6/14/2016 - Marksburg Castle

6/14/2016 - Tuesday

Entering the Upper Middle Rhine Valley

Last night we had a nice dinner of roast duck, salads, cheese plate, and desert.  They take very good care of their guests and it is no wonder that they say people gain weight on this cruise.

We traveled through the night and arrived at Koblenz at around 0800 hours.  I was able to get off the ship and walk around the point which represents the confluence of the Rhine and the Moselle rivers. This was a very important point because whomever controlled this region controlled the traffic on both rivers.  This is the reason there are so many castles along this stretch of the Rhine and Moselle Rivers... It seems that everyone that could would set up a castle to stop traders and collect a tax!!!

At 0945 we took off by bus to visit Marksburg castle, apparently the only one that was never breached and destroyed.  The Swiss and the French seemed to have stormed up the Rhine many times sacking castles all along the way.  The Marksburg was so well fortified that it was never breached.

The bus dropped us off a short distance down the hill from the castle and we hiked up to meet our guide.  The guide was an elderly lady, a bit stooped, and we were worried that she would not be able to navigate the uneven terrain.  We should not have been concerned as she was very sure footed and a very knowledgeable and witty guide.  We enjoyed the tour very much and came away realizing that living in a castle was not very pleasant in medieval times- The place was very cold, drafty, dark and smelly.  All refuse was simply thrown over the wall (as was the sewage).

Since I can't upload pictures of what we did I am just going to continue the description of our day:

After returning to our ship at Brauburg (just below the castle) we departed and continued our way up the Rhine to the castles of the middle Rhine.  We sat out on the front of the ship to watch as we moved up the river valley.  The whole place is really beautiful with steep mountains rising up on either side of the river and villages situated about a kilometer apart along the valley.  Each of these villages/towns had a castle up on an elevated position to guard the river and extract taxes from shipping along the river.  Each village is very picturesque and worth a visit but it is impossible to stop at them all so we avoid ... them all.  It is a very beautiful area.

We  have, this evening, passed into the area where we have to begin our ascent.  We moved from the Rhine river into the Main river and are now beginning to pass through a series of locks that will raise our vessel a total of 1300 feet in order to get over to the Danube and back down to Budapest which is at 0 feet elevation.  Some of the locks apparently raise the ship 80 feet at a time... I can't believe it yet but they say it is true... maybe I can get some pictures to (someday) share with you all.

Statue of William the Great is on the point where the Moselle and Rhine rivers converge.  It was destroyed during WWII and was replaced in 1949 as a monument to German unity.  Today there are three sections of the Berlin wall in place near the monument.

A closeup of the statue of William I ( William the Great).

Just behind the Statue of William the Great is the Church of St. Kastor that was built on top of the original Roman settlement that was established here nearly 2000 years ago.

Pat, Sandy and Rod on our lanais just outside our cabins.

Marksburg Castle from the river valley.  This was one of the only castles in the region that was not breached by the Swiss or French and, as a result, it is largely intact.

Making our way up the hill to the Castle.

The dark structure on the upper part of the wall is open on the bottom and is the drainage for the outhouse in the main building.

One can see why this was an ideal location to place a fort to control movement on the river.

View of the Rhine River from the castle.

Looking the other way up the Rhine.

Waiting for our guide.

The very cool entrance tunnel to the Castle.

The entrance to the Castle proper was a very rough section where the bedrock (apparently slate) was the floor so it was very uneven.  It was difficult to walk on but the knights of old rode their horses up there according to our guide.

The wine cellar in the castle contained 4 -8 large barrels of wine.  The wine they made in those days was only 2% alcohol but they did apparently drink as much as 5 liters a day ... Wine was the bottled water of the day because water was not  to be trusted.  

This may have been a sink or???? .  Whatever it was, it drained out the hole to the ground way below.

We thought this was a very unusual chandelier. 

In the Castle they have period armament models beginning in Greek times and moving up to the 19th century.  They are very well done and quite informative.

Towards the end of the tour and still smiling... !!!

Of course, while Honey was escaping, Pat was thousands of mile away finding another dog to pet.  This is a young husky according to its owner.   

Sitting on the Aquavit Terrace and watching the many castles of the middle Rhine go by.  It was a beautiful day while we were in this section, but just as we left there was thunder and lightning and rain.

The river is so high that the trees are under water.

An example of castles that are so numerous along the Middle Rhine Valley.