Burg Rheinstein & Rudesheim

Plan changes this morning due to a couple of castles being closed today.  No probs, we’ll peel off Rudesheim which we were going to visit tomorrow on the way to Frankfurt. Today’s weather was heavy overcast with patches of very light rain at Rudesheim but it didn’t last long. Temperature: a mild 22C.

We drove about 10kms south and parked up at the base of the hill by the main road.  There’s a good old zig zag workout to get up to the castle.  No dramas, it gets the blood pumping. Nearly there.
The entry point is across Burg Rheinstein’s working drawbridge, complete with portcullis (those cool grilled and usually spiked vertical sliding ‘doors’ found at castle entrances). Medieval at its best!Word of the day: ‘portcullis’.
Tickets were €5 ea and we bought an info booklet for €3 which assisted us with our ‘self-guided’ tour. Trivia: This castle was originally built around 900AD as a customs post for the German Empire.  It was later home to the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph von Habsburg from 1282 through 1286.  It was leased to the Archbishops of Mainz from the 14th to the 17th century, but they never maintained it (too much partying I guess). I’m unsure whether the French nailed this one in 1689 (like they did many other castles in the region) but regardless, the castle was a ruin when purchased and rebuilt in 1823 by Royal Prince Friedrich of Prussia.  A marvelous restoration job followed.
First impressions are good.  Up the steps we go.
At the first terrace there’s a great view up the Rhine (better on a sunny day though!).
I’ll be at the top of this tower soon.
Looking down to the well kept vine covered garden by the entrance, the chapel, and the prince’s quarters.  Note the small door underneath the chapel. There is a grilled door there and behind it you can see 3 coffins just sitting there. They contain family members born in the 1800’s.
We poked our noses inside to see the usual display of armour.
After viewing the kitchen we popped out into another courtyard and tackled the tower mentioned above. Here I’m half way up.Ok I’m now at the top and looking down 3 levels to Kath who chickened out coz the open stairway turned her legs to jelly.  Brrrrkk, brrrrk chicken!
Looking down on the ‘Burgunder-Garden’.
I returned to the courtyard and snapped this photo over the other wall, which shows part of the trail up to the castle.
Back inside here is the bedroom the princess used. Circa 1850.
And through a side door.
In the music room.
Window art.
Princess Wilhelmine Louise.
Knight’s hall.
Small dining room.
The prince’s quarters. Nowadays he might call this a sleepout!  As I mentioned earlier, the coffins of  two Prince Friederich’s of Prussia and Princess Wilhelmine Louise. I’ll need to Google the history. You can too!  But how about these coffins being visible through an external grilled door!Back in the Burgunder-Garden which is named after the Burgundy grape vine growing there. The vine is apparently about 500 years old and, as you can see still produces heaps of grapes.  These grapes a a few months away from harvest so still well and truly green.
The royal coat of arms in the garden.
We left Burg Rheinstein and drove back up the road 2kms to Burg Reichenstein to find that they closed on Mondays.  Ooops I missed that one.  The next on the road back to Bacharach was Burg Sooneck which was originally planned for yesterday. It’s also closed on Mondays.  Alright… we went back to Bacharach for a bite to eat and then decided why not head 20kms south and across the river to visit Rudesheim.  We can then do one of the castles tomorrow on our way to Frankfurt.  No probs.
Heading south we again past through Rheindiebach and it’s old tower beside the main road.
Driving through Neiderheimbach.
Upon reaching the bigger town of Bingen we needed to take Hermann across on the ferry to Rudesheim.  But first (just along the river from the ferry ramp) we took a look at the remains of the Hindenburgbrucke, a once prominent bridge across the Rhine. Opened in 1915 this was then the longest bridge over the Rhine at 1175 meters. It was a rail bridge constructed of a mix of stone on the Bingen side and two sets of steel arches on the Rudesheim side. But it didn’t see out WW2. From late 1942 the bridge was the target of several air raids but it wasn’t until 1945 that the spans of the bridge were destroyed. The final destruction was carried out in March 1945 by pioneers of the Wehrmacht in order to impede the advance of the US armed forces.
We were just leaving the bridge area and the photo of the day arrived.  It’s Biggles!  Well strapped in and goggles on.  He’s on the back of his master’s motorbike.
Hermann on the ferry.
Looking across the Rhine and up to the massive Niederwalddenkmal . More on that later.
We parked up at the top car park just along from the Seilbahn (gondola). Now I’ll say up front that Rudesheim just didn’t do it for me. You get the feeling that it is there for tourists only and boy there are heaps of them.  Oh yeah that’s right, we’re tourists too!  🙂 Sure there were heaps of tourists in Rothenburg as well but here they are condensed into a relatively small area with only a few streets being of any interest (and most of that interest is souvenir shops and restaurants!).  There were multiple riverboats parked up and these boats deliver the numbers into the town.  Regardless, we did our own loop and I’ll pick out the photos that try to make this town look worthy.  At the start of our walk there was a light shower.  Enough to raise a brolly, but it didn’t last too long.
Down into Marktplatz.  There’s nothing startling about this square. The highlight is this bloke!
We wandered down to the waterfront and saw Eagle Tower (Adlerturm), the 20.5m late Gothic corner tower of the old town fortification built in the 15th century. In the last century the ‘Zum Adler’ (Eagle Inn) was located in the tower (which is where the name came from).
The main street on the riverfront is less than inviting.

