Date of visit: August 16, 2010, around 2:00 p.m.
This is the last sightseeing spot this time. It took about 2 hours to get there from Maulbronn by ordinary road and Autobahn.
When I came near Speyer, I found this signboard: Hockenheim, the track of F1 German Grand Prix, is located around here.
I was concerned about that, too, but I set out for my destination, Speyer, as I had originally planned.
By the way, here is the location. Hockenheim, around here, or next to Speyer.
We find a parking lot near the center of town and park there.
さあここは世界遺産「シュパイアー大聖堂」で有名な街です。
シュパイアー大聖堂は、ドイツの都市シュパイアーに聳える赤い砂岩でできた巨大なバシリカ式聖堂である。その正式な名称は「聖マリア・聖ステパノ大聖堂」だが、しばしばシュパイアーの皇帝大聖堂(Kaiserdom zu Speyer)とも呼ばれる。廃墟となったクリュニー修道院とともに、シュパイアー大聖堂はロマネスク様式最大級の聖堂である。(Wikipediaより)
The first impression was “It’s big”. I think it was bigger than it looks in this picture.
Well, this is also the mausoleum of the Holy Roman Empire emperors of the past, so I went inside immediately.
The mausoleum is in the basement of the cathedral, and you can enter the cathedral for free, but there was a fee to enter the mausoleum.
It was very quiet and cool inside. I don’t really understand it (or is it hard to understand?). Although it is the Holy Roman Empire, there are mausoleums of emperors like this one, and it has a history of almost 1,000 years, so it is very attractive and exciting for historical romance lovers.
We went outside again. The weather turned bad again and it started to rain.
Although our stay was short, we were able to enjoy the World Heritage Site of Speyer Cathedral.
さあ、これからフランクフルトへ。車を返しに向かいます。(続く、次回最終回です!)