Posts from the ‘Road Trips & Cool Places’ Category
Boppard
One Day in the Rhineland :: Part IV – Boppard
Boppard is a very nice town full of charming hotels and restaurants coaxing you to relax and stay a while. Once called Baudobriga, the city was a Celtic settlement until it was swallowed by the Roman empire. In the 4th century the Romans replaced the citadel with a rectangular fortress made of 28 towers connected by 30-foot high stone walls, some of which are still standing.
http://www.boppard-tourismus.de/48-1-home.html
Rheinfels Castle
One Day in the Rhineland :: Part III – Burg Rheinfels & St Goar
Construction of the main Rheinfels castle began in 1245, and it grew to become the most powerful and impenetrable fortress along the Rhine until it was surrendered by a weak commander to the French in 1794. The French blew up the fortifications and castle in 1797, and later the stones were used in the reconstruction of the Ehrenbreitstein fortress to the north. The Prince of Prussia purchased the ruins in 1843 to save it from complete decay.
St Goar, a quaint little village catering to tourists, sits below the castle along the river.
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/germany/rheinfels.htm
Stolzenfels Castle
One Day in the Rhineland :: Part II – Stolzenfels
On the western side of the Rhine, across from Lahnstein, Stolzenfels Castle (Schloss Stolzenfels) sits on a rocky peak. Originally built from 1242-1259 by the Archbishop of Trier, Arnold II of Isenburg, it was burned to the ground by the French in 1689. The city of Koblenz gave it to Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia in 1823, who rebuilt it and used it as a summer residence when he became king (IV).
Braubach, Germany
One Day in the Rhineland :: Part I – Braubach
Braubach is a centuries-old village on the eastern side of the Rhine, south of Koblenz. Burial sites indicate this site has been inhabited for about 2,500 years. Up on the hill behind the town is the Marksburg Castle. The castle was first constructed in the 12th century and today it is the only castle from the days of knighthood to have never been destroyed, perhaps due to its favorable location on a steep, forested hill.
The town of Braubach was exactly what you’d expect of a small, quaint, old German village. Timberframe homes built along a brook, villagers leaning out their second-story windows to watch neighbors in lederhosen and tourists with maps make their way down the narrow, winding streets.
