Bamberg

8th September

Bamberg, located at the entrance to the Main-Danube Canal (pronounced 'Mine-Danube), has such an abundance of historical buildings that it was designated a UNESCO World Cultural Site in 1983. Through the centre of the town runs the Regnitz River, separating the old town from the new town. It has also become famous for its smoky beer (Rauchbier), a delicacy lost on a coeliac!

Peter is sitting against one of the old cranes, left over from Bamberg's busy port days.

 The large yellow building on the left of the river, in the background, is actually a prison. The name of the building starts with 'cafe' and belies the true nature of the building. It is situated directly opposite little Venice, the posh part of old Bamberg!

The narrow, tall, red roofed building on the left is the old town hall. Bamberg, a medieval walled city,

 was ruled by a Prince Bishop from the Catholic Church. The people of the town wanted a town hall but the Prince Bishop refused to grant them any land for the building. Using their initiative, they built the town hall in the middle of the river! See below for another picture of the town hall, taken from the other side. The walls of the building are covered with fresco paintings.

This building is renowned as the best example of a baroque style building in Germany.

Here you see the fresco painting of the 

Rathaus, or town hall.

The beautiful blue, baroque building from the 

bridge.

This is the town hall, taken from the back. The medieval wooden structure in the foreground of the picture was added later.

Water wheels used to operate along this 

section of the river in old Bamberg.

This beautiful sign advertises a pub in old 

Bamberg. The original publican is shown in the centre of the circle and the star on the left depicts two triangles, one representing fire and one water (don't quote me on that as Peter didn't hear the story and I'm relying on a day old memory).

The Prince Bishop needed a house that was 

separate to his farm over the road, so he built this palace for himself. It is meant to have three wings to be a true baroque palace, but there was no room for the third wing. The keystones were placed on the wall anyway.

Peter wants a knocker like this at home!

The Prince Bishop had a beautiful rose garden and, of 

course, needed a house to retire to when the exercise of walking around the garden became too much. And why, you ask, would the exercise be too much? Well that's because he was, in modern day terms, morbidly obese!

Every medieval town has a cathedral at its centre and Bamburg's cathedral has an interesting story attached to it. In front of the alter is the sarcophagus of Pope Clement 11 who,,during his short reign of 9 months, ruled both the dioceses of Bamburg and Rome. After his death, his body was returned to his beloved Bamburg amongst rumours of poisoning. During the 19th century, his remains were tested and the poisoning, by lead sugar, was confirmed. It is unknown whether the poisoning was intentional or accidental.