t anything to buy during the trip so far, but we just had very little time at all the stops. For the desperate ones, the guide took them to DRUBBA where a wide (perhaps too wide) range of German souvenirs could be found. Those in search of cuckoo clocks were in their element as Regensburg was a good place for cuckoo clock shopping — and yes, they will ship your purchase. The twisting back streets of this picturesque town were also full of interesting little shops.
Our ship was moored not too far from the stone bridge and we were able to walk back for lunch.
More information on Regensburg here: Regensburg Info-briefing
Photos of Regensburg: Regensburg Photo Gallery
Next page: Danube Gorge & Weltenberg Abbey
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Thanx Helen, lovely – were there in June and much enjoyed the place. I even used the ship’s courtesy bike to “fly” about, but yes covered much ground this way.
Nearly had coffee in a French cafe that had many posters about the tragedy of “Charlie Hebdo”.
Missed out on the Bratwurst saussages!
But, again, much enjoyed the site and Don Juan D’Austria!
Hi Michael, glad to hear that you had an enjoyable cruise and thanks for sharing your experience. Missed out on the bratwurst! You’ll have to do that cruise again.
Like you, we enjoyed Regensburg very much.
Kind regards,
Helen