Regensburg

Thursday May 29

Regensburg

The first settlements in Regensburg date to the Stone Age. The Celtic name Radasbona was the oldest name given to a settlement near the present city. Around AD 90, the Romans built a fort there.

In 179, the Roman fort Castra Regina ("fortress by the river Regen") was built for Legio III Italica during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius  It was an important camp on the most northern point of the Danube: it corresponds to what is today the core of Regensburg's Altstadt ("Old City") east of the Obere and Untere Bachgasse and West of the Schwanenplatz. It is believed that even in late Roman times the city was the seat of a bishop, and St Boniface re-established the Bishopric of Regensburg in 739.

Between 1135 and 1146, the Stone Bridge across the Danube was built at Regensburg. This bridge opened major international trade routes between northern Europe and Venice, and this began Regensburg's golden age as a residence of wealthy trading families. Regensburg became the cultural centre of southern Germany and was celebrated for its gold work and fabrics.

Temple of Walhalla

Today was a relaxing day cruising along the river; we were due to arrive in Regensburg at 1:30 but had docked by 12:30.  Earlier in the morning we passed a large replica of a Greek temple built on a hillside overlooking the river, it is known as the Temple of Walhalla.  This was built early in the last century and contains busts of German heroes throughout the centuries.  There is a bike tour back to the temple for the fit passenger but as it is raining steadily and we haven’t brought our lycra with us we decided to “pass”.

It has been raining steadily for the last days and the river level has risen by a metre and the crew have had to collapse the sun shades, lounges and railing on the sun deck so the ship can fit under the bridges, if the river keeps rising we may not be able to proceed into the Rhine-Main-Danube canal.  One of the reasons we are doing this trip is to visit the towns we missed on our last trip when the canal was closed.  Fingers crossed that this doesn’t happen again.

Monk with Monk Puppets

After lunch we left the ship for a walking tour of the town which boasts of numerous famous people, Oskar Schindler of “Schindler’s List” fame and the recently retired Pope are two.

St Peter's Cathedral South  Side

Walking along the river bank we could see the 12^th century stone bridge across the river, actually all that we could see is plastic and scaffolding as the bridge is being renovated.  A little further on we came to the oldest bratwurst kitchen in Germany dating back to 1135 and still operating today, the original “fast food” premises.  Around the corner and down a lane we walked through a stone arch, part of the old Roman wall, built in 179.  Passing through the arch into a courtyard we could see the original Romanesque tower of the St Peter’s cathedral and to the right its two Gothic spires.

In the square in front of the cathedral were hundreds of tourists as today is a holiday and the town is full of Roman Catholics here for a special festival.  From the cathedral we walked along many narrow lanes, flanked by ancient houses which survived the war as Regensburg avoided bombing. 

Our next stop was at the square in front of the town hall with many building built over the centuries, outside the door of one of the buildings were three metal rods fixed to the wall, these were the official standards of measurement for the town before the introduction of the metric system.

Don Juan D’Austria

Around the corner from the town hall is a statue of Don Juan D’Austria, the illegitimate son of the Emperor and a local girl.  He was sent to Spain to live with his half-brother, the King of Spain and commanded the fleet which defeated the Ottoman fleet.

The ship sailed at 5:30 and will shortly enter the canal joining the Danube with the Rhine and we will have poor internet connection as we have to lower our satellite receiver to pass under a number of low bridges.