Bamberg

Today we visited Bamberg, another medieval and Renaissance city.  Like Rome, it is built on seven hills, and it is bisected by two rivers – the Main and the Regnitz.  Its current population is about 70,000 and it is located about 36 miles north of Nuremberg.

Our ship was docked in the port area, several miles south of town.  This ship is a bit different from the longship we were on last week.  It has an older style look (more wood, instead of the glass and chrome look of the longship).  It has a very different personality, too.  The Portugese Hotel Director is fun and upbeat, but the Dutch Program Director (cruise director) is quiet -- the opposite of Idun.  The Dutch Captain speaks more English than last week's German Captain, but he seems less of a ship handler (we keep hitting the sides of the locks).   Note from later in cruise -- we actually have two captains on board because there are so many locks (43) and they are much narrower than on the Danube.  There are times where there is little more than a foot of room for us to fit in the locks. 

 

The buses took us into town and dropped us off in front of the Messerschmitt Hotel.  This is run by the family of the airplane maker.  The town was very glad he built his factory farther south – the city was not bombed much in WWII because there was no industry here.

 

upper bridge to Old Town Hall

The Old Town Hall was built on the Regnitz.  The land owner would not give them any land, so they drove pilings into the river to create an island.  Today there is an active kayaking slalom course right next to the building.  The architect wanted to add a “signature” that would make his work recognizable, so he built a 3-D foot coming out of the lower part of the building.



Town Hall from down stream

the foot!

Next to the river is a building that keeps leaning toward the river.  Scott tried to match its lean.

 



the brewery

Bamberg is known for its beer, particularly a special Rauschbier – a smoky beer described like bacon beer.  We didn’t try any, so we can’t comment on the taste.

The story was that a batch of malt got burned when the brewer accidentally set fire to his place.  He did not want to throw out the "toasted" malt, so he brewed a batch and smoke beer was born.

 

brewery sign



The cathedral at the top of the hill is part Romanesque and part Gothic.  They had two patron saints – St Peter and St George – so the east and west ends of the church reflect the two styles:  Peter=Romanesque and George=Gothic.  Their former king Henry II and his wife are buried in front of the church altar, as is Pope Clement II.



gate to royal residence

 

Next door to the cathedral is the royal residence… a half-timber structure that looks more like a village than a palace.   It is reached through a gate that reflects the story of Bamberg (the royals, the saints, the Catholic Church, Adam & Eve, and two river sirens).

 


On the tallest hill in the city is an imposing structure, the former monastery of St Michael’s – today it is an old-age home.

 

St Michael's

As we walked back to the buses, we got another look at the river, including a closer view of the working-class area that included the fisherman and the butchers.  (The butcher is built half way out on the river… they would just toss into the river the parts they did not intend to use.)

 

moose in doorway

We finished up back in the green market (their farmer’s market) and strolled down Langestrasse (Long Street) looking in shop windows.  Christmas decorations are appearing everywhere.   

In front of the Messerschmitt Hotel, there is a very interesting
sculpture, called Circle.   

 

Back to the ship for our mandatory lifeboat drill… although one of the program managers pointed out that most of these rivers are so shallow we could probably all stand on the top deck and not get wet, even if the ship sank.  We got underway about noon, backing down the working port until we could turn around and pick up the Main River.  We are now headed to Wurzburg.  We have gone through several locks already… there are more than 40 on this cruise.