Day 4 - Exploring Castles in Germany

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Today was an easy morning, as we were able to sleep in a little later, grab a quick breakfast in the restaurant as the boat was pulling into the dock at Koblenz. From When we got off the ship, we could see the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress and cable cars above us, but we weren’t visiting the fortress, we boarded the bus for a short ride to Marksburg Castle. Originally built in the 12^th century, and updated through the 15^thcentury, it is one of the only castles on the Rhine that has never been destroyed or fallen into disrepair. It passed through various hands through the centuries until it was donated to the German Castles Association in the 1900’s and became the head office of the association. The head of the German Castles Association actually lives in the upper floors of the castle and maintains offices below his residence.

They warned us when we signed up for this tour that it was strenuous and difficult, and I understand their concern, but it wasn’t so much strenuous as it was unstable. The floors and walkways were mostly original, and the entrance was originally a ramp for horses, that in later centuries had been somewhat upgraded to something that resembles steps. Some of the passageways were extremely narrow, and the one from the chapel to the weapon room was so narrow, there was only room for a rope handrail. Most of the steps everywhere, if they existed at all were worn and deteriorated. But Jody and I are well experienced cave explorers, so we had little difficulty negotiation the halls of Marksburg Castle. Anyone with balance or mobility issues were suitably warned away.

We met our guide, Daniel, who seemed reasonably knowledgeable about the castle, but did have some difficulty with some of the more inane questions like: Where were the cannons made? (They are Napoleon era cannons from elsewhere as the originals were melted down in WW2 for the steel) Who maintains the gardens? Can the head of the German Castle Association park his car up near his residence?. But he did great with the historical stuff.

There was a blacksmith shop with an array of tools, the kitchen, main hall, and master bedroom, furnished as they might have been in the middle ages. The master bedroom was the only heated room in the house, other than the heat from the kitchen fires. The master bedroom was heated by a cast iron stove in the wall with a door through the wall, so the servants could keep the stove fire burning from an adjoining room, so they wouldn’t disturb the occupants while they were sleeping. The main hall had a long table where the occupants would gather for daily activities, and also included an indoor toilet. Well, it was sort of indoor, there was an enclosed balcony built of wood that protruded out from the main hall on an upper floor. The toilet opening allowed the contents to drop outside the building to the ground below, assuming this would keep the garden fertilized. There was a locked door to the toilet area that would be locked at night to keep someone from putting up a ladder and climbing up and through the toilet opening and getting into the castle.

There was also a room set up with a display of armor through the ages, from the time of the Romans until about the 16^th century when the invention of the crossbow and the musket made armor obsolete except for ceremonial events. It was interesting to see the evolution of armor from the basic chest protection of the Romans to the 80 lb full body coverage of the 16^th century.

After thr armor room, we headed into a lower room that had been set up with various pieces used for torture and punishment. The torture equipment was basically used to extract a confession to an either real or imagined crime. Mostly these were the traditional rack or some vertical version where the person was suspended and weights were added. Often the existence of the torture device and showing the person what was to be done was enough to extract a confession without it even being used. Once the person had confessed, the punishment devices were used. Most of these punishment devices were shame type punishments where such as a pillory or mask that would show the public that someone was a criminal and humiliate them into not committing further crimes. Most of these devices were the normal tortue and punishment devices that were part of the day to day life of the middle ages and not the types of extreme devices used by the Spanish inquisition.

After visiting the castle, we proceeded by bus back to the ship which by now was docked only 5 minutes away. After a quick lunch, we headed up to the sundeck for what was called the Scenic Tour of the Rhine. This is the part of the tour you see in the brochure where we are cruising down the Rhine River with mountains on both sides, with vineyards on both sides of the mountain and an occasional castle positioned at the top of a mountain peak. It really was as pretty as it was supposed to be. There were quaint little towns with half-timbered houses and 15^th, 16^th, or 17^th century churches that had escaped the war. The vineyards were either sloped down the side of the mountain to be tilled by hanging from a rope at the top of the mountain, or hand terraced, but still sloped to prevent erosion and give the appearance of flatness. And occasionally there would be a castle topping one of the peaks, some in ruins, some open to the public for tourists and others converted to hotels or residences.

It was really very pretty, and the cruise director narrated the cruise, pointing out the individual towns and castles and telling us a little of the history of each. It was a little chilly, and it did rain for a few moments, but all in all it was a great experience. Rather than sitting in a lounge chair during the entire narration, both Jody & I used this time to walk around the sundeck walking track so that we could get out 10,000 steps for the day. The tour ended when we reached Pfalzgrafenstein Castle on a small island in the center of the Rhine. Built in the 14^th century, it was used as a toll collection station in the 19^th century and is open to the public, but only accessible by boat. We didn’t get to visit inside but could only take pictures as we passed by.

I need to go back to my pictures from when I was in the Air Force and came to Germany in the 1970’s. I was stationed in Frankfurt for a couple of 60 day rotations and one of the permanent station guys took me and a couple of others on a drive up the Rhine coast and I believe I have seen and taken pictures of some of these castles before. I will need to check my Air Force scrapbook when we get back.

Tomorrow, most of the people on the boat are going to the included walking tour of Miltenberg, which normally would be fine but maybe a little boring. But tomorrow they are supposed to be celebrating a form of Octoberfest, which has most of the people excited. We don’t drink, so it won’t be a big deal for us to miss it. Instead we are going on the Freudenberg Hike and Garden Visit where they promised us we would be certain to cover our 10,000 steps. It should be great fun!

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