12th-century Stone Bridge in Regensburg is a masterwork of medieval construction and an emblem of the city
PHOTOGRAPHS: NASA; JPL; MICHAEL BENSON/KINETIKON PICTURES, SUGAR & LOAF, MARTIN SIEPMANN/ROBERT HARDING, GIUSEPPE CACACE/GETTY IMAGES
Wurst case scenario in Regensburg
Though it may be four times smaller than Munich, Regensburg has much the same charm as its big Bavarian brother down the road: aristocratic palaces and soaring towers, handsome squares and cobbled streets, bohemian cafés and boisterous beer halls that rattle to the soundtrack of oompah bands. The umbrella and audio-guide brigades common in Munich rarely strike this far north into Bavaria, and visit Regensburg in the doldrums of the low season and you might have the Old City to yourself. Start at the town’s gothic cathedral, whose spires are a useful point of navigation around the confusing medieval alleyways nearby. From here, it’s a short walk to the Stone Bridge, an imposing structure across the Danube, guarded by a sternlooking tower. The bridge’s most famous gift to the city is the Regensburg Sausage Kitchen, a canteen for bridge builders dating to 1146, thought by some to be the oldest restaurant in continual operation in the world. The business has changed little over the centuries – the kitchen dispensing thin bratwursts with a dollop of sauerkraut and mustard, best savoured watching the Danube on its slow procession to Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade.