Our ship docked early this morning in Bamberg, the small Bavarian town built on seven hills. Like every place we’ve visited in Germany so far, it is a photographer’s dream, with rivers flowing through the medieval old town, stone bridges, boats, cobbled streets, half-timbered houses, statues, a cathedral, open public squares and quaint little souvenir shops.
Our guide, Louisa, is a student in this town, where the university is spread across a number of historic buildings in different locations, rather than in a single location. Between classes the students cycle along the sidewalks, skilfully avoiding pedestrians. Louisa walked us past Clavius High School, named after the man who, many centuries ago, came up with the concept of the decimal point. Our first stop was the old slaughterhouse, right on the river where the entrails and other waste products could be easily disposed of.
Bamberg is famous for its many breweries. Its best known beer is possibly the smoky beer, which some drinkers claim tastes like bacon but others say tastes more like an ashtray. There is also a story told here that the American bombing crews avoided heavily bombing this town in order to save its breweries.
Germany is turning on the most perfect spring weather for us. It’s warm and sunny and the skies are blue. We stopped at a cafe for a coffee at an outdoor table in the sun and reflected on the memories we’d take away from Bamberg before returning to the ship in preparation for a mid-afternoon departure.
On The Road With Garry 