Journey to the Sea: Part 2

 Part 2: Bamberg

I arrived in Bamberg on Monday, April 3rd, after an hour-long train ride from Nuremberg. Bamberg was a pretty random throw-in to the trip. I had seen it on a "Prettiest cities in Germany" list and thought it might be a fun stop along my trip. But since it wasn’t the goal of the journey (that was to spend time in the Netherlands) or a city that originally piqued my interest (like Nuremberg), I decided to only spend two days there. If there’s one major regret I had from this trip, it’s that I didn’t spend more time in Bamberg. Bamberg might be up there on a short list of the coolest cities I’ve ever been to.

There’s always been the cliché of Americans going to Europe and quickly saying “Should I move here?” but I’ve never really felt that anywhere until I went to Bamberg. If things go south in the US, I’d gladly move to Bamberg and set up shop. Although, I think if things go south in the US, the whole world’s in trouble, so let’s not hope for that. Either way, I certainly plan on returning there if I save up enough money to make it back to Europe. For some context, Bamberg is an ancient medieval city-state once ruled by a Prince-Bishop, that is, a Bishop who was also the head of state. There was no separation of church and state because the church was the state. The city lost most of its importance after the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire and secularization (thanks again to Napoleon). It was incorporated into Bavaria and eventually Germany. Over the centuries, however, it’s maintained its small city-medieval charm. Even today, it has slightly less than 80,000 people (for comparison, Nuremberg is 518,000). But what makes it particularly special is that it escaped most of the bombs from the second world war, with 4.6% of the city being destroyed (according to my tour guide). In that regard, Bamberg really is the fairy-tale German city.

Most of the city sits on an island in the River Regnitz, thus the number of bridges you’ll see in many of my photos. The religious clergy and government advisors all lived on the western side of the left branch of the Regnitz, in a type of strictly controlled holy city. Regular citizens lived on the eastern side of the Regnitz. To bind both sides of the city together, the government at the time decided to construct the city hall (Rathaus) in the literal middle of the Regnitz. Resulting in one of the coolest city halls anywhere, I’d say. Most of the city's churches lie on the Western side of the Regnitz on a series of seven hills (in an allude to Rome), with each hill having a different church, cathedral, or monastery. The large concentration of monks naturally led to the city being full of breweries since monks often brewed beer to sell to pilgrims traveling to see relics (which Bamberg has many of) or the public. Today the city has 11 different breweries (down from 65 in the 1800s) which brew some seriously insanely good beer. Like REALLY good. I’m not a huge beer guy, but MAN was this stuff good. The oldest brewery, Klosterbräu, has been continuously brewed in the same location since 1533. Not only does the city have good beer offerings, but the city’s remaining monastery makes wine as well, from the very vineyards that straddle the hill it sits on.

The day I arrived in Bamberg, I checked into my single room in a small local hotel (there surprisingly were no good hostel offerings in the entire city). I then went on a very informative two-hour-long tour of the city by a local guide. With my student discount, the entire tour was only six euros (regular admission was, I think 10 euros). Still an incredible value for a two-hour-long tour. Many of the photos of the city you’ll see in this post come from that tour. After the tour ended, I hiked around the city’s seven hills to see each of the churches in all their glory. The monastery was sadly under renovation, so I wasn’t able to get the full experience of all the churches altogether. But with seven major churches, there’s bound to be one always under restoration. According to my guide, the monastery had actually been under renovation for the past 12 years. They’ve struggled with getting enough money to complete the entire project, and it's continued to be a bit of a city eyesore. Either way, the monastery’s gardens are sublime and offer one of the best views over the old city. Later that night, I walked up to the city’s castle on another hill overlooking Bamberg and the surrounding countryside. 

Much of the city is built directly over the river

The town hall is all its glory

Easter market in one of the squares

The main city square

Average houses in Bamberg

Outside the Prince-Bishop's Palace

The wooden building is currently the city museum, the cathedral is in the background

Close-up of the detail above the doorway on the cathedral 

Rose garden of the palace, with the monastery in the background

View above the city

The cathedral relic- One of Saint Otto's fingers

Inside the cathedral

One of the orchards below the cathedral

One of the other churches (I forgot which one this was)

The Illuminati are everywhere

Average Bamberg street

The city at night

View from the monastery hill

The city castle at night

The following day I walked around Bamberg again, but this time went to a series of museums in the morning. One was the Prince-Bishop's palace, where he ruled over Bamberg. The Prince-Bishop, as technically a member of the clergy, could not marry or have children. Therefore, the Prince-Bishop was chosen by a council of church members and noble families. The noble families would usually select one of their sons to take up the priestly path and become Prince-Bishop. So no, it’s not like any average priest could rise to the ranks of Prince-Bishop. The palace is an opulent renaissance style building, with a fantastic rose garden that overlooks the city. Afterward, I traveled to the city museum, which was also very informative. It included a very cool section on the Jewish history of the city and the struggles of the Jewish community in Bamberg. They even exhibited a wooden statue representing the virtues of German values that a Jewish businessman had donated to stand in the center of the main square. It’s another example of how Jewish people were an ordinary part of German society before the rise of the Nazis. Their patriotism towards Germany, and even the sacrifices of those who had fought in WW1, meant nothing to the Nazis.

In the afternoon, I once again walked up to the city castle. The castle is surprisingly still in private hands but is open to the public to see. It offers a commanding view of the surrounding Frankish countryside, characterized by its low hills and rolling farmland. There’s a small hotel in the castle as well, but you’re only allowed to go inside if you’re a guest.

Cathedral square the next morning

Inside the Prince-Bishop's palace

I liked this painting

Inside the palace

The main reception and dance hall

Inside the city museum

Statue representing the virtue of the German people donated by a local Jewish businessman 

City skyline from the hill beneath the city castle

Castle during the day

View from the city castle

Final time walking by the town hall- goodbye Bamberg

After walking around the city for two days and getting my fair share of steps in, I wanted to take time in the afternoon to eat some typical Frankish food at a local restaurant. I was again sat at a stammtisch and had easily the best beer I’ve ever had, along with some typical Frankish roasted pork with a noodle ball (it’s pretty darn similar to Austrian food).

At the stammtisch, I met a nice couple from the city of Hannover, in northern Germany. They were traveling to Bamberg for their Easter Break, spending six days in and around the city. This brings me to something I noticed about Bamberg and a few other cities on this trip. If there are tourists from the country there (i.e. German tourists traveling Germany), then you know you generally made a good choice. Local tourists usually avoid places that are overcrowded and well-known internationally. Bamberg, despite being only an hour away from the more popular Nuremberg, had virtually no international tourists. For the most part, the only tourists there were Germans. This’ll come up again later in the Netherlands, but I think it’s generally good to notice and follow.

Anyway, this couple asked me what I did for University, where I was from, etc., and I asked them what life was like in Hannover. They recommended that I travel to Hamburg since, according to them, it’s a very cool, well-planned city. A bunch of different Germans over my travels have recommended I go to Hamburg, so maybe I'll have to make it there one day. Anyway, our topic of conversation strayed from city planning topics to green energy policy. I’m not entirely sure how we got to this topic, but I asked them what they thought about Germany’s nuclear energy policy. I probably shouldn’t have asked that question, since it’s a very touchy subject in Germany, but I’d yet to hear the German response to their energy policy. Germany has a “no nuclear” energy policy. The very week I traveled to Bamberg, the final German nuclear reactor was shut down. Instead of substituting nuclear energy with renewables though, Germany has substituted most of its previous carbon-neutral energy with coal. Germany is a very environmentally friendly country for the most part, but its energy policy hampers its progress. 

For some comparison, here are some more recent energy numbers. Illinois gets about 2/3 of its electricity from carbon-neutral sources (53% nuclear, 11% renewable- 64% in total). Germany sits at around 41%-45%, depending on how sunny each year is. That’s amazing in comparison to most of Europe and the US, but it could already be 100% carbon neutral by simply keeping nuclear, like France.

Oh, and just a quick comparison to some of our US neighbors. Indiana gets 58% of its electricity from coal. That probably shouldn’t be surprising since it's Indiana. 

I was genuinely fascinated to hear their opinion on the matter. The couple claimed that the real reason nuclear energy never worked was because of the spent-fuel issue. They claimed that no place could be found in the entire country to put spent fuel because there wasn’t enough space in Germany. I think this is a bit ridiculous since other European countries have already figured out this problem, but I understand the sentiment. They also placed a lot of blame on Germany’s green party. One of the founding reasons for the Green Party was an anti-nuclear stance. It’s disappointing because many other things the Green Party advocates for are genuinely good (more renewables, less plastic, etc.). The couple also claimed that the Green Party was a major reason for unaffordability in new German houses since houses are required to be extremely energy efficient. This may seem like a good thing (and generally it is), but it also means that building cheap houses is difficult. Thereby further exacerbating an already ridiculously expensive housing market. Since it was getting late, I excused myself from the table and went off into the night through the old cobblestone streets and back to my hotel.

I realize this conversation is pretty out there, but I think it's an important example of how stammtisches work. The ability to talk with complete strangers at a dinner table is something that I wish the US would adopt. It makes traveling around Germany as a solo traveler never a lonely experience since you can always expect to have great conversations over dinner. And plus, now you know way too much about random energy policies!

Anyway, to wrap up my time in Bamberg. The next morning, I woke up and walked to the train station to board a regional train to Frankfurt. It was a beautiful three-hour journey along the Main River. A wonderful end to an amazing two days in Bamberg.