BADEN. 



199 



Bi'Hchsal (10,811 inhabitants) lies on the old high-road, at the foot of the 

 mountains. Its port on the Rhine is Philijypshurg (2,407 inhabitants), formerly 

 a fortress of considerable importance. Bretten (3,606 inhabitants), a small town 

 above Bruchsal, and in the same valley, was the birthplace of Melancthon. 



Heidelberg (23,918 inhabitants) and Mannheim (46,453 inhabitants) are sister 

 towns, the one situate at the junction of the Neckar with the Rhine, the other 

 some 12 miles above that junction, where the Neckar debouches upon the 

 plain. Heidelberg claims to be the most beautiful town of all Germany, and 

 indeed there are but few places outside the valleys of the Alps which, can 

 compare with it. It occupies a narrow strip of land in the valley of the Neckar, 

 its houses on the one side climbing the hill-slopes, whilst on the other they 

 spread out over the plain. An ancient castle, partly destroyed by the French 



Fig. 11-5. — Karlsruhe. 

 Scale 1 : 80,000. 





8°2l'E.ofGr. 



1 Mil 



in 1692, occupies a hill above the town. The shady walks whicb surround it, 

 and the magnificent view to be enjoyed from its terrace, add no little to the 

 attractions of Heidelberg. The environs of the town abound in delightful walks, 

 the Konigsstuhl to the south, the Heiligenberg to the north, the villages of Neckar- 

 geniiind (2,103 inhabitants) and Neckarsteinach, in the sinuous valley of the 

 Neckar, and the gardens of Schwetzingen (4,277 inhabitants), out in the plain, 

 forming as many centres of attraction. But Heidelberg is famous, in addition, on 

 account of its university, founded in 1386, and attended by 800 students, many 

 of whom are foreigners. 



Mannheim, on the other hand, is a modern town, founded by Dutch immi- 

 grants in the seventeenth century, with streets intersecting each other at right 

 angles, affording a free prospect of the country except on the side of the Rhine, 



