Yesterday I shared more of my visit to Marksburg Castle in Braubach, Germany. This castle is the most complete castle in this part of the Upper Rhine Valley. Because of it’s many bastions and fortified walls and it’s location atop a hill overlooking the Rhine, it is the only hill castle in this area that was never completely destroyed. And being that it dates to 1100, that is a long time to be standing tall.
We had quite a walk once the buses dropped us off near the top. When we finally got to the castle, there were three different gates that we had to enter to get into the castle proper.
The first gate is the Drawbridge Gate and this is my friend June that traveled with me on my Viking River Cruise. After the gate we went through a long tunnel.
This bookshop/gfitshop was where the gate keeper originally lived, many centuries ago. There was also a restaurant and an outdoor patio. And the window boxes were brimming with flowers.
What a view!
Here you can see part of the town below and Stolzenfels Castle on the far side of the Rhine. This section of the Rhine has castles dotting each side and are pretty much in sight of each other. They originally collected tolls or tariffs on ships that navigated the river. If you sailed the Rhine, you would have to pay the tax at each castle along the way. That tall thing on the hill is a television tower. We saw several of these along the Rhine.
And this was the view behind the castle. Lush forest covered hills.
Here is a wider view. The weather was really accommodating when we were there.
And there is our ship coming down the Rhine to meet us. Remember I told you how those that did not join us on the tour of the castle would meet up with us later?
Here they are cruising down the Rhine to meet us.
The second gate we entered was the Fox Gate. This is where the guided tour starts. Our tour guide for the day was a lovely young German girl. And our tour was her first tour that she was conducting in English. She did a fantastic job.
These are the backs of the doors on the Fox Gate. Aren’t they lovely? Each set of doors that we passed through had to be opened with a huge old iron skeleton key that our guide carried with her the entire time on our tour. These doors have what looks like a patchwork of metal plates to help strengthen from attack. And those hinges, they are works of art.
Inside look back at part of the Fox Gate.
And here we are arriving at the Notches Gate. Our guide is at the top in the red jacket. The little balcony above the entry is where soldiers would drop stones on anyone that made it this far when trying to attack the castle. Also, notice how the door was once larger? That’s because when the castle was built, it was built with entrances high enough for a man riding a horse to enter through. We were also told that beyond this gate there was originally another gate in the old guard’s quarters that you would have to enter through. So, there originally were four gates to break down if you wanted to get inside.
The area above the gate now houses some of the offices of the German Castle Association.
This really gives you a feel for how old the castle is with the different layers of stucco, the tiny little windows and steep slate roof. It has a lot of old world charm.
And remember how I told you that there were some areas that were hard to walk on? This is part of the Rider’s Stairway inside the third gate. This stairway was especially designed for those aforementioned horsemen. Glad they could navigate it better than we could!
At the top of the stairway was a display of all the different Coats of Arms representing the families that lived and ruled in Marksburg Castle, starting with the Epstein family and ending with the German Castle Association. And you may notice, our tour group is not that large. Viking does a great job of splitting everyone up into groups so that you have more one on one interaction with your tour guide. And with the Audiovox headsets, we never had a problem hearing what was being said, no matter where we were in the group. And you know how every group will always have those talkers and mumblers that can be annoying when you are trying to hear what your guide is saying? No worries here. Everything she said was crystal clear. Well, the next stop on our tour was the exterior of the Great Hall and the Batteries.
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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