Susan and I spent a few days after our Danube River cruise in Regensburg’s medieval city center which has 1,500 designated structures, more than any other UNESCO Heritage Site north of the Alps. I’d been here in the 1990’s on a yacht consulting visit but had never spent time on the historic downtown river front. We both were impressed with the beauty, history and friendliness we found in this ancient Bavarian city situated along the Danube River.
The first settlements in the area date from the Stone Age where a Roman Fort was built around 90 AD. Remains of this structure are visible today in the Porta Praetoria. Regensburg was a central town of the Holy Roman Empire becoming a part of Bavaria in the 1800’s, which in 1865 unified with the state of Germany. During WWII, as a manufacturing and refining port, it was targeted by Allied bombers destroying much of the war production while sparing most of the medieval city. Today Regensburg is a technical and educational hub attracting manufacturing and research companies from Germany and around the world.
Some of the more interesting and historic sites are the German Gothic St. Peters Cathedral, the Steinerne Brucke, spanning the Danube built in 1146, and the Wurstkuche, Europe’s oldest restaurant serving sausages and beer for almost 900 years. A short river cruise can take you to Walhalla, monument designed as a Greek temple in the Parthenon style built in the 1830’s to honor distinguished Germans. The cuisine is traditional Bavarian with international offerings also available along with a fine selection of Regensburg and other Bavarian beers. If you’ve already been to Munich, Regensburg offers an attractive Bavarian alternative with its medieval history and Danube location.
All images were taken with Fuji X-T50 with Fuji XF 16-55mm f2.8 R LM WR II lens or Fuji XF 27mm f2.8 lens in JPEG format, processed in Adobe Lightroom Classic CC 14.5.1
Leave a Reply