Deb and I barely had time to get back on the ship after visiting the Marksburg Castle before the announcement came that we should all find a good place to be where we could see on both sides of the river. We were about to begin what was advertised as the highlight of our Rhine River Cruise, the great German castles on the cliffs above the river.
Somehow, neither of us realized that this part of the trip was something that only lasted a very few hours. I thought the castles would be scattered along the banks of the river throughout the cruise. Something else I should have researched a bit more carefully before we traveled.
On the right side of the photo next to Deb, there was a nice big pile of cozy wraps for those that wanted to sit outside on the terrace, and we each took one for possibly going outside in the windy chilly weather.
The rain was coming down in earnest as we traveled so initially we watched from inside the ship with a hot cup of tea and our blankets.
With the steep stairs that are the only access from the Lounge deck to the upper deck, I only climbed to the top a couple of times before escaping the rain and wind. Rosemarie and I watched the castles along the riverbank from the warm and comfy chairs in the lounge.
The one thing that was most bothersome to me was the strong reflections of the interior lights of the ship on the glass. I wished so much that the captain would have those lights turned down for the portion of the trip that was the most scenic.
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Instead, many of my photos from the inside of the boat have these bright yellow lines running through them and no amount of fancy editing could fix the photos completely.
It was fun seeing the small communities along the banks of the river. A train moved adjacent to our ship at a much faster rate than we were traveling.
The three of us had a bit of difficulty attempting to understand the two-page map that we were given to help with identifying the castles as we passed each one. The problem with this plan is that the river had only a few mile markers and we weren't exactly sure where we were at any given time. Also, the photos of the castles were from only one direction, and like any other landscape or building, the directional view makes a huge difference in how it looks.
With rain continuing for most of the afternoon, I was happy for a nice big window to sit by as I snuggled into my cozy blanket and tried to figure out where we were on the map. There were announcements on the PA system, but by the time we figured out where to look, we still weren't quite sure what we were looking at. I think this may have been a completely different experience if it hadn't been pouring rain and we could have been comfortable sitting on the top deck with the ability to hear Nancy talking about the castles as we passed them.
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The beautiful castle that Deborah saw in the early morning light was Stolzenfels Castle at km 585. A 19th-century Prussian king rebuilt this charming 13th-century castle, which features works of the Rhine Romantic period. Stolzenfels Castle has many works of art and beautiful gardens. After renovations were completed in 2011, it is now possible to visit the castle for guided tours only.
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Marksburg Castle, which we visited this morning was at km 580. Keep in mind that we are traveling up the Rhine from the sea to Switzerland, and the kilometer markers will be going down as we travel up the river.
Sterrenberg Castle (on the left) shares a defensive wall with Liebenstein Castle (on the right) and is still known as one of the two "Hostile Brothers", a relic from a 16th-century story of their rivalry. Sterrenberg is mentioned as an imperial castle first in 1034 In 1190, it is listed in the book of Werner on Bolanden as a fief. The noble family of Bolanden stayed as lords of Sterrenberg Castle until the second half of the 13th century. Today Sterrenberg Castle is owned by "Burgen, Schlosser, Altertumer Thineland-Palatinate" and is open to the public. As one of the oldest castles on the Rhine, with a visitor center and a restaurant, it is a popular castle to visit.
A few more miles of cruising in the rain led us to another group of closely spaced castles on the high cliffs above the gorge.
Dubbed "Mouse Castle" by the counts of the larger Katz Castle nearby, this restored complex has splendid architectural features and abundant medieval charm. The castle became known as Burg Maus due to the cat-and-mouse rialry between the Catholic Church and the powerful counts of Katzenelnbogen who owned nearby Katz Castle. In the early 1800's it fell into disrepair and was used as a quarry. Today it has been restored but is privately owned and not open to the public.
Rheinfels sits high on a cliff above the Rhine, perched on the ruins of a mighty 13th-century fortress. The castle has not been renovated and still is in ruins, but can be visited. There is a small museum and a hotel on the property.
From all sides, Rheinfels Castle was impressive and beautiful.
Katz Castle has been a presence on the Rhine since the 14th century. Katz Castle was heavily damaged by Napoleon's forces in 1806 and rebuilt in the Victorian era.
I have included the internet photo from below, with the proper attributes because it shows the magnificent views of the Rhine Gorge that weren't visible to us as we cruised at river level. The photo from above Katz Castle views the steep walls of the Rhine Gorge as it approaches the LoraLei Rocks at the narrowest point of the gorge.
After passing Katz Castle we approached the most narrow portion of the Rhine Gorge and the LoreLei Rocks. There is a legend along the Rhine that Lorelei was a German maiden who threw herself in despair over a faithless lover and was transformed into a siren who lured fishermen to their destruction. It is the most dangerous section of the Rhine, with steep cliffs, rockfalls, and a current made more swift by the narrow walls.
The castle remained in ruins for 200 years until it was acquired by the German-American Rhinelander family who bought the castle from the town of Oberwesel and restored it. The town bought the castle back from the family in 1950, and since 1957 the Huti family has lived at the castle on a long-term lease. They operate a successful 4-star hotel and restaurant there.
Built in 1220, and used with the nearby toll castle, Pfalzgrafenstein Castle, in the middle of the Rhine provided an impenetrable toll zone for the Holy Roman Emperor until Prussia purchased the area in 1866 and ended the toll.
