Wiesbaden; Saturday, 24 September, 2022

I had a decent nights sleep and a good lie in before wandering down for a late breakfast and then heading out of the hotel to pick up the bus to my first stop of the morning at the Neroberg.

The Neroberg is a hill that overlooks the city centre and the easiest way of accessing it, because this is Germany, is via a funicular railway. The Nerobergbahn is a bit special as it’s entirely powered by water and gravity. As I arrived there was a demonstration taking place as the train had just reached the bottom station and was in the process of emptying it’s water tanks to make it much lighter ready for the journey back up the hill, meanwhile at the top the other car was filling its tanks up with water to make it heavier than a fully loaded lower car, then when it’s time to set off they release the breaks and let gravity do the rest.

I took the train up to the top and then wandered a part way back down the hill to the view point over the city. Sadly the viewing terrace was in the process of being rebuilt so it wasn’t possible to get that close to the edge so the views were a bit restricted, however it was still possible to get a good view of the layout of the city.

After taking in the views I headed back up to the top of the hill and stopped at the café at the very top for an early lunch before wandering back over to the funicular station and catching the train back down the hill.

Back down in Nerotal I caught the bus into the city and hopped off at the Kochbrunnen. This is a small square at the point where the hot springs that run under the city break the surface. There is a small fountain formed by the hot waters bubbling up over a platform that has slowly been sculpted by the deposited minerals over the years to look like a small volcano. There’s also a small pavilion where you can actually take the water, though given the temperature it comes out at you’d need a cup or bottle to collect it in as it’s too hot to cup in your hands.

From the Kochbrunnen I had a bit more of a wander through the centre of town, taking in the Römertor, a small surviving part of the city walls, albeit undergoing heavy restoration work so very little was visible. I continued my wander through town and ended up at the Markt right in the centre and it was here that I picked up the land train tour that runs around the city.

I did the full tour, though it is possible to hop-off partway round at the Nerobergbahn and re-join later on and ended up back at the Markt. From there I caught a bus out of the city centre and down to the banks of the Rhein in the suburb of Beibrich to visit the palace there.

The Schloß Beibrich is a baroque palace located just above the banks of the Rhein and today is mostly used for events, including on Saturdays weddings -and lots of them, consequently it wasn’t possible to look round the palace so instead I had a wander through the grounds and then headed back to the bus stop to pick up the bus back into the centre.

I headed back to the hotel to freshen up and then headed back out to grab a bite to eat, making it back to the hotel just as a massive thunderstorm rolled through with very impressive, and incredibly loud crashes of thunder and very bright flashes of lightning almost directly overhead.

The storm lasted for about 2 hours during which time it absolutely chucked it down, but after it finished I headed out to do a little bit of sightseeing at night, and as the temperature had dropped it was possible to see much more of the steam coming off of the fountain in the Kochbrunnen than it had been during the day. I had a wander around the centre of town before heading back to the hotel and turning in.