"Castra Regina" a Regensburg Travel Page by Lochlainn

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This city has evolved from a Roman fortified camp at the very edge of their empire and founded around 90AD, via various manifestations including Bavarian capital, free city of the Holy Roman Empire, launchpad of three major Crusades, a prize contested over by such figures as Charlemagne and Napoleon, birthplace of Don Juan and deathplace of Johannes Kepler, into what is today a virtual maze of medieval streets surrounding the magnificent St Peter's Cathedral. It is impossible to wander these streets and not feel a part of the turbulent history at the heart of Europe that has shaped not just this region, but in many ways the world we live in today. A city that was conceived by its original builders as standing at the edge of civilization itself has fulfilled this role metaphorically many times in its long life, most symbolically in the second world war when its ancient bridges across the Danube were destroyed - reducing it once again to its origins; perched on the side of the greatest of Europe's rivers, gazing northwards into the cauldron of historical turmoil yet again.