Far away in a distant land, tucked away on the outskirts of Mannheim and down the autobahn from Frankfurt, lies a little town of 150,000 people that likes to be called Heidelberg. Of course, it has gorgeous scenery and a peaceful river running right through it, as all ancient cities .
Tourism and Heidelberg University make up a good amount of the draw to Heidelberg. This was a big battle location in the 30 Years War. You can see most of the town from this viewpoint and their famous bridge, Old Bridge which has been around since the 1700s. Not too old compared to some things in Europe.
Heidelberg Palace/ Heidelberg Castle is one of the main attractions as far as tourism goes. There are still some ruins left that didn’t get renovated from the 19th century. While you are there, take a deep breath. You can feel the historical significance seeping into your veins.
Then just outside of Heidelberg, we went to some Roman ruins. A very, very old amphitheater which held plays and speeches and other varieties of entertainment and is naturally acoustically perfect. I took the picture below from the nosebleeds (hope they had some type of binoculars!)
Then up past that were more ruins. Ruins from so long ago it seems they were in impossibly awesome condition. This was a monastery. In the silence there, you can still hear the chanting. Just kidding. Kinda.