A Sprint Through Stuttgart!

April 1, 2013 by California Globetrotter 11 Comments

Stuttgart is the capital of Baden-Württemberg, which is the state neighboring Bavaria. Together, these two states make up Southern Germany and in my opinion, have some of the most beautiful towns in all of Germany. The town was and still is a major industrial center with many new modern buildings, slowly inching their way skyward as well as once being the royal capital of Württemberg.

My friend Sam and I decided to take advantage of a dreary day and get out of Regensburg for a bit. We had a tough time coming up with a location in Germany that neither one of us had visited before in Germany. So, we bought train tickets and landed in Stuttgart for the day.

Once in Stuttgart, we headed directly for the good stuff: the old town! Stuttgart was also very heavily damaged during the war but there still remains quite a few old buildings. Only a few of the historic buildings remain, otherwise we saw a good portion of the newer areas of Stuttgart as well.

First port of call was the Neues Schloss (New Palace) at Schlossplatz which was built between 1746 and 1807. The Old Castle dates back to 950 A.D.! This palace combines both Baroque and Neo-Classical elements. The Neues Schloss can be found in the Schlossplatz, which is dominated by a large obelisk monument directly in front of the palace. This is the heartbeat of the city center which always has something going on from Christmas markets to film festivals.

Just to the right of the palace, is the Altes Schloss (Old Palace) which is now a museum which houses the royal insignia of the Wurttemburg family. Below is the courtyard of the Renaissance Altes Schloss.

We walked around and found the Stuttgart National Theater which was only built in 1909-1912 and has a beautiful pond behind it. You can stroll around the park and the pond as well.

Not far from here was the Stiftskirche located at Schillerplatz. It is here that the stud farm which possibly gave Stuttgart its name once stood. Today, there is a pensive statue of Friedrich Schiller stands in the square. Normally, there is also a small market here daily, but as we arrived on a Sunday, it was naturally closed up for the day. I didn’t bother taking a picture of the statue as it was actually surrounded by left-wing communist protestors out protesting their annual May 1st protest.

I could image though that Stuttgart is a main hub for the surrounding cities and villages to go shopping because there were quite a lot of shopping stores. Too bad they were all closed on a Sunday!

From here, we headed in the direction of a far off church on the edge of our map, just because. The Johanneskirche is surrounded by a manmade pond called the Feuersee. During this walk we saw a lot of Stuttgart. Once you leave the old town square, the buildings get extremely modern and unique with a few high rises. The streets are also very confusing to navigate.

 

 For more on Stuttgart, check out these blogs!

Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt

Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival

The Medieval Wine Town of Esslingen am Neckar

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