Small town, big history

 

Speyer, Germany is a quiet town on the West Bank of the Rhine with a long history. It features the largest Romanesque building in the world, an imperial cathedral, and the burial place of eight Holy Roman Emperors. 

How about that? Someone was practicing (John says tuning) the organ when we entered, making for an atmospheric experience.  

We took a walking tour from the ship that lasted about an hour. This area in Germany was the home of most Pennsylvania Deutsch. Our Bleam family ancestors.  

All the local tour guides have been terrific. And they know their history. Our guide this morning was a former Lufhansa flight attendant and now a helicopter pilot. Yes, really. The guides are all highly educated and entertaining.  

The historic dissent against the Catholic Church in Speyer gave birth to the term Protestant. This church was built around 1900 to honor the 1529 Martin Luther Protestation of Speyer. We had a peek inside but no pictures. So much gold for a Lutheran church!

Speyer has a long Jewish heritage, and pogroms were a tragic part of that history. Money lending was forbidden for Christians, but the Bishop needed money to build the Cathedral. The church offered rights and protections to the Jews that were unheard of in the rest of Europe. The town became a center of spiritual and intellectual life for the Jewish community.

We had a brief visit at Germany’s oldest “Mikva” c. 1104.

It contains ancient synagog remains and 33 feet deep ritual bath. 

Almost all of Speyer’s Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. 

The daily Viking activity sheet arrives in the cabin each evening. 

We attended the teatime and Rudeshiem coffee experience in the lounge. Dinner at 7.