Eberbach-Baden Germany Baden-Wurttemberg
15
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Frequently Asked Questions
At the municipal pontoon, a few steps from the old centre: you land literally on the doorstep of the old town. Eberbach lies on the Neckar between Heidelberg and Heilbronn, in a river bend at the foot of forested slopes.
The Castle Road, viewed from the water. Between Heidelberg and Heilbronn the river cuts into the wooded hills of the Odenwald, passes through locks and skirts spurs crowned with castles. Romantic Zwingenberg and the fortified town of Hirschhorn are only a few kilometres downstream.
The pedestrian old core is easily covered between two church bells. Four well-preserved medieval towers mark the line of the old walls, of which the 13th-century Powder Tower is the most imposing. The lanes are lined with carefully maintained half-timbered houses.
A half-timbered house from 1610 with corbelled upper storeys, the backdrop for most of the photographs brought home from here. On the nearby market square, the town hall stands beside the former collegiate church.
Not really, and that is welcome. The local shops, bakeries, butchers and wine merchants, are a reminder that Eberbach has remained a genuinely living small town rather than a set for visitors.
Because the place name translates roughly as boar's brook. The animal appears on the coat of arms, in bronze in the streets and in pastry in the shop windows. Local confectioners work the theme with humour.
The taverns serve regional cooking in which Odenwald game, spätzle and Neckar wines lead the menu. On market days the square fills with local produce: forest honey, smoked charcuterie, fruit from the valley orchards.
Only ruins remain, hidden among the trees of the Burgberg hill: three successive fortresses raised between the 11th and 13th centuries and later abandoned, of which walls and stretches of curtain survive. A path climbs from the last houses, and the effort is repaid with gaps opening onto the valley.
The highest point of the Odenwald at 626 metres: an extinct volcano topped with an observation tower, overlooking an ocean of forest. It is the target for more ambitious walkers. The area belongs to the Neckartal-Odenwald nature park, crossed by marked trails.
Yes, it is part of the pleasure. The locks are passed at a crawl, herons and cormorants fish in the eddies, and each bend reveals another hilltop castle. Stay on deck as you come in.
