As you know we turned off the Rhine and onto the Main River at Mainz, then just before our next stop of Bamberg, we turned onto the Main-Danube canal. The connection between the Main and the Danube, effectively connecting the Rhine and Danube.
There was a bit of time onboard as we went through many locks working our way up stream, so there were activities such as cooking demonstrations and towel folding.
Jen stayed for the cooking demo, which the chef showed his prowess at strudel, but when Jen took a recipe card, thinking she’d give it a crack at home – the recipe was for 20 people!
The towel folding was a bit of a competition between the hotel staff and we didn’t have a bad view…
Until this lady thought she might be able to get better video if she stood up…
There’s always one 😂 So we missed the actual doing… but here was the final product…
Anyway… today’s stop was Bamberg. Jen and I both remember Bamberg as being an absolutely beautiful medieval town.
This is what they call Little Venice behind us… these houses are about 400 years old and used be owned/lived in by fisherman and hence it wasn’t a very salubrious area to live because everything went into the river… fish waste, animal waste from the slaughterhouse down the end of these houses on the left, and human waste… ew.
But over time, they sorted out the sewage system and cleaned up the water ways stopped the area flooding and now these houses have become very sought after. There is one currently for sale for €2.2M. This is covered under the UNESCO World Heritage, so nothing can be changed – you can’t even hammer a nail into a wall, so the maintenance and up keep would be tricky.
All the buildings in Bamberg used to look like this with the wooden beams, but somewhere along the line, some man in charge, who didn’t like the look of them made a rule that you had to clad over them. There are a few who have removed the cladding to reveal the originality.
In the centre of town, we stopped outside a chapel to look at the plaques just outside.
There was this one – a station of the cross…
Then next to that was this… a special warning from the town council that if you steal in this town – you’ll lose a hand.
and if you look behind this sign… that’s the city jail.
Obviously minimum security…
Back to the pretty part…
The middle mural here is depicting a popular sport back in the day – boat jousting!
Bamberg is ALL about the beer. I could write an entire blog solely on the beer in Bamberg… but I shall just keep it two stories.
- The building below with the green shutters was a typical German bar owned by a man who had an accident and afterward walked bow legged… soo the locals called him Schlenkerla – Mr Wobbly Walk and after he died, they changed the name of the bar to just that. In the 2nd picture you, if you zoom in you can see a little bow legged man in the circle hanging in front of the door.
- 2. They have a beer called ‘Smokey Beer’. Some people say it tastes like ashtray, which surely begs the question – Why? However some people say that it tastes like smoked ham… but we will be the judge.
I got one smokey and one regular for comparison, and just in case we didn’t like the smokey…
Verdict: we agreed that it tasted like a delicatessen, which surprisingly was very nice and was preferred to the regular beer.
We joined the short walking tour around the old town with a lovely guide.
Right next to this building in the water is a slalom course where kayakers can practice their moves.
Our guide showed us a map of Bamberg from the 1600s, which can still be used today, because nothing (hardly anything) has changed in the centre of the city.
Then after the tour, Jen and I set off for our free time where we found the market square and we bought a lemon for our G&Ts… keeping the German economy alive.
We also found this…. Does anyone remember having this book as a kid? I did! It has ten stories to frighten kids into behaving ‘properly’ !!! For Example:
Little Johnny Head-in-air… he never paid attention to where he walked, and eventually fell into a canal and drowned.
Another boy refuses to stop sucking his thumb and a tailor comes around and cuts off his thumbs!
And another boy – this one won’t eat his soup, so he withered away and died.
There was also the little match stick girl – who played with matches and burnt her house down with her in it!
I mean… random and weird and perhaps a little traumatic for a small child, but I absolutely loved it. I think I still have it at home. I hope so, I think we’re due for another read. One must keep their behaviour in check!
Then we found our way back to the meet up spot for the buses to take us back to the ship…
Naturally one lady got lost in the town after was separated from her friends, so we had to wait in the bus until she was located. She was found safe and sound after about 30-40 minutes and wasn’t one bit concerned even thought it was getting dark. Just hopped on the bus like nothing had happened.
So we got back to the boat a little later than planned… but we did get to see her all lit up.
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