Where there is a fort, a town grows beside it, and at Regensburg the civilian settlement beside Castra Regina was called the canabae. The west side was the busiest, with workshops, taverns, houses of merchants and families of soldiers who were not allowed to marry officially while in service. The road from the west, the route from Augsburg and the Alps, entered here, and wagons unloaded at the edge of the camp. It was a noisy, smoky, practical place of potters and smiths, bakers and traders.
Archaeology has found many traces: pottery kilns, wells, cellars, floors and thousands of small objects, from brooches to gaming counters. The finds suggest that people came from different regions, with a wide range of tastes and trades. The settlement continued after the legion left, and the Roman population mixed with Germanic newcomers. By about the year 700, the Bavarian dukes were making Regensburg their residence, and Saint Boniface organised the bishopric here in 739.
The district today is part of the old town, with narrow lanes, Gothic houses, and the long, tall front of the cathedral. The Danube is close, and the stone bridge is only a short walk away. Regensburg survived the war with little damage, and the old centre is an unusually intact mix of medieval and later buildings. UNESCO listed the old town in 2006, and the Danube Limes in 2021.
For riders, the old town is for walking, and the bike is best left near the edge. The city has about a hundred and thirty thousand people, so fuel, food and workshops are plentiful. Reinhausen lies across the river, with its own quiet streets. From here you can go east along the Danube into the Bavarian Forest, or west along the Altmuhl towards Eichstatt, both fine riding country. Autumn is lovely, and the evenings are good for walking along the river.