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Regensburg - May 2003

We arrived in Regensburg at about 10.30. We had booked in at the Ibis Hotel for 2 nights. Regensburg is a large medieval city and most buildings in the old centre are thirteenth to sixteenth century. We stopped in a small square for brunch, which was very good. Norman had three eggs, yoghurt, apricot jam and bread with orange juice. I was more extravagant and had yoghurt, a plate of cheeses, ham, salami, melon, grapes, kiwi fruit and bread with freshly squeezed orange juice and champagne – well, sparkling wine. It all cost 15?.

We went into the cathedral, as it was raining slightly, and then wandered around the old town before returning to the hotel at about 2pm. We were soon out again and into the large shopping complex near the hotel, where Norman bought some slippers.

Like many of the cities we had visited, Regensburg is on the Danube. In fact, its thirteenth century stone bridge was the first ever to span that mighty river. We walked down to the bridge and crossed over to look at the other side. There, we walked down to the canal and saw a record of the flood levels. There were many attractive buildings and quite a few restaurants on this side of the river, so naturally we looked at one or two menus.
The best views of old Regensburg were from this side of the river. The distance gave a little more idea of the size of the town and the number of very old buildings.

Back across the river, we started to look for restaurants. We stopped for iced coffee and iced chocolate in a café next to the statue of Don Juan, one time ruler of Regensburg and brother of Philip II of Spain.

Unfortunately, the only restaurant we really fancied was booked up. On our way back to the hotel, we called in the Italian restaurant of the Park Hotel, Regensburg’s grandest hotel. The restaurant looked quite nice so we booked a table for later. On our way back to the hotel, we spotted a local couple, wearing their best clothes! They weren’t the only pair we saw in national costume in Regensburg.

By the time we returned to Locanda Botticelli, it was a pleasant evening, although it had been raining whilst we were back in the hotel. We had a reasonable good meal there, and the atmosphere was pleasant. The antipasto for two wasn’t huge but included cheeses, aubergines, courgettes, mushrooms, squid, anchovies, crab sticks etc. Then I had John Dory with artichoke hearts and tagliatelle whilst Norman had steak in a paprika sauce with potato pancakes. We had a carafe of Italian Chardonnay and a large bottle of San Pellegrino. The tiramisu was disappointing as it was far too sweet, but the double espressos were very good. The meal cost 78.30?. They didn’t take credit cards, but we had just enough money to pay!

Back at the hotel, we discovered there were no spare pillows as the hotel was fully booked and almost everyone had asked for extra pillows!

We walked down to the town centre at about 9.30am on Sunday, and went into Haus Heuport, opposite the cathedral for the hurry up breakfast. This was rather nice – fruit, croissant, bread, butter, honey etc followed by coffee for 10.50?. While we were eating, tourist groups kept coming into the café and walking through to the inner courtyard, looking around and then going out again. Apparently the old building is on the tourist route.

After breakfast, we walked into parts of the old town we hadn’t seen before. There were several nice squares including one with the two main theatres. We returned to the hotel by a different route at about noon, but didn’t stay there for long.

We walked down to the Kornmarkt, where we visited the Old Chapel. It looks nothing much from the outside but is very ornate inside and beautifully renovated. Then we walked along to Kepplerstrasse, past Keppler’s house, to look at another restaurant which turned out to be fully booked by a private party. We walked around that area and then stopped for fruit juice at Rive Droite, where we sat outside and read for a time.

It started to rain as we left the café. We started to do a little more exploring but soon gave up and headed back to the hotel as the rain became heavier. By the time we arrived, it was 4pm and the sun was shining again. Sod’s law!

We went out again shortly before 7pm and it soon began to rain again. We decided not to look around too much but to take a chance and eat in the restaurant upstairs at Haus Heuport, where we had been for breakfast. It turned out to be a good choice. Not only was the atmosphere lively and pleasant, but the food was good too.

Norman had beer and we both had mineral water with the meal. First we had a little surprise, salmon mousse with mustard mayonnaise and half a cherry tomato. The bread wasn’t bad. We both had cream of asparagus soup with pieces of both green and white asparagus. Then I had Surf and Turf, a very good fillet steak and two huge prawns with new potatoes and a chopped tomato sauce. Norman had spring chicken with noodles and various vegetables including baby corn and courgettes. He said the sauce was very subtle with a hint of orange. We couldn’t manage desserts but had good espressos – double for me! It was an excellent meal for 60.70?.

We left the restaurant at about 9pm, by which time it was a really pleasant evening. We wandered around some of the narrow streets looking in shop windows. Some of the shops were a little twee, but that is only to be expected in a place such as Regensburg. It is certainly a town I would be happy to return to. We returned to the hotel at 10.15pm.