Regensburg, off the beaten track in Germany, traveling solo
A wonderful city to walk the lanes and avenues, even if the sky is overcast. Arriving by train in the morning gave me almost an entire day to become oriented to the city. Day two I would visit many of the locations my guide, Michaela Ederer from Regensburg Marketing, suggested to me.
Leaving Hotel Central Regensburg my tour took us down cobbled streets of shops, restaurants and apartments. You imedaitely notice how clean and well kept German towns are. Regensburg is a Unesco World Heritage City with most of the the old town within this designation I found there is far more to see than you can do in two days, plan to stay longer.
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This charming bakery is the only one to supply rolls for the famous sausage restaurant we visited.
(see below). A steady stream of local shoppers proved it was very popular.
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The spire of St Peters can be seen over the roof tops |
The Cathedral of St Peter, another amazing structure that always makes me pause to think ‘how was this done?” |
The organ pipes are massive.
On a sunny day I am sure the colored glass windows are stunning.
The window display gave me a hint of the treasures inside. |
There was a massive display inside on chocolates and candies. These are chocolates you select individually and carry the in a box. The cakes were just as impressive. |
The mad hatter: Andreas Nuslan leads the 100+ year old family company Der Hatmacher. As we passed the colorful windows I had to stop when I saw the hat created for Johnny Depp in Alice in Wonderland!
I made a second visit the next day and toured the extensive displays on two floor. The process of making hats by hand is very intensive, hand labor. The company web site states they are still using the old traditional ‘englische Zuriche’. “This rare technique is only possible with direct manual labour. and only with this complicated process, which includes between 60 and 80 working steps, can the felt become strong and stable”. It would be amazing to watch a hat being created. You can see this on the web site video.
A large selection of pins that can be added to your hat. There were pins for almost any hobby or affiliation |
My visit was just after Easter so there was a colorful array of headwear |
One of the staff who kindly told me about some of the styles. |
Local Artisans: Often a city or town will specialize in a craft or traditional arts. Visiting artists shops often give a perspective that you won’t find in a large store. Regensburg has Kunsthandwerk Orignial. This small shop showcases hand crafts and art work by locals.
I was tempted by many of the fine pieces but limited suitcase space and another 8 weeks on the road encouraged me to select a hand made wooden pen.
SAUSAGE with sweet mustard
Not much to look at from the exterior this small waterfront stand, the historic Wurst-kuchel, was packed earlier in the day. When I returned to try one of the sausages late in the afternoon, I was the only person there.
The room to the left of the kitchen has tables and benches. I did not see any wait staff. |
In this tiny room two woman grill hundreds and hundreds of sausages |
The secret is the sweet mustard. I rarely eat sausage and never hot dogs so I was surprised at the first bite. |
The sausage is served on a caraway flavored roll from the bakery mentioned earlier and sauerkraut. |
At the end of day two I met my guide again for dinner at a traditional Germany restaurant: Weltenburger am Dom, in the center of town near the Cathedral. This is a large restaurant and a solo diner will have no problem finding a table early in the evening.
You can tell from our meals the portions are LARGE. And so are the potatoes.
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crossing over the Stone Bridge to see another part of the city
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taken any or all of the boat excursions to spots outside the city (at this time of year there were fewer available and the weather was very wet for a boat trip) particularly to Walhalla
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Visiting any of the countless museums
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Visit the ‘oldest’ knife maker in the city
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Tour/visit of the theater
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The Scottish Church or Schottenkirche: I do love those carvings
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Visit the interior of any of the remaining towers
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Seen by tour guide only is an underground exhibit, Document Neupgarrplatz. Archaeological excavations from Roman times to a WWII air raid shelter
Juice and toilet paper |
Soup as well as hot drinks |
something for a last minute meal? |
I'm looking forward to visiting Regensburg very soon, and your post provided a nice \”appetizer\” to what awaits.
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You should enjoy your visit, I could have spent a few more days and seen more of the city. I must complement the tourist office here and the staff at the Unesco museum, great information and willingness to help
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Thanks for such a lovely tour of an area I've never been to before and now would love to visit, beautiful!
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Noel, so glad you found this interesting. Almost every town I visited offered things I never knew about……….shows me I need to do some research before I arrive………….but often that is how I discover the non tourist parts of a city. But I give credit to the wonderful city guides who rewrote their tours to focus on a solo traveler………….something many of them thought was weird! So glad you found my post
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Wonderful website. Hotels in kanyakumariPlenty of useful information here. thanks on your sweat!
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