2016/05 Europe cruise - Bamberg |
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Friday May 13th
The good news was that we’d overtaken the slow boat in a “ninja move” and were now back on schedule. We had a wet and cool 
morning but we were just traveling anyway. After lunch we got off at Zeil and were bused into Bamberg.
A thousand years ago Emperor Heinrich II chose Bamberg to be the capital city of the Holy Roman Empire. Like Rome it was built on seven hills, and each hill was crowned with a church. It was untouched by the war, so the ancient houses and bridges and crooked alleys are still there.
The sun came out as our guide led us over the Regnitz River and along the waterfront. The town is pretty with its half-timbered houses overhanging the river. We walked through the alleys and up the hill to the cathedral, also a thousand years old. It took hundreds of 
years to build and it’s an interesting mix of Romanesque (round arches) and Gothic (pointy arches) architectures. Inside, it’s famous for the tomb of Heinrich and his wife, and a rare sight in a church, a statue of a horse and rider, thought to be Stephen, first king of Hungary.
Before this trip my only knowledge of Bamberg was because of its witch trials in the 1600s. This was a time of very cold weather and 
crop failures due to summertime frosts. Clearly this was the work of witches, and hundreds were tried for witchcraft and burned at the stake.
The tour ended down at the town centre, a very complicated area built around and over the junction of three waterways. The painted building is the old Rathaus, itself built partly on a river bridge.
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Bamberg |
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Nearby was the Tavern Schlenkerla, famous for brewing its rauchbier (smokebeer). The beer’s malt is dried over an open fire rather 
than by hot air, so the beer picks up a smoky flavor. American soldiers used to call it “bacon beer”. It’s certainly different, a bit like combining bacon chips with your beer, but easy to get used to. Note the “Star of David” on the bathroom tap. We thought it odd that there were so many Jewish symbols around but we were told that the six pointed star is also the symbol of the Brewer’s Guild.
We walked back to our bus along the other side of the Regnitz, and then rejoined the Ingvi for its journey along the Main canal, still going up.