Altstadt (Old Town):



Heidelberg's old town is among the most well preserved ones in Heidelberg. Here you can find the university, Heiliggeist kirche, old lanes and a nice

pedestrian street, Hauptstrasse, with historic buildings and elegant shops. The nice Marktplatz is also here. Next to Alstadt, the beautiful river Neckar

flows with its famous old bridge and above it is the green mountain where the Heidelberg castle lies.





Hauptstrasse, the main shopping street of Heidelberg, it Europe's longest car free zone (1.6km). The picture shows the west-east direciton.
















Providenzkirche.














































Peterskirche (St Peter's Church) is the oldest church in the Old Town. It was built 1485-96 in neo gothic style.






















The old university building. Heidelberg's university is Germany's oldest and was founded in 1386.









Jesuitenkirche. This Baroque Jesuit church was completed in 1723.






























Heidelberg Castle. See more pictures, click on the castle section, that will be posted later.















Marktplatz, the market place square in the heart of Heidelberg's old town. Here you can find the Town Hall, the Church of the Holy Spirit, old buildings, restaurants,

pubs and statues.







Heiliggeistkirche, Church of the Holy Spirit, is the tallest and most famous church in Heidelberg.






Note how commercial they have turned the church with all the souvenir shops!













Rathaus, the Town Hall of Heidelberg is the building to the right. A lot of open air restaurants and cafës at Marktplatz.














Markplatz seen from Hauptstrasse with the mountains in the background.

















Kornmarkt with Heidelberg Schloss in the background.






















A shop dedicated to Christmas, in the middle of April!

















Karlstor is the square i the east end of the city center, next to River Neckar. It is surrounded by heavy traffic.







Heidelberg Castle - and its views



The ruins of Heidelberg Castle lies on a green hill above downtown. It is among the most important Renaissence structures North of the Alps.It was demolished in the 17th-18th centuries, but has only partly been rebuilt. It is located 80m up the Königstuhl hillside. Königstuhl is 567m high! The first castle was built in 1214. Unfortunately all the castles on the site have been destroyed by several lighting bolts, wars and fires, but large parts of the

ruins remain today. I didn't have time to go inside, but I walked at the foundations and enjoyed the views of the city.





Close up of the castle (schloss), above Altstadt.


















Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Spirit) in Altstadt seen from the castle.










































The vaults of the castle.










The way up and down is very steep. The feet were really aching when reaching the top!


Central Heidelberg, outside Altstadt:



This part is about the part of central Heidelberg that lies between the railway station and the old town, and thus is a bit modern and large scale then the

old town. Bismarckplatz is where the long pedestrian street Hauptstrasse and Altstadt begins.






Hauptbahnhof, main railway station. Pretty ugly compared to most other Heidelberg's buildings. Note the crowd of bikes!









Print Media Academy, Heidelberg's most famous modern building, was built in year 2000 together with the famous sculpture that stands in contrast to the geometric

shapes of the building. The atrium is visible through the transparent glass exterior.





The futuristic atrium of Pring Academy, a woman was running towards me and said "no photos" at the same time as I took this picture. Luckily she was too late!






The "S-printing horse" in front of the PMA is 13 m tall. The sculpture has many symbols, like pointing towards the relationship between thinking and printing.













The nice modern fountain at Bismarckplatz, looking towards the mountains.


























Bismarckplatz is a major transportation hub for trams and buses, as well as home of 2 large department stores: Galeria Kaufhof with its panorama elevator, and Woolworths.







Views from the panorama elevator of Galeria Kaufhof:
















Print Media Academy again.


RIVER NECKAR - the bridges, nearby streets and views





Alte Brücke, or Karl-Theodor-Brücke, the most famous bridge of Heidelberg. It was built in 1788.






The gate to Karl-Theodor-Brücke, with Heiliggeistkirche, Altstadt and the hills in the background.













The luxorious mansions on the north part of River Neckar seen from Alte Brücke.














































Close-up of the castle.






Marstall. At Neckarstaden, the road next to River Neckar. This 1510 renaissance building is 135m long and contains a hotel and a trendy café today.





















Stadthalle, a renaissance congress and culture center from 1903.


























The funicular that goes up to the top of the Königstuhl hill, where you can find a TV tower and a TV mast. Originally I planned to go up and see the spectacular views, but I had too less time, spending one half day in Heidelberg. The Königstuhl hill, where the castle lies, is 567m high!


And finally some pictures of Heidelberg in HDR: