Exploring Regensburg

Categories

Regensburg boasts a colorful history of more than 2,000 years.  It is ideally located on the Danube River and its stone bridge provided the first stable trade route with Bohemia.  This well preserved old town had a tradition of its most wealthy inhabitants trying to out-do the other by building towers.  After all, your tower has to be taller than your neighbor’s tower.  The ridiculous part (besides the one-ups-man-ship) is the towers were completely useless above the second floor.  Keeping up with the Jones back then was an architects dream.  The towers were enlarged one floor at a time keeping builders and architects busy.

 

The entire old town has since been registered as a UNESCO site.  Wandering its medieval roadways and alleyways is a sheer delight.  They twist and wind in the most unpredictable ways.  You just never know what is around the next bend.  I particularly loved the exotic doorways and doors that can be dated back hundreds of years.  One archway and tower in particular is left from an old Roman fort.

 

The Regensburg Cathedral is quite beautiful as well it should be.  When anything takes 600 years to build it should be a showstopper.  The Regensburg Cathedral was initially started in 1250 and its last towers were completed in 1869.  As with all things, age and weather have weakened some of the stones and the cathedral is currently undergoing some restorations.  I simply loved looking at all the sculptures incorporated into the architecture.  I’m certain one of them was a pig (well it could have been a boar, but it looked like a pig to me).

 

If architecture is not your thing, how about food?  Regensburg claims to have the world’s oldest sausage kitchens.  We had the opportunity to grab a bite to eat there.  The sausages were very good and I have to say that I loved the sauerkraut.  It is nothing like what you buy in the stores here and is tender and flavorful.  They have a sweet mustard that is to die for and the combination of all three together in one bite makes my mouth water just thinking about it.  Most of the locals wash down this tasty treat with what has to be the national drink of choice, beer!  I opted for water…it was a hot day.  

 

If you would like to see some of our photos from our trip to Regensburg, click here.  If you would like to learn more about our River Cruise on the Danube River with Avalon Waterways River Cruise, click here.

 

When you are ready to plan your trip to Europe, consider visiting Regensburg for a great sausage and some fun architecture.  Better yet, contact us, your Regensburg experts and we can assist you in getting the most out of your time in Regensburg.  We can also assist you in finding the perfect River Cruise in Europe to make your dreams come true.