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Donna and Peters Rhineland Adventure
Very bumpy night going through lots of locks. Cruising towards Bamberg which is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by WW11 bombings because of a nearby artillery factory that prevented planes from getting near the city. Bamberg is home to nearly 7000 foreign nationals.
Bamberg prides itself with being on seven hills each one with a church on top, as it symbolises similarity to Rome. The hills are Cathedral Hill, Michaelsberg, Kaulberg/Obere Pfarre, Stefansberg, Jakobsberg, Altenburger Hill and Abtsberg.
The Old Town of Bamberg is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage, primarily because of its authentic medieval appearance. We started our walking tour in the Pedestrian precinct passing by the Statue of Neptune (or as the locals call it, the man with the fork statue). The area here is called the Grüner Markt (Green Market). This place became centre of the bourgeois settlement which developed around it. Very close by is a big lively square called Maximiliansplatz. There are many things for sale, and people eat the traditional sausages which are cooked at the sausage stall, and drink Bamberg beer. Then we walked towards the Old Town Hall which was built in the middle of the river Regnitz. There are two bridges here for pedestrians: the Upper and Lower Bridge. The ancient Lower Bridge passes through the archway of the town hall. On one side there are beautiful Baroque paintings. On the other side one can still see the medieval black-and-white walls. We then had a steep climb up a cobbled street to the Cathedral Square (Domplatz) which is extremely beautiful.
The cathedral is 94 m long, 28 m broad, 26 m high, and the four towers are each about 81 m high. Of its many historic works of art may be mentioned the magnificent marble tomb of the founder and his wife, considered the masterpiece of the sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider, and carved between 1499 and 1513. Another treasure of the cathedral is an equestrian statue known as the Bamberg Horseman dating back to 1200. The statue also serves as a symbol of the city.
All the buildings around the square are made from the local sandstone. The Alte Hofhaltung is medieval. It is a 15th century courtyard with a long row of two-storey buildings with a wooden gallery. Across the street from there is the New Residence (Neue Residenz) which is a Baroque palace. A walk through here leads into the famous Rose Garden (Rosengarten). From here you can see Abbey Church of St Michael at the very top of the hill. Just below, going back towards the river, is the Sandstrasse famous for its pubs and night life.
Walking back to the square we passed by Klein-Venedig ("Little Venice"), a colony of picturesque fishermen's houses from the 19th century along one side of the river Regnitz. We did some shopping and had a local beer in the square before meeting up with our group.
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