We were just a long throw of a stone from the Rhine River and we had our last full day to spend. So we decided to take in a couple more "castles." The first was Rhinefels which was truly a castle but is now a ruin. One noteworthy thing about it is its size. At its largest, it covered tens of acres or hundreds of acres if one counted the outer works. Its walls rose six and seven stories above the base rock and they were corresponding thick. It was attacked once and the siege lasted more than a year but it held. Enough of it remains so that not a lot of imagination is required to picture it as a castle. There is a museum in one part.
Who owns these "castles"? Some are in private hands and closed to the public because the owner is living in it. Sometimes he may open a part of it for exhibitions. Two years ago this was the case with Gutenberg Castle on the Neckar River. Some of the castles are owned by a state agency which tries to preserve as many as are worthwhile.
Our next selection was Marksburg on the other side of the Rhine. There aren’t many bridges across the Rhine here but there are a few ferries. The pilot Eleanor said she would try to reach the other side this way. The biggest problem was finding the loading ramp and then the wait was minimal. The crossing was so fast that I hardly had time to change the film in my camera. I had taken so many shots of the Rhine that I felt the need to take some from the Rhine.
Once that we were on land again on the east side, we had only to drive north (DOWN the river) about fifteen miles and we would be at Marksburg. Barely had we pointed the car north when we encountered a sign which said "Road Closed Detour". Now the Germans may be efficient but they do a poor job at directing traffic along a detour. In fact, they don’t even seem to attempt. After one encounters the Detour sign, then one is left to find some way to get beyond the detour. With the river on our west side and the road blocked on the north, we had to go east for a while, then north, then west again. But with my skills in navigating, we did find our way to Marksburg which sits on a hill top overlooking the Rhine.
The noteworthy thing about Marksburg is that it is about 95% intact. It was never destroyed. Therefore it affords a good picture of what life was like in the medieval ages, say the fourteenth century. What impressed me the most was the confusing layout of the parts. Of course, the basic site on which any castle sits has a strong influence on how the castle is built. Marksburg sits on the top of a cone-shaped hill so it lacked much room to spread out. As a result, it is cramped.
Of the three castles that we visited, I would pick Marksburg as my favorite. Marksburg uses guided tours. The leader could talk in both German and English and since the English speakers/listeners outnumbered the Germans he spoke more English than Germans. As we went around, it was obvious that the Americans were woefully weak on history. We had a late lunch on the site and then crossed over the Rhine again (on a bridge) and headed up the river (to the south) toward the Frankfurt airport.
(19 Jun 02)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.