April was a month of flowers...May has been a month of Castles. I adventured off with Barbara and the girls to the Loreley Valley of the Rhine River in Germany for a tour of castles! Among 60km of river there are 18 castles! Everyday there are more than 300 ships that pass through the Loreley Valley and there used to be many little tiny countries all along the river that would tax the ships to sustain themselves. Most of the castles were damaged during the many wars over the past 500 years and were restored for visitors, some are only ruins now, and one remains undamaged!
We arrived to the small town of Bacharach and stayed at a little old grandma's house. The town of Bacharach is home to the Stahleck Castle, city towers and lots of Riesling vineyards, cobblestone streets, traditional buildings and chasing 3 girls! Climbing almost 400 stairs (yes, we counted) was fun, but the ice cream after was just as good...they had Riesling flavored ice cream! Yummy
Day 2 was to the equally cute town of St. Goar, home of the Rhinefels Castle. We arrived by boat down the Rhine passing Schoenburg, Gutenfels and Pflatz castles. Schoenburg and Gutenfels are both up on the hills, surrounded by vineyards and were equally beautiful, but the Pflatz, positioned in the middle of the river and shaped like a boat, was used to tax all of the passing ships. In St. Goar we went to the Rheinfels castle, the largest castle on this part of the valley. Once huge, now it is just ruins, but this didn't stop the girls and I from having fun and exploring. The well preserved ruin, still with dungeon, mine tunnels, towers, pharmacy, grape press, well, cannon balls and more, had great views of the river and was a full day of fun!
A short drive to the Marksburg castle was another day of fun. Marksburg is the only castle in the area remaining undamaged. Our tour (in German with an English book to follow along in) walked us through the castle still partially furnished. The kitchen was was equipped with a huge wine press...the people there used to drink 3-5 liters of wine per day because the water was dirty. We also enjoyed a beautiful dinner of white asaparagas and Riesling wine!
Or final day was to my favorite castle, Rheinstein. This castle, still standing after being purchased by a baroness, has furnished rooms and beautiful gardens. Although small, it was absolutely enchanting; built into the rock on the cliffs of the valley walls, surrounded by vineyards and passing ships, i wished that i was a princess there!
As if that weekend wasn't amazing, I spent the following weekend with a Canadian au pair friend in Lugano and Bellinzona, Switzerland. We hiked a mountain along Lake Lugano, met other travelers and enjoyed a free music festival. A day of rain didn't stop us the next day and we boarded a ferry around the lake, going in and out of Italian and Swiss waters. The quaint town and amazing houses built ON the lake are so beautiful along with the landscape!
The best part of the weekend was the perfect weather and amazing World Heritage area in Bellinzona where we visited the 3 castles. Highest on the hill is the small Sasso Corbaro castle. Unfortunately the tower wasn't open for visitors due to being struck by lightning the day before, but still has great views of the town, lake and other two castles. The next castle down the hill is the Montbello castle. This castle, surrounded by vineyards, is straight out of some "Nights of the Round Table" tale! With towers and walls that are so "cliche" it was spectacular! The grandest of the castles is Castlegrande! Built into a huge rock/mountain, it has even bigger towers than Montebello and really cool fortifying walls that you can walk atop and inside! Kiaya and I had a blast making up stories for every room and hole in the wall. One of my favorite things about going to castles is letting my imagination run wild...just as I seem to be doing!
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