Heidelberg

After Frankfurt, I headed to Heidelberg, the world-famous historic university town. Heidelberg University is one of the oldest surviving universities in the world and the oldest in Germany. Among its alumni, we can find many famous names, such as sociologist Max Weber, composer Robert Schumann, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and the list continues… Even the Russian chemist, Dmitri Mendeleev, spent 2 years at Heidelberg University.

These days, for an average traveller, Heidelberg is known for its romantic ambience : a medieval castle and the Altstadt on a river side surrounded by green hills. It is the picture-perfect posterchild of the German notion of “Märchen.” And as such, it is flooded with tourists from far and wide, notably from Asia.

It is not surprising to see that people are drawn to this beautiful town. The medieval architecture is surprisingly well preserved, and the castle evokes much inspiration. It is indeed very pleasant to walk along the Hauptstraße, cross the bridges over the slow-flowing Neckar and browse through shops or just sit down on a terrace seat and watch the world go by…

There are thousands, if not millions, of guidebooks and articles written on the must-see sights of Heidelberg, so I am not going to bore you with another list of what to see there. But if I were to make just one recommendation on what to do in Heidelberg, that would be to walk along the Philosophenweg, or the Philosopher’s Path, on the northern banks of the Necker, opposite the Altstadt. There are some steep uphill climb along this path, but you get rewarded by a full view over Heidelberg’s historic core, including the castle and Altstadt.

But looking back, I somehow felt as though I failed to make a connection with Heidelberg. The city is beautiful and touristic that it does not feel like a living city, especially in the Altstadt. Maybe it was due to the summer holidays. The absence of its inhabitants or the huge student population that normally occupy its streets definitely played a role. Or simply the fact that there is not much to do in the city apart from walking around and visiting the vestiges from the past. In the end, I started missing the hustle and bustle of Frankfurt…