Photo taken from above of the old town in Heidelberg. There can be seen any red roofs, a church and the river in the background. A few magnolia flowers appear at the bottom of the photo.

Welcoming spring with a trip to the Heidelberg castle!

Spring has sprung here in Heidelberg so yesterday was the perfect occasion to go explore the most iconic landmark of the city, the castle! And although I’ve waited quite long to go see this tourist attraction myself, I couldn’t have chosen a better day, despite the indecisive weather.

A friend, Kristel, whom I’ve met while she was on exchange in Stockholm, has just arrived in Germany to start her second exchange, now in Heidelberg. I was lucky to have her join me for this fun day. And to make our day even luckier, we arrived at the castle to find out everything was free due to a spring celebration! There were many people enjoying the castle, workers dressed in period costumes telling the history and a free photobooth! However, the celebratory crowd pushed us to hike our way up to the castle to skip the insanely long waiting time for the funicular. And although the hike is not too long, we definitely broke a sweat!

A brunette girl smiling with a view of a castle courtyard in the background. The courtyard has green trees, paved paths with tourists walking and in surrounded by old red brick buildings.
Me with the castle courtyard in the background. Photo: Kristel Mulder

Once arrived, we started exploring and were surprised by the gorgeous views the castle offered. Not only were there many observation points all offering lovely views, but the castle itself proved to have an unexpectedly complex structure. Due to its long and tumultuous history, the castle is now considered rather a ruin and it was only partially restored since its destruction. The castle suffered many injures, including being struck by lightning twice, war and being captured by the swedes. But the most interesting injury is the French attack on what is know as the Powder Tower. Today, the attack can easily be imagined just by taking a look at the exposed inside of the tower and its missing piece laying next to it.

Photo of the ruins of the Heidelberg castle. It is made out of red brick and surrounded by greenery. In the background, a cloudy sky and a rainbow can be seen.
The blown up Powder Tower. You can see the inside of the tower as well as the the piece that was blown off. As a bonus we got to enjoy a pretty rainbow stretching over the sky. Photo: Amelia Irimies

Besides the beautiful courtyard and picturesque viewpoints, the castle offers the opportunity to visit the Pharmaceutical Museum, covered in all sorts of knick-knacks. I loved seeing the variety of bottles and jars arranged in the shelves, the funky dried insects, the dried animal skins and the vibrant pigments. The museum also showed medicine from various time points and explained the importance of distillation in pharmaceutical advances. And to top it all off, the gift shop was a dream for trinket and scent lovers!

A room covered in wooden shelves. The shelves all have white and blue jars on them. In the middle of the room there is a waist height dresses with various ceramic objects on it.
Photo: Amelia Irimies
A large glass beaker containing hundreds of colorful pills.
Photo: Amelia Irimies
Photo of a wooden shelf with many ceramic jars. The jars are mostly white but have blue drawings and inscriptions. In a cut out of the shelf a fake window can be seen with a silhouette of a lady.
Photo: Amelia Irimies
Photo of an insanely large wine barrel. It is made out of wood and has a coat sculpture at the top. a few people can be seen around it.

Another fun view in the castle was the famously large wine barrel. Apparently this is the fourth one they had built and is a amusing site to see. They now built a staircase and a ”dancefloor” on top of it which gives tourists the opportunity to truly understand the grandiosity of the barrel.

Photo: Amelia Irimies

To top our day off, we decided to get a full German experience and have a Currywurst, known as a German dish. It is exactly what it sounds like, sausage covered in a red sauce and curry powder. Along side of it we had fries and bread. And although we did not leave any behind, we both agreed that we would much rather have the sausage without the curry. But it was great to try it out!

Photo: Amelia Irimies

Photo showing two meals on plastic trays and wooden table. Both have a piece of bread and a tray with sausage covered in a red paste and curry powder. One meal has sweet potato fries and mayo on the side while the other has normal fries with ketchup.

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