On our way out of the Rhine Valley, Yannick suggested we take a small detour to an old abbey that featured in a number of movies due to its beautiful architecture and pious atmosphere. We soon learned it had in fact been the setting for the Sean Connery movie 'The Name of the Rose' which none of us had ever seen but had the sudden burning desire to do so, if only to hear Sean Connery's distinctive voice acting priestly.
The abbey itself was a rather large and impressive complex, from wine presses to cellars, this monastic retreat had it all. It at one point had the largest vineyard in medieval Europe, producing a variety of wines. The other brilliant thing was that although the car park was crowded, the buildings were very quiet, and we wandered peacefully.
Founded in 1136, the abbey had a long and interesting history. Abandoned during the Thirty years war, returned to, then dissolved with the French Revolution, this complex has served as a prison, an insane asylum and eventually the public site it is today.
This desolate room was difficult to imagine as the home to many as once upon a time it had served as the dormitory.
Returing to our car we caught sight of a number of extremely fancy cars that made me feel like we has just turned up to a prestigious party underdressed. Where all the rich owners of said cars were we weren't sure, but we assumed they were poshly getting sloshed at the wine tastings offered.
Our next stop was Heidelburg, a pretty town with a long history. Starting out as a Roman camp, it developed into a small Medieval village first mentioned in 769 AD, called Bergheim (meaning, inventively, mountain town) until the 12th century when a local monastery record mentions it as Heidelburg. Another interesting note in its history was that Martin Luther visited here to defend his 95 theses.
We made the unfortunate decision to eat lunch here which proved to be the culmination of our culinarily mishaps (who knew white cheese meant sour cream?) we decided to mainly stay away from German food after that. Yannick did however make up for this slightly with a rather Rum-filled hot chocolate.
Heidelburg castle dominated the skyline and was the main reason for the plethora of tourists. Built sometime before 1214 it suffered numerous damages including two lighting strikes (what happened to lightening never strikes twice!) and a number of fires leaving it constantly unfinished and often partially ruined. We did not go in as it was overpriced, but we enjoyed the outside, and the tower especially. The gardens were very pleasant too - a nice place for a picnic if you have the energy for the steep walk up with picnic items.
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