The Rheinland
We visited the Rheinland in Germany and met up with some long time friends from Arizona; Jack, Deille, their daughter Elizabeth, and mutual friend Cecily. We stayed in the town of Bacharach, but ranged through a wide area of the Rheinland visiting castles and various sites. Our hotel room provided a unique experience. It was the top room in a tower that used to be part of the city walls of Bacharach. It was 5 stories up with no lift--so it also provided lots of exercise as well as a great view of the town.
This is absolutely stunning country. The rolling elevations of tall hills and mountains with thick pine forests spotted by castles and cut by the wide blue path of the Rheine. It's not hard to see this as a special place today and in history. There are dozens of castles along the Rheine and we only spent time at two; Schmidtburg and Rheinfels. This is definitely Spear and Magic helmet country!
Schmidtburg is a ruin that is out of the way, but well worth the drive. It was last occupied in the 16th century. This is very appealing as most castles have been so modernized that you have to squint to find a bits and pieces of the authentic in the structure. The extreme of this was the cast we visited in Ghent which is a total reconstruction, but made to look like a historical building. We walked among the ruins, sifted through an ancient garbage pile down the hill from the castle, and found some medieval pottery shards. We also visited a reconstruction of a Celtic village across from the castle.
Rheinfels is huge. It used to be even 5 times bigger than today as a complex fortress with multiple angular gun embankments. The army of the French revolution took the castle with ease as it was deemed to costly to defend. They destroyed the more modern fortifications and left the older structure largely in tact.
For only a few days and a five hour drive this was an amazing trip. We got to see some old friends and get an appreciation for this region, surprisingly unspoiled, yet with such a long history.
This is absolutely stunning country. The rolling elevations of tall hills and mountains with thick pine forests spotted by castles and cut by the wide blue path of the Rheine. It's not hard to see this as a special place today and in history. There are dozens of castles along the Rheine and we only spent time at two; Schmidtburg and Rheinfels. This is definitely Spear and Magic helmet country!
Schmidtburg is a ruin that is out of the way, but well worth the drive. It was last occupied in the 16th century. This is very appealing as most castles have been so modernized that you have to squint to find a bits and pieces of the authentic in the structure. The extreme of this was the cast we visited in Ghent which is a total reconstruction, but made to look like a historical building. We walked among the ruins, sifted through an ancient garbage pile down the hill from the castle, and found some medieval pottery shards. We also visited a reconstruction of a Celtic village across from the castle.
Rheinfels is huge. It used to be even 5 times bigger than today as a complex fortress with multiple angular gun embankments. The army of the French revolution took the castle with ease as it was deemed to costly to defend. They destroyed the more modern fortifications and left the older structure largely in tact.
For only a few days and a five hour drive this was an amazing trip. We got to see some old friends and get an appreciation for this region, surprisingly unspoiled, yet with such a long history.
posted by Dave at 6:24 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home