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| Castle Ehrenfels |
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| Mäuseturm |
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| Rheinstein Castle |
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| Reichenstein Castle |
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| Sooneck Castle |
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| Strahleck castle |
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| Furstenberg Castle |
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| tower in Oberwesel |
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| Schönburg Castle--I am sure it looks more schön when the sun is cooperating |
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| Burg Katz |
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| Way up there is Burg Rheinfels |
All of that, in a tour that only lasted a few hours! We ended our cruise at St. Goar and checked out Burg Rheinfels up close. You can pay for a fun trolley ride up to it, or you can hike it for free. A sign in St. Goar said walking up would take 15 minutes...it is not true, and it is not especially easy after some wine on the cruise, but it was definitely worth the hike.
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| at Burg Rheinfels |
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| view from the Burg |
That wasn't all, however. We then took the train to Bacharach and trekked up past the Wernerkapelle...
almost there...you can even see it above the arch...
...the Strahleck castle.
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| the incredible view from Strahleck |
After all of that, it was time for a different kind of beautiful--italienisches Eis. Riesling ice cream is pretty good.
As I recall, that's the best stretch of river in Germany if you're into castley architecture. Decades ago I drove that stretch with my parents and sister, but I'd like to take a river tour of the area with my wife sometime — perhaps in the spring.
ReplyDeleteWould you recommend the river tour company, or do you think it could be done better/cheaper/more efficiently with a car rental?
Wow! Beautiful. If you get too blase with all that beautiful architecture, you can come swing past us for some post-war ugly and reset your eyes to neutral. :D
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome tour! YOu got to see so much on it. Love all the pictures. Glad you are enjoying everything there!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I agree with Cliff - probably the most picturesque portion of the Rhine. At this rate, you'll have seen everything in a year.
ReplyDelete@Cliff, I think it was very easy with the train! The station is about a 5 minute walk from the KD boats in Rüdesheim. Once we made it to St. Goar we took the train to Bacharach. If we'd had any energy left, we probably would've stopped at some other towns, too.
ReplyDelete@Fiona, you'll just have to console yourself with the fact that the food is better in your area! :-)
@Lindsey--it was! Do they have castles in Finland???
@GG--I'm trying to keep up with you! As I passed Rüdesheim and Oberwesel, I thought about pictures I've seen on your blog! I definitely want to go back and spend some time there.
So jealous. That river tour looks awesome! I love architecture like that. I almost studied architecture in college, but didn't.
ReplyDeleteWow, you are really in castle country. Simply gorgeous. And I don't think you should worry about losing your appreciative eye- Germany has a way of keeping up with the surprises.
ReplyDeleteAh I'm just dying to do a Rhine tour and haven't gotten around to it yet. I just did the Weinstrasse though and you must do it - particularly the lower half. The whole region is gorgeous!
ReplyDelete@Jennifer--you would love it! You should come and check it out! (not right now, of course--I know you have a few things going on! ;)
ReplyDelete@ianandebe--I've heard there are a lot more of them, too...you don't even really have to look for them!
@Alex--you're back! I'm going to have to check out your blog for pictures!