Pfalzgrafenstein Castle at km 545 below Gutenfels Castle on the hill above the river
Tolls were no longer collected after 1866 and in 1946 the tiny island was put under state control. The state converted the castle into a museum and today a short ferry ride from Oberwesel to the island and the castle.
The most famous grape grown on these slopes is Reisling
This 12th-century castle repeatedly attacked during the 17th-century wars, lay in ruins for 237 years. Rebuilt in 1909, it now houses a youth hostel.
Reichenstein Castle is a stunning example of neo-Gothic reconstruction. Its collection of porcelain, furniture, and weapons spans more than five centuries. It now contains a restaurant, museum, and hotel, and is privately owned.
This romantic, 14th-century castle features a drawbridge, ivy-covered battlements, and spectacular views of the Rhine. It is especially interesting to note the way that the castle was built on the nearly vertical slabs of slate that form the walls of the Rhine Gorge.
The last of the castles that we viewed within the UNESCO Heritage Site was Ehrenfels. This castle was built in the 13th century and keeps watch as boaters enter the narrow Rhine Valley. Ehrenfels is a castle ruin that stands near the town of Rudesheim where our tour of the castles would end.
On the way to Rudesheim, the bar staff did a demonstration for making Rudesheim Coffee, a delicious concoction of coffee, brandy, sugar, whipped cream, and dark chocolate.
By the time we reached Rudesheim, I was rather exhausted, The exploration of the great Rhine River Gorge and the many castles that we saw was amazing, but so much information. All I wanted to do was rest.
I stayed on the ship for a time but then decided to at least get off for a little bit and walk through the lovely park while I waited for Deb to return. She had some photos to share and we laughed about how hard it is to see as much as we would like with such a short stop in the town.
Again I don't remember a bit about dinner, because, by dinner time, I was worn out, and crashed in our stateroom. I was glad that the rain seemed to have dissipated at least, and hoped for a better weather day for our next day visiting Speyer, Germany.
Deb wasn't ready for sleep, and instead spent some time on the top deck, watching the lights and listening to the river current before coming down to bed late that evening.
It had been a very long day, and such a day it was. It was the first of the two most important days that Deb anticipated for this vacation. The next thing she wanted to see most was the Black Forest, but we had a few more river cities to explore before that day would arrive.
Just as I finished the 1st part, then came the 2nd! That was cool n got both at once! Love yr blogs, such great pics of the castles!!! Get to see all these sights right iny chair. And enlarge to seek out the vines, hills, cars, people, architecture. It seems like it is really green there, may be the rain makes it seem so.thank you, thank you
ReplyDeleteSo many sights, so many castles and all of them over-the-top magnificent (almost all of them) -- no wonder you were exhausted by day's end! I can't imagine living in anything like that. Too bad about the lousy weather, hope it gets better for you. I'm hard-pressed to pick one picture over another, they're all so descriptive. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!! I marvel at the age of those castles. I wish the weather had been better for you guys!
ReplyDeleteYes, a thousand years old and more, and still standing, many of them. It is a bit mind blowing. It would have been nice to have better weather, but the downside of going later in the season with better weather are the crowds, so there is that .
DeleteThanks for all of the castle IDs ... I'm going to bookmark your post so that I can use it to identify my own photos whenever I get around to processing them. We were lucky in this segment and got some sun ... enough that we could actually go up to the open deck and stand around there. We also had the Rudesheim Coffee demo and later, when we went for a walk in Rudesheim, mom bought a set of the cups and we bought the brandy too. It has since become a Christmas tradition to make the coffee. But I think mom just loved the cups and that's why she bought them ;-).
ReplyDeleteDeb and I weren't as good as we could have been identifying our photos right after our cruise. So, yes, trying to figure out which castle was which was a bit of a problem. Especially, if you remember that stupid map they gave us, we were going in the opposite direction of the map and there aren't convenient mileage markers on the ship and the wifi doesn't work well enough to keep google open while cruising the river.
DeleteAnyway, I did a lot of internet searching until I figured out that I could hover over my photo ( maybe I could do this with a photo on my own device but I used the ones already up on Smugmug) and then chose "search this image with google". The google lens app takes over and I can zero in on just the castle and get the id every single time. It was amazing.
What made identification so difficult was something I learned when doing helicopter mapping. We had static aerial photos of the landscape, viewing it in 3d, and would mark on the maps where we wanted to land. But, when flying, the landform changes! Those mountains were unrecognizable from a different direction. Happened with static photos of the castles as well. They shapes were different depending on the angle of view. It was an interesting lesson in trying to do a better job of documenting photos and keeping them in order somehow. Maybe you have used Google lens, but if not it is a great tool. It isn't so good with identifying plants, however, and there are a lot of misidentification mistakes.
From our reader Liz Wicks, who cannot comment: Sue, you have inspired me to dig out my photos from our river cruise several decades ago. I don’t think I did as good a job labeling the castles so maybe I can compare them to yours for help. Such a shame you had such rainy weather. Looking forward to the next blog!
ReplyDeleteI am in awe of all these castles. They had to be expensive enough to build originally. Can't imagine restoration. Bummer about the rain, but... So if I add brandy to my coffee I'd have that.
ReplyDeleteDon't know why Google is causing me grief about signing in. Doesn't happen anywhere else.