Sometimes those little-known back lanes of a place can be more interesting than the famous
sites, for example, in Heidelberg Germany.
We' re going to take you for a walk on the little side lanes of town rather than that
busy marketplace and main street of the old town, the Hauptstrasse.
Instead were going to go a little bit off the beaten track and show you the back streets
of Heidelberg, and you'll find the side lanes have their own special charm such as Untererstrasse,
one of the more important small lanes that runs parallel to the Hauptstrasse, with a
typical mix of uses, including residential, shop, cafés and famous bridge around the
corner.
The twin towered Old Bridge is one of the main landmarks of town.
In German it’s called the Alte Brucke with an official name of Karl Theodore Brucke.
It dates back to 1786 and this is one of the signature sites of the city.
It was never damaged or destroyed in any of the various wars that affected Heidelberg.
There's a bronze statue of a monkey on the bridge.
Originally, there was a stone statue of a monkey the data back to the 15th century,
and they say you get good luck by rubbing the monkey, always a popular spot for the
visitor.
Walk between those towers through the gatehouse out onto the bridge where you get some lovely
views.
Be sure to take the short walk all the way across the bridge and check out the view looking
back at the town with that castle up above.
Curiously though, cars are allowed to drive on this pedestrian bridge early in the morning
and at night.
It’s a convenience for people who live here and for some clever tourists.
While this is a most popular gathering spot for visitors, locals always find their way
here, even for their wedding photos.
It shows how much the locals value this scenic location.
They come down after the wedding, bringing their party with them and taking pictures
on the bridge.
It makes sense because this is probably the most photographed site in town.
It's a scenic location with riverboats and the green hill of the city on the other side.
Extending out from the bridge is Steingasse, one of the busiest side streets with many
restaurants and leading up to the market square.
The bridge is a transportation hub with an intersection of the streets extending out
in all directions – a restaurant on every corner in various price ranges seating indoors
or out and beguiling little lanes inviting you to explore them.
Now we’re going to take a little walk off the beaten track, get away from the tourist
crowds and the big market square, step away from the crowds at the Old Bridge and into
the little lanes of the east end of the old town.
It's a quiet residential neighborhood.
Heading towards that triumphal arch called Karlstor.
Near here you can follow a footpath that goes up the hill that will lead you to the castle,
or you could take the funicular.
And there is an anthropology museum with exhibits of the cultures of the world.
This small anthropology museum does have quite a fine collection, especially of artifacts
from New Guinea, of all places.
And also there is a nice Asian collection here as well and other parts of the world.
Something different.
Not quite what you'd expect to run into when you're walking around in Heidelberg perhaps.
There are some quaint little alleys in this corner of town towards the river, so you might
do a little meandering back and forth, observing the details of each unique building and seeing
some slices of daily life here, a local residential neighborhood.
There's a few modern apartment buildings mixed in.
You'll see families out for a walk just carrying on with their daily life.
Karlsplatz is popular with local kids who like to climb in the fountain.
It symbolizes the universe and planet Earth.
And underneath the Karlsplatz there is a large parking garage.
It was actually an underground road that connects into a system that bypasses the town.
It comes through a gate at the far end of the Old Town, goes through the parking structure
and then under the mountain behind.
It has a wonderful view of the castle during the day and come back in the evening, especially
at twilight, just as the sun goes down for these wonderful lit-up views of the castle
up on the hill.
The side lanes are worth exploring at night also – very safe there are some restaurants
tucked away, especially on Steingasse, and at the end of the block the towers of the
Old Bridge are beautifully lit up at night.
One block over another great twilight view from the Kornmarkt.
The Kornmarkt was a place where grain was sold in the old days back in the Middle Ages.
It is paved in sturdy cobblestones that are built to last for yet another 500 years and
surrounds a Baroque statue of the Madonna standing on a tall fountain pedestal.
And that's the Madonna of the Kornmarkt.
It's a beautiful Baroque style of statue.
You see the elaborate cupids, the puti at her feet.
Just a very fine Baroque style from the early 18th century.
The Kornmarkt and nearby lanes are among the best-preserved parts of town and the funicular
up to the castle is just around the corner.
Next we are taking kind of a random stroll here through these little side lanes of town,
no particular place to go, no need for a map, you can just turn left, turn right, see what
looks interesting as you get to a corner, and go that way or this way, and you can't
get lost because it really is a small area with interesting sites in every street.
There are free books offered around town by the society of Bürgerstiftung.
This combination of low rise structure with medium density, in a comfortable mix of activities
creates what modern planners call a “human scale” where people can live together in
a neighborhood without crowding or congestion.
Centuries ago, this comfortable mixing of homes and businesses within easy walking distance
was the norm that many modern towns are now struggling to recreate, in efforts to overcome
our suburban sprawl, traffic congestion and inner city decay.
We can learn valuable lessons about how to make a functioning urban community from these
peaceful narrow lanes.
Suddenly in the midst of his lowrise tangle of alleys a tall building rises to the sky.
It's the Jesuit Church with elaborate Baroque architecture that looks more Italian than
German.
And yet the inside is rather plain with a light, airy feeling that is worth seeing.
It was one of the first major new buildings constructed after the wars of the late 17th
century.
A few blocks over on the other side of the university campus is the other major church
of this part of town, Peterskirsche, St. Peter's Church.
It was built from 1490 in the Gothic style, you see that pointed arches with the typical
red sandstone construction material of the city.
Sometimes you'll get lucky and hear some music.
(Music plays) There are some older tombs and gravestones
inside the church.
Peterskirsche was built on the site of an earlier chapel just outside what had been
the old medieval walls of the town.
There is a huge organ inside.
Often students are practicing on it.
Sunday services are accompanied by music from the organ and choral groups, and occasionally
there's an evening concert.
(Music plays) During the day the church is generally open
and there is no admission charge, you are free to come on in and have a look and maybe
you'll catch the music.
For the past hundred years the church has been associated with the Heidelberg University
across the street and its theological faculty.
Were now in the western half of the Old Town and we can recap on the map for you where
we've been and where we’ re heading, starting out by the bridge, we took a stroll to the
east end and around by Karlsplatz, through some little alleys to these churches, and
now were heading down the street called Plöck, a route primarily for pedestrians and bicycles.
And it passes one of the larger open plazas in the old town, Friedrich-Ebert Platz, and
facing it a fine three-star Hotel Anlage, opened in 1892.
Although many tourists don't know it's there, Plöck is one of the major streets of the
Old Town running parallel to Hauptstrasse one block over.
It's a busy road for bicycles with all of the young people and students and University
crowd flocking around here.
Bikes are not allowed to be ridden on the Hauptstrasse, although some do.
As you find typically in Europe, the bicycle is a major means of transportation.
After all, these towns are rather compact.
You can get from one end to the other by going just a few miles and therefore bicycles make
a convenient means of transportation.
You'll see lots of these bike racks with hundreds of bicycles locked up there.
And there are restaurants and many shops along Plöck that appeal to that younger crowd.
With so many people going by you do get a pretty good retail atmosphere including even
a supermarket.
After all, it's a residential neighborhood with many homes in the small alleys throughout
the Old Town.
You'll notice there are few if any tourists along the street.
It's nice to get away from those major historic sites and the busy Hauptstrasse pedestrian
lane and get into these more authentic local neighborhoods with a feeling for what life
in the city is like.
Given the youthful atmosphere of the street, you'll find some lower prices and more offbeat
items available.
Just try not to get run down by some of these bicycles going by.
But these riders are very careful and experienced.
A few shops and offices are located on the ground floor of the side alleys with apartments
upstairs including many affordable units rented by students, judging from the number bicycles
outside.
It's a place where young families can bring their kids out to a nearby playground and
find shops offering important services like bicycle repair, and gift shops all within
easy walking distance or just a pedal away from home.
There is no doubt this is a bicycle friendly town.
Watch out for little daredevils.
(Kid yells) Now we will take a deeper dive into these
little back lanes and learn something about the history of how this city came to be.
Here we are just one block away from the main street and the main square and yet it's already
a very quiet atmosphere.
It's mostly a pedestrian zone.
The few cars allowed in here have special permits, they either live here or they work
here.
And now notice the buildings, look around at all these buildings, and what you'll see
is a fairly kind of a uniform appearance in terms of height, and styles of building.
The façades are all similar.
There's no two that are exactly alike, there's no two that are identical, but you'll see
the similarity.
Now, how could this happen?
What have we got here, how this city develop in such a way that it's so harmonious?
The roots of this city are Gothic, they became a Gothic town – Middle Ages, 12th-century,
14th-century, the street patterns were established as you see today, at that time in the Middle
Ages.
But something happened, it was in 1689, the French came and invaded Germany.
Louis XIV armies came in, and in 1689 they destroyed Heidelberg completely.
They, they leveled the city, flattened it.
So what happened then, they rebuilt the city all in a similar style, in the Baroque style,
when you get into the early 17th century, this is the era of the Baroque, and what you
see today is from that time.
So we’re looking at structures that are 300 years old and all built up in this wonderful
harmonious way, and then not destroyed since then, there were treaties and special deals
that saved the town of Heidelberg.
So too bad that there was a destruction of the old Gothic town but at least it resulted
in this marvelous Baroque town being built in its place.
And so the ground floor even a lot of offices, businesses, lawyers, architects, and little
cafés, and then upstairs the residences.
So this city is almost like a living museum.
Streets in the Old Town do have a quiet atmosphere.
As we've seen, they're narrow and often restricted to only pedestrians and bicycles with only
a few cars allowed in by special permit.
In the summertime there could be thousands of people milling about in the main square
and on the Hauptstrasse main pedestrian lane.
But at the same time, there's hardly anybody one block away over here in that residential
zone.
It's worth taking a look because sometimes those little out-of-the-way, off-the-grid
streets that are not even mentioned in guidebooks provide the most interesting authentic experience.
We have a series of five different movies about Heidelberg.
Be sure to look for them in our collection.
We will take you up to the castle, we will go for a walk along the main street of town,
the Hauptstrasse and we will explore the little side streets as well.
We will take a boat ride on the Neckar River all the way up to Neckarsteinack and back.
We've got a program about the restaurants of Heidelberg.
And wewill take a stroll on the Philosophers Walk up on the hill overlooking the city with
great views looking back at the town.
As summarized on a map, we bring you up to the castle and to the Philosophers Walk for
a view across the city - walking routes that will bring you through the heart of the Old
Town with some time to just meander in the little side lanes.
And then we will take a tram ride out to the University campus on the edge of town, back
into town for some more walking and then a boat ride in the afternoon.
It's the complete tour of Heidelberg.
You are going to love this beautiful city.
Heidelberg is one of the prettiest and best-preserved towns in all of Germany, set in picture-postcard
perfection alongside the Neckar River, with a classic castle towering above.
Filled with Old World charm, Heidelberg's historic center of picturesque early 18th-century
buildings is an ideal sized pedestrian zone to explore on foot.
You can experience all of it in our detailed series on this wonderful city.
Look for them all in our collection.