April 2007 Rhine River Cruise: Cruising Castle Valley and Marksburg Castle

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

After spending the morning touring in Rudesheim, we were on our way through "Castle Valley" to disembark in Braubach and take a tour of the Marksburg castle high above.

It was about a 3 hour cruise from Rudesheim to Braubach. It was a hazy day so we couldn't see the castles very clearly. The camera did a pretty good job and with a little help from Photoshop many of the shots were ready for showing.


Leaving Rudesheim 1pm, we're scheduled to arrive in...
The Neiderwald Monument statue of Germania looms over the...
Ehrenfels Castle on the edge of the Rudesheimer Rottland...
The Mouse Tower (Mauseturm) was at one time used for...
The entire length of the river is marked with kilometer...
The Rheinstein Castle in Rheinstein,...
Clemens Chapel on the river with the Reichenstein Castle...
A closer look at the Clemens Chapel in Rheinstein.
The Reichenstein Castle built in the 11th century,...
Passing by Trechtingshausen.
Sooneck Castle was built in the 1100s and was destroyed...
Passing by Niederheimbach.
One of our friends enjoying the "balmy" breezes on the...
Church in town and a chapel perched on a hill behind.
Stahleck Castle high on a hill above the town of Bacharach.
A view of the town of Bacharach with the Stahleck Castle...
Next up is the Pfalz Fortress with the Gutenfels Castle...
Schonburg Castle high above the little town of...
Passing by the town of Oberwesel Shonburg.
The Church of St. Martin in Oberwesel.  Build...
Continuing on down river (down river), we pass the...
Two of the 16 remaining owers of Oberwesel, there were...
Train tunnel entrances were constructed to look like old...
Approaching the famous Lorelei (Loreley