Well that would be me running after the train in a total panic because my friend Rinat was on it waiting for me with my ticket! Luckily the same route runs every hour so got off the next stop, came back to my stop, and then we headed up to the Middle Rhine Valley. So we got a little later start but it didn't put a dent in our day. Our plan was to go to Rheinstein Castle but once we were on the train we decided to head a little farther North to the town of Bacharach. We had the flexibility with the Rheinland-Pfalz Day Ticket that we could go anywhere in the Rhine-Pfalz Region for the one fee. It's quite a good deal for up to 5 travellers for as little as EUR 25.00.
We decided to go to Bacharach based on a few pages in Rick's book with an easy map of the town. Little did we know how stinkin cute the town was with a big ole castle up on top!
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| The Altes Haus - oldest house in town from 1368 |
Bacharach (a town since the year 1356) is a well preserved medieval town with old town walls and towers encirclilng it. It owes it's fame to the vineyards and wine trades. Vines were actually planted here in Roman times, which Dave and I also learned about on our vineyard tour in Luxembourg. There are only about 1000 people that live in Bacharach and in the warmer months I'm sure is super touristy.
We walked through the nearly empty, quaint little cobblestone streets and I grabbed a completely "un-German" Döner for lunch before we climbed up to the Burg Stahleck. This castle was formerly a fortress but since 1925 it has been a youth hostel. It was a pretty amazing hike up and the view from the top - well I think we could have just hung out there for hours and enjoyed the beauty and the day.
Back at the Bacharach Train Station we had about a 10 minute ride to the town of Trechtingshausen where we would walk along the Rhine about 30 minutes to Rheinstein Castle. Another great thing about Germany are the people. On our walk to Rheinstein we met Pete a.k.a. "Hoxel-Pitt" who was on his bike wearing sock and Birks, asking where we were from, and talking to us about his friends that live in the USA. Then he rode away but a few 100 meters into our walk we see him standing next to a vineyard and as we approached he points to the vineyard and says, "this is my work!" He's a grape grower for the the Weingut Schmelzeisen in the town of Oberwesel just North of where we were. He gave us all the info on the winery, including his personal info (!) and told us to come back for tastings and parties on the River. I certainly think we will take him up on that offer!The walk along the Rhine was great. We actually passed the Reichenstein Castle that we thought was Rheinstein but thankfully Pete told us to keep going. God forbid we would have to climb a hill by mistake :)
The Rheinstein Castle sits just on the edge of the cliffs 270' above the Rhine and is one of the oldest, along with the Reichenstein, castles on the Rhine built in the 10th century. I'm sure the impressions from the river cruises are pretty amazing! (upcoming trip for sure!) The castle is privately owned by the Hecher family, since 1975, and they have done a fabulous job of restoring it for the past 19 years to regain its glory from the medieval days. We practically had the place to ourselves and leisurely took our time wandering through the rooms and climbing the towers with our self guided tour.
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| Rheinstein Castle |
LINK TO PICTURES FROM THE DAY:
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