Mainz

Our train trip from Cologne to Mainz followed the Rhine so we had good views of the river and for the first time in a long while we saw hills.  Gone were the flat lands covered in crops that we had seen all the way since leaving San Sebastian now we had small hills, many of them covered in vineyards.

Here as in the previous cities there were many churches that we could visit.  Churches are generally old architecture and open to passers by while many other old buildings, that would be interesting to see, have a new uses and are not open to the general public.

As we were walking from our apartment to the river we passed by St Peter church, builtt from 1759 - 1789.  It is quite modest from the outside so we were surprised by the lovely baroque interior.  The church was badly damaged in WWII and in restoration the ceiling frescoes were repainted from photographs.

A large part of the city centre was damaged during the war and some of the historic buildings have been restored.  The current Roman-Germanic museum building built around 1627 as the archbishop’s residence was restored.

St Christopher's church, built 1292-1325, was destroyed during the war and has been left as a ruin, it's been made into a memorial to the victims of the bombing.

St Stephens church was completed in 1340 and the cloisters in 1499.  It too suffered war damage and most of it was able to be repaired. 

 The stained glass windows are not the typical design and were completed in 1985, they give the inside of the church a blue glow. 

 We were lucky enough to hear the organ being played although not for long as the organist packed up not long after we arrived.  It's the first time I've seem modern looking organ pipes and I thought they were attractive.

My photo of the organ was blurred so I got one off the internet.

The old university was built 1615 - 1618 by Jesuits as a chapter house for a university and a preparatory school.  It is still a university building today.

An area in the city has several half timbered houses some of them were built around 1500.

The city once had a fortress  and two of the towers remain, both were turned into prisons at one time. 
The Iron tower wad built around 1240

and the wood tower built around 1360

The Mainz cathedral dates from 975 but through fires and wars it was rebuilt and restored many times.  Today's cathedral dates mainly from the 13th and 14th centuries.

St Augustine was another baroque church with a beautiful interior.

On our second day we took a bus over the Rhine to Wiesbaden, about 13km away. Wiesbaden is one of the oldest spa towns in Europe and it's citizens have an above average income.  We got off the bus at the funicular and took a 400 metre ride, up 80 metres to the top of the hill.  The funicular is unusual as it's powered by water.  The top car is filled with 7000 litres of water which gives it weight to pull the bottom car up.  Once at the bottom the water is drained out and pumped back up the hill to be used again.

There is a park at the top and nearby is a Russian Orthodox Church.  A Duke had this built in 1845 around the grave of his young wife who died in childbirth.  

Views over the city from the hilltop.

We took the funicular back down then caught a city bus to the town centre.  The casino has a prime spot beside a lively park and shares a 1905 spa building with the convention centre and a restaurant.

Entrance foyer 

The Lutheran Church caught our eye as it's a red brick building (built 1907) and ift has four corner spires and a large central one, inside it's relatively plain.

Wiesbaden has a memorial to its Holocaust victims on the site of a synagogue that was destroyed by the Nazis.  The names of 1507 Jews who were murdered by National Socialists between 1933 and 1945 have been carved in stone.