Darmstadt Darmstadt-Eberstadt Seeheim-Jugenheim (Old Bergstraße) Malchen Seeheim Jugenheim Alsbach-Hähnlein (Old Bergstraße) Alsbach Bickenbach (New Bergstraße) Zwingenberg Bensheim Bensheim-Auerbach Bensheim Heppenheim Laudenbach (Rhein-Neckar) Hemsbach Weinheim Weinheim-Sulzbach Weinheim Weinheim-Lützelsachsen Weinheim-Hohensachsen Hirschberg an der Bergstraße Großsachsen Leutershausen Schriesheim Dossenheim Heidelberg Heidelberg-Handschuhsheim Heidelberg-Neuenheim Neckar Heidelberg Heidelberg-Rohrbach Leimen (Baden) Nußloch Wiesloch Countryside The countryside directly along the route is also named after the road. The weather in the region is typically particularly mild and sunny, with around 1500 hours of sun every year. Spring starts earlier here than anywhere else in Germany. This and the good soil conditions (a fertile loess soil) make the Bergstraße one of Germany's richest fruit-producing areas, with grapes, other fruit, almonds, sweet chestnuts and walnuts. The Bergstraße is famous for its almond trees which thrive in the area and bloom as early as March. Other Mediterranean plants such as figs and olive trees also grow there. Because of the mild climate, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (1765–1790), pausing at the Bergstraße on a trip back from Frankfurt am Main, is said to have exclaimed "This is where Germany starts to become Italy". As part of the conurbation at the point where the Rhine, Main and Neckar rivers meet, the Bergstraße is highly developed and industrialised. But tourism is also of some importance there. Apart from the countryside, the most important sights are Heidelberg with its castle and old city; Darmstadt, the center of Jugendstil art, with its artists' colony; the chain of castles on the edge of the Oden forest (Castle Frankenstein, Alsbach Castle, Auerbach Castle, Starkenburg above Heppenheim, Wachenburg and Windeck above Weinheim, Strahlenburg above Schriesheim), as well as the picturesque old town centers in many cities and towns, especially the almost completely preserved (except for the city walls) town of Heppenheim with its splendid city hall, marketplace, "Bergstraße Cathedral", and numerous medieval half-timbered structures; and in addition the old town centers of Zwingenberg, Bensheim and Weinheim. An extraordinary sight in the immediate vicinity of the Bergstraße is the Carolingian-era entrance hall of the one-time Lorsch monastery, designated by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site. Population history The Bergstraße area was settled in early times. Numerous excavations have uncovered finds dating back to the times of the Linear Pottery c. 5500 BC and Corded Ware cultures, who tilled the land and herded cattle there in around 2500 to 1500 BC. The population grew in Roman times and settlements