Located up on the hill in the Odenwald of Heppenheim is the lovely Starkenburg Castle.
It was built to protect the Abbey of Lorsch in 1065 (like many of the castles along the Bergstraße-Odenwald) and was one of the earliest castles. It was owned by the Abbey until 1232 and then by the Archbishops of Mainz. This castle protected the people of Heppenheim for 700 years until it was abandoned in 1765 and today serves as an operating Hostel. We see this beauty every time we drive up the A5 and finally too the 20 minute drive to explore.
It was more impressive than I had imagined up close! We parked about 1/2 way up the hill so that we had a chance to walk along the stone road up to the castle. The kids couldn't believe there were so many stones laid to make the road, hard work they said!
It was a sunny morning but a little chilly. We had fun walking around the grounds watching the birds floating in the air, as if they were having fun just staying stationary while the wind kept them afloat.
We climbed the spiral stairs to the top of the little tower.
There was a small kinder spielplatz with some really cool swings (according to the kids) that we spent some time of before the rain started and we made it back down to the car.
We may not be able to travel still in Europe/Germany but we can take advantage of these neat places that are close to home. It is Easter Week here and unfortunately we had to cancel our rental house in the Black Forest. We were all looking forward to it and are now keeping our fingers crossed that lockdown restrictions do not keep us from our upcoming rentals in May/June. We need a change of scenery around here!!
Frohe Ostern und bis zum nächsten Mal!
Tschüss!
