Mark Twain described the Heidelberg Castle in his 1880 travel book A Tramp Abroad…

“A ruin must be rightly situated, to be effective. This one could not have been better placed. It stands upon a commanding elevation, it is buried in green woods, there is no level ground about it, but, on the contrary, there are wooded terraces upon terraces, and one looks down through shining leaves into profound chasms and abysses where twilight reigns and the sun cannot intrude. Nature knows how to garnish a ruin to get the best effect. Misfortune has done for this old tower what it has done for the human character sometimes−improved it.”