Rhine River Cruise - Speyer

Speyer Cathedral

We docked early in the morning in  Germersheim, right near a public park.  One thing I like about river cruising...the ship often docks in pretty places rather than industrial areas.  Departed the ship in the morning by bus to head to Speyer (pronounced Shpyer...my German is getting better).  Speyer is one of German's oldest cities and was founded by the Romans. Our excursion was a walking tour of Speyer and it started at the beautiful Speyer Cathedral, which began construction in 1030 and is on

Domnaph at Speyer Cathedral

the UNESCO World Heritage List.  The cathedral is constructed of red sandstone and is Romanesque architecture and has maintained the overall form and dimensions of the 11th century structure. We were able to visit the inside of the cathedral, which has amazing 19th century frescoes.  One of the things I found unique about the cathedral is the large bowl (called a Domnapf) located in front of the cathedral, where each newly elected bishop had to fill the bowl with wine for the townspeople to drink to his health...it holds 400 gallons!  We were told that in recent years, they started charging townspeople for each glass of wine which created some unhappy townspeople...the compromise was that they got to at least keep the glass. That is something I would love to see!

Trinity Church - Painted Wood Panels

Trinity Church - Altar

Our next stop was The Trinity Church, which was built from 1701-1717 as a Lutheran church.  In our travels, we have seen many churches and this is by far one of my favorites.  In the interior of the church the two upper balconies are painted on wood with scenes from the Old Testament and New Testament.  The ceiling is also painted in Biblical scenes.  Behind the altar are the beautiful organ pipes, accented with gold angels.  The church is amazingly well preserved.

Next on our walking tour, we visited the Jewish Quarter, which dates back to 1084.  It was very interesting to see the pool of the medieval mikveh, dating back to 1128, which is still supplied with groundwater today. The ruins of the synagogue represent the oldest visible remnants of a mikveh in central Europe.



German Gelato

We ended the tour on the main street of Speyer and took advantage of our free time to have a bite of lunch in a café, enjoy a pretzel (brezel) from a street vendor and of course, Rodney had to sample some gelato in Germany. 

What a quaint and beautiful place!