Wisst ihr welche Altstadt ziemlich viele Touristen anzieht? H-E-I-D-E-L-B-E-R-G ^^ Aber wieso ist es so, dass man eine asiatische Touristengruppe nach der anderen hier zu Gesicht bekommt?
A picturesque old town
Heidelberg is a city in the southwest of Germany and famous for its picturesque old town with the castle ruins. In addition, the oldest university of Germany is located here. It is therefore not surprising that a quarter of Heidelberg's inhabitants are students. This combination of castle ruins and old town attracts quite a few visitors from all over the world. And I just happened to have my apprenticeship near Heidelberg, which is why I've been to the city several times ^^ So I just want to briefly tell you a bit about the city.
A relatively barrier-free city
As already mentioned, Heidelberg is an old town - so rather wobbly and bumpy for a wheelchair user, because there are simply too many cobblestones. But the city is nevertheless very accessible for wheelchairs! I was once told that it was because of all the clinics and facilities. Since I was in a "facility" myself at the time, I can only confirm that. The buses were wheelchair accessible with ramps and lifting platforms. And there was also a barrier-free swimming pool in the middle of the city or rather in the shopping centre "Darmstädter Hof" xD There is a large changing room and barrier-free access to the swimming pool.
Other tourists attractions
Besides the castle Heidelberg has of course more to offer ^^ Thus one can see at the Kornmarkt with the "Kornmarkt Madonna" also called “the Mother of God fountain” and take a pretty good photo, since the castle is directly in the background. Or take a closer look at the "Old Bridge" also known as Karl-Theodor-Bridge. The bridge shows the classical bridge building art in stone. On one side of the bridge there is even a bridge gate from the Middle Ages. It used to be part of the old town wall.
In the main street you can find all the shopping stores and restaurants. As long as you are in the main street, most of the entrances to the stores and restaurants are barrier-free. Only in the side streets you have to expect older buildings and also steps in front of the entrance door. Since I am actually almost always in a manual wheelchair with company, I could ask passing people for help. But even when I was alone in the electric wheelchair on the go, there were always super friendly people who helped me and could lift me up a step with the electric wheelchair.
By now I personally don't find it bad at all to ask passers-by. The worst thing that can happen is a "no" and then I just ask the next person. However, it is definitely easier to ask people for help when you are not sitting in a huge electric wheelchair. Therefore, depending on the situation and the place, I weigh in which wheelchair I should use ^^
But if you want to be on the safe side, I can suggest the following website: http://heidelberg.huerdenlos.de/index.php?id=980
Here you can find descriptions about the accessibility of any places/objects in Heidelberg!
Things I learned:
1) Heidelberg is a relatively wheelchair-friendly city
2) However, stores in the side streets of the old town are hardly accessible for a wheelchair user, as they are located in older buildings with steps.
