We spent the morning today sailing on the Main River towards the Main-Danube Canal. This canal was completed in 1992 and runs from Bamberg on the Main River to Kelheim on the Danube River. This allows for direct waterway traffic from the North Sea to the Black Sea. There are 16 locks along the entire length of the canal.

This afternoon we went to Bamberg. Bamberg dates back to the 9th century. It has Europe’s largest intact city wall. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is touted to be one of Germany’s most beautiful towns. It is on the Regnitz River near where it joins the Main River.

St Michaelsburg Abbey was founded in 1015 and dissolved in 1802. The current buildings have been under repair since 2016, so we couldn’t go see it.

Old Bamburg Hospital

Little Venice is the former fisherman’s district of Bamberg. There are row houses from the 14th-17th century (depending on reference) that are right along the Regnitz River. 

Duck

Yet another farmer’s market

The Bamburg town hall is built in the river because the bishop of Bamburg did not want to give up any of his land for a town hall to be built. The townspeople took stakes, put them into the river, and created an artificial island where they could build the town hall. It dates back to at least 1387.

Bamberg Cathedral was completed in the 13th century and is on the site of 2 previous cathedrals which had burned down. During the 17th century, the interior style was changed to Baroque, but this was again changed in the 19th century, returning it to a more medieval style, with some Romanesque art. Pope Clement II (1005-1047) is buried here as well as King Heinrich II (the Holy Roman Emperor) and his wife Kunigunde of Luxembourg.

The tomb of Heinrich II and Kunigunde. He died in 1024 and she died in 1040. This was sculpted in the late 15th-early 16th century.

Kunigunde was supposedly accused of adultery and to prove her innocence, she walked over red-hot ploughshares without being burned. This panel on her tomb is meant to show this. 

Kunigunde is credited by some residents of Bamburg with protecting the city during WWII. Almost the entire city was intact.

The old court is a complex of buildings associated with the cathedral which were used for residences of the bishop. It is on the site of the original palace.

At the new palace there are extensive rose gardens. They were quite lovely.