– sausages on the danube –
Regensburg is a small town about one and a half hour’s drive to the north east of Munich. It could be done as a day trip but we decided to take our time and spent a lazy, full weekend there.
Why visit? Because it’s a highly historic town on the Danube which has been well preserved as a result of being wise enough to keep its religious buildings intact after conversion to Protestantism and fortunate enough to avoid bombing through the world wars, earning itself UNESCO World Heritage City status in 2006. It was an old Roman fort, Bavaria’s first capital in the middle ages, a major and wealthy trading centre, an important political centre in the Holy Roman Empire and later the place where what was to evolve into the first German parliament began. Besides being a very pretty place! So there’s a lot to see!
Day 1
As our first day was a Saturday, and German stores aren’t open on Sundays, we decided to spend a couple of hours in the morning shopping in the the cobbled streets of the old town. It wasn’t a great day weather-wise, so it was good to be able to duck back into our extremely central apartment (Domresidenz apartments) to drop off our purchases and get some occasional relief from the rain. Things to buy? It’s a fairly wealthy town, so the range of stores is large and of high quality. For us, the Christmas glass ornaments were of interest – Regensburg is close to the glass-making area in eastern Germany. I also enjoyed the handmade jewellery and craft stores. I bought some cute little ceramic houses to put on our window sill back home as a reminder of the pretty streetscapes in town.
There were also a huge number of fashion stores, including those exclusively selling trachten or traditional Bavarian dress. But most of all it was nice to just wander the cobbled lanes and narrow and mostly traffic-free streets.
I thought these boots would suit my niece to a “T”!
On our way around town, we noticed there were a number of large towers, the highest of these being the Golden Tower which has 9 stories.
It turns out that these castle-like towers were like medieval skyscrapers built to be lived in by the wealthier families, though the higher levels were used as store rooms. This was is now used as student housing. Nice!
Eventually, we found our way down to the waterfront, just in time for lunch at the old sausage house. But more on that tomorrow – we enjoyed it so much that we made a return visit!
After lunch we decided to make our way to the Benedictine Monastery of St Emmeram. By this time it was starting to rain fairly steadily, so it turned out to be a welcome shelter as well as an interesting place to visit. The church is fronted by a pretty garden forecourt with some interesting tombstones.
I was intrigued by the bee/moth on the top stone at first, but the text doesn’t explain this, stating merely that it commemorates a prior and minister by the name of Spilhofer. The bottom plaque is dedicated to “our beloved father” Joseph Ages who appears to be a “silver servant” to the local Prince of Thurn and Taxis – the noble family that resided in the town – more on that tomorrow! Was he a good servant or a silver worker?
The inside of the Church was made up of contrasts – it was almost like two churches in one. It was also difficult to reconcile the richness of the interior to my notion of a Benedictine abbey given that the Benedictines were an order that relied on alms and honoured the notion of poverty..
As it turned out, there was a wedding taking place in the larger extravagant baroque section of the church, so we couldn’t explore this part in detail. I did, however, manage to sneak in some shots:
The interior was designed by the Assam brothers – who’ve featured in this blog a few times now.
The West transept on the other hand was very sober and minimalist, though it had a fabulously detailed painted wooden ceiling.
We watched the rain for a little through the door leading out to the Thurn and Taxis Palace (more tomorrow) before heading off quickly to the old Town Hall.
The old Town Hall can only be seen on a guided tour and the only English speaking version takes place at 3 pm. We really enjoyed it, and I would definitely recommend it to any visitor as a way of contextualising this town. A great European history lesson too! Some detail photos of various meeting rooms and halls used by the town’s movers and shakers:
This doorway detail is all troupe l’oieul!
There was also an extended tour of one of the most completely intact torture chambers anywhere in Europe. Not for the faint-hearted. Somehow all the devices in this macabre room were preserved by the Council and it provides a hair-raising insight into the justice system of pre-18th century Germany.
Also fully preserved, are a few of the prison cells. I shudder to think of the nightmare that these poor accused people found themselves in. It would have been frigidly cold, wet and dark – and who knows how many rats would have been scurrying around down there.
It was a relief to be clear of the Rathaus by the end, and we made our way to the most conspicuous and awe-inspiring building in town – the Cathedral of St Peter. Given the rain, we decided to leave the outside to the next day and focused on the interior. It’s typically gothic and jaw-dropping in its immensity, but not extraordinary once you’ve seen, say Notre-Dame in Paris. Some pics, you decide:
The golden alter appropriately reflects the wealth that this town has enjoyed.
The older windows on the southern side were intricate:
But I probably most liked this painted wooden sculpture in one of the alcoves (I’m sure that’s not the proper term!):
He seems so pious!
Time for dinner – great Bavarian-style food at Dicker Mann. Loved the potato salad and coleslaw – completely different to the Australian versions! No mayo for one thing. Note to self – find some German recipes!
We rounded off the day with a walk across the Danube River and managed just one passable night shot before heading home. A fairly full agenda for the day and more to come tomorrow.
Day 2
The next day we woke to blue skies, so we took up where we left off and walked the famous stone bridge across the Danube to the other smaller side of the old town.
I can’t believe we didn’t take a photo of the bridge itself! It was under repair while we were there so I guess we both decided it wasn’t looking its best! It’s a medieval structure and quite low-slung and long.
The houses on the other side of the bridge in the area known as Stadtamhof are pretty, though less ornate than those in the rest of town.
Back across the bridge we passed under the old Bridge Tower.
And spied the David and Goliath fresco across the road.
Why is it there? Not entirely sure – the guidebook said that painted facades like these were popular in the sixteenth century!
We wandered further down the waterfront and finally discovered evidence of the Town’s Roman past. The most impressive remains of the city’s Roman past are the segments of wall and the gate house known as Porta Praetoria.
What I find interesting is how the old became integrated into the new. It’s a kind of breathing history. Up from here we found ourselves in the courtyard of the Bishop’s Palace. There are now Biergardens in the courtyard but it’s a tranquil place outside rush-hour.
And finally we had an opportunity to take a good look at the outside of the Dom. Interestingly it’s gone through a number of renovations – some a bit bodgy! The cathedral was originally constructed in white limestone. Some bright spark at some point in time decided to do repair work in a green sandstone. More recent restoration has been done in white limestone again.
Next stop was the Palace of the Thurn and Taxis Family, who effectively were given most of St Emmeram’s Monastery buildings (see Day 1) for services to the Emperor. This was the main noble family in town. There is currently a Princess and other members of the royal household who still live there. It can only be visited by a guided tour in German. We were offered an English audio guide for an extra charge! Personally, I think the tour was extremely over-priced for what we saw and I would not recommend it. No photos were allowed except in the cloister and outside, so this is it!
We moved on to the Scots’ Church, which was empty and quite a contrast to all the other more showy churches that we had seen throughout town, with some interesting paintwork.
Time for lunch! We set off for the “Historic Sausage Kitchen” back down on the waterfront, which depending on which guidebook you read is between 500-700 years old and claims to be the “world’s oldest sausage kitchen”….!!!…Regardless, the sausages cooked over beechwood with sauerkraut and sweet Bavarian mustard are a yum combination.
We spent the afternoon exploring the town’s historic museum, which featured some Roman artefacts and medieval paintings and sculptures. It was pleasant way to round out the day.
That’s it. Wow, looking back we actually packed in a lot in those two days! Definitely a town worth visiting. Definitely, a town that will reward the effort!