We headed up hill again and then back down the most famous street in town: Drosselgasse.  This is a 144-metre-long narrow cobblestone pedestrian lane in the heart of old town and it does have 2 or 3 beautifully decorated restaurants. It was built in the 15th century, and is Rudesheim’s most famous attraction (so it’s always crowded with tourists). Originally used as a pathway for the fishermen and other sailors on the Rhine to move between the river and their homes or other destinations in the area. It was largely destroyed by an Allied bombing raid in November 1944, but was rebuilt after the war in the 1950s.  Here’s a few shots on Drosselgasse.


Back down at river level we found the best property in town, the Boosenburg (aka Oberburg).  The 38m high keep dates back to the 12th century, with the attached building built in 1840.  Since 1938 the castle has been owned by the winery Carl Jung.
Meanwhile, back up on the ‘other’ street – Oberstrasse…The Bromserhof, built in 1542, is now the site of a musical instruments museum (Siegfried’s Mechanisches Musikkabinett). Nice building but yeah nah to the museum.
Ok it’s time to take the 10 minute the 1954 Seilbahn (gondola) ride over the vines and up to the Niederwalddenkmal which is a pretty ‘out there’ monument located in the Niederwald Landscape park above Rudesheim.Yup a 1954 special is this gondola.  Open sided which is great for photos but let’s hope the rain stays away. It did.  Over the vines.  Has anyone seen Hans’ tractor??
Looking back down to Rudesheim.
And a short walk later… there she is – NiederwalddenkmalTrivia: The 38 metre (125 ft) monument located is in the Niederwald Landscape park and was constructed to commemorate the foundation of the German Empire after the end of Franco-Prussian War.  It represents the union of all Germans. The first stone was laid in Sep 1871, by the first German Emperor Wilhelm I.






The car ferry!
Here you can see the river boats stacked up at the top end of town.
Back down we go. You’ve heard of classic cars. Well here is the gondola equivalent.
Looking over to Carl’s place.
Ok our time in Rudesheim is done. Let’s get outta here. Kath says she’ll ride back to base.  Fair enough, But first we had to stock up.
So there it is.  Rudesheim am Rhein is a tad touristy due to it being the start/end point for many of the boats that roam up and down the Rhine. In fact (unbelievably) it’s one of Germany’s biggest tourist attractions!  Only Cologne Cathedral sees more tourists from other countries. I’m not sure what the draw is. I mean it’s ok, but we’ve visited heaps of more interesting German towns on this trip alone.

After the ferry crossing we called in at a local Bingen supermarket to get a few bits and pieces for dinner. We even found a cooked chook (so we got half!).  We haven’t had chicken for yonks, so a chicken salad on the balcony with wine will be our dinner. Great! 🙂

This local Bacharach wine is brilliant.  Should’ve got another.
Ok… so that’s almost it for tonight!  I accidentally hit ‘Publish’ earlier (instead of Save) so I’ll save one photo for a separate post to advise those who receive the blog by email to go to https://croozader3e.wordpress.com to view the full day’s photos.