Description: Heidelberg Castle, sitting on the hillside overlooking the Neckar River and the town below is one of the more impressive sites I’ve been too. Firstly, it is an exhausting walk up an incredibly steep hill to the entrance and immediately makes you wonder if anyone was able to launch a successful attack on the castle. I know that with all the best intentions, I would be too tired to fight by the time I reached the fort. Secondly, the site is described a castle ‘ruin’ but for the most part is incredibly well preserved and far from an arrangement of rubble that the word ‘ruin’ conjures up.
We made the short but challenging journey up the hill on foot but there is a funicular that runs from the Kornmarkt to the top of the hill, stopping at the castle on the way. However you get there, the views over Heidelberg were for us a greater reward than visiting the castle itself.
Originally built in 1214, the castle has undergone numerous renovations and expansions. Two castles were in place by 1294 but in 1537, a lightning bolt destroyed the upper castle, leaving room for the lower site to be extended over the course of the next hundred years. In the 1600s, the castle came under attack during the Thirty Years War as the Germans wrangled power of the city from the Swedes and the French. The French were particularly destructive, setting fire and explosives to parts of the castle as they were forced to flee on two separate occasions.
It was, however, a Frenchman who is credited with saving the castle, as it was viewed as obsolete by the local government of the time. Count Charles de Graimberg fought for the preservation of Heidelberg castle and until 1822 served as its warden and promoted the site as a tourist destination.
The entrance fee (5 euro for adults, 3 euros for children) is fairly reasonable but once inside the castle, I couldn’t help but feel a little let down by the fact that this only allows entry to the strange apothecary museum and the castle courtyard. A stage in the courtyard was evidently set up for plays and musical concerts and a small group of actors appeared to be rehearsing lines for an upcoming performance. Visitors can also access a large cellar containing a giant wine barrel known as the Heidelberg Tun. The present barrel, reportedly constructed from 130 oak trees, was made in 1751 and can hold about 220,000 litres of wine. Not surprisingly it’s not often been used for wine storage. I can’t imagine that such a large receptacle would keep it in a decent condition for long. Opposite the barrel is a strange contraption that releases a foxtail when a rope is pulled. I think it has something to do with the legend of the wine guardian, Perkeo of Heidelberg, a court jester in the 1800s but without proper explanation the foxtail currently looks like an old, dusty, wall mounted jackinabox.
I had expected to see inside the main hall at least. Perhaps the ravages of time have left little original interior features to interest visitors or maybe we should have forked out the extra 4 euros to take either the guided or audio tour. Or perhaps we somehow completely bypassed the palace’s main feature. There was one hall we tried to peak into but we were ushered away by staff who looked to be setting it up for a wedding reception. Whatever the explanation, we left feeling that the views outclassed visiting the castle itself and we would have been just as well off walking around it rather than through it.
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