My last post about my Viking River Cruise showed you Liebeneck Castle as we continued down the Rhine on our journey through the Unesco World Heritage Site of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. The next little village or community that we came upon was Kamp Bornhofen.
Kamp Bornhofen is a little town that has been around for well over a thousand years and was once noted for its wines. But then came the great wine blight, caused by the phylloxera, a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide.
But because of their temperate climate, they were able to switch to cherries and other fruits. They also have a monastery located here where annual pilgrimages have been made.
There are of course many interesting buildings and churches along the banks.
This is the Catholic St. Nicholas Church. It dates to the early 1900’s and is a relative newcomer to the community, so to speak.
It is so pretty against the green cliffs of the gorge.
The brown steeple above is all that is left of a fifteenth century church and is now part of a hotel our Viking guide told us about. Notice that this village also has half timber houses, too.
There is a lovely park and beach area, too.
I love this house. It was so colorful compared to the rest and really stood out.
And here is the town name along the river bank wall. I am so glad that they did this. And look at the half timber houses and the ship’s mast. Remember the village of Spay? They had a ship’s mast, too.
Such a pretty church. I love the white and gray trim.
This church is the Bornhofen Monastery, or Pilgrimage Church. The original church dates to the 1600’s and has been rebuilt and reconstructed. And you can see the two Hostile Brothers Castles up behind the church. I will tell you about them in my next post about this trip.
There are hotels and restaurants along the river bank.
It looks like such a nice place to come for a vacation.
There were several docks along the banks. There are towns on both sides of the Rhine and there are many ferries that allow you to go from one side to the other via car.
The castles above the town are part of a neat old story.
There is a trail in Kamp Bornhofen you can take to visit the castles.
They really are not far apart. The story behind the two is romantic and sad and may not even be true.
But isn’t that how legends start? Or Fairy Tales? Remember, these are castles, you know. There were kings and queens, princes and princesses.
But more about that in the next post.
This is not a sponsored post. This is my experience from my trip with Viking River Cruises. Email me to find out how you can save $100 when you book your first cruise with Viking through their referral program.
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