I opted for the tour of Speyer on Good Friday. It was described as one of Germany's oldest cities. It's known for its Romanesque cathedral, the largest of its kind in Europe and its 13th century gate tower.
It was a bus trip from our ship and because traffic was light for the holiday it took less time to get there than planned for. The guide on board pointed out the asparagus fields as we passed them by,
First sighting of the huge cathedral, Domschatz.
You can tell from all the varieties of towers and spires that it was built in many stages and styles.
This wall below is the oldest.
Look at this flying buttress.
I have no photos of the inside of this church because the sexton wouldn't let me enter. The church was closed to tours because of a 3 o'clock service but our guide said we could attend the service if we chose to. At 3 I left the group to return to the church, but was turned away. No one in the group was allowed in. I even had a German speak to the sexton, who spoke no English and they received the answer that the service was only for members. I didn't know how he was distinguishing between members and non members. I've never heard of any church doing this. I returned to the group tracking them down because I could hear the guide's narration as I got closer. The guide was very upset to learn we had been prevented from entering.
More on Speyer in another post.