Today the castle that overlooks Heidelberg is just a ruin.
The Heidelberg Castle was originally built in the 13th century, but extensions where made until the 17th
century. The castle was the seat of the Wittelsbach
palatines. The Witteslbach family ruled Bavaria from 1180 to 1918
and then the Rhine Palatinate from 1214 to 1805. The castle was
badly damaged by the French in 1689 and 1693. At one point the
French blew up the gun-powder tower, which destroyed much of the
castle. Then during the 1700ís Prince Elector Karl Theodor tried
to restore the castle in vain. In 1764 it was struck by lightning
and much was burned.
You can see pretty much everything that remains without paying the 2 Euros to get in.
If you do pay, what you will see is the castle yard, pharmacy museum and the worlds largest wooden wine barrel which is about 2 stories high and can hold about 200,000 liters of wine.
You do not have to take a tour.
To get to the castle you can walk the 310 stairs up, or take a cable train.
[photo by lanier 67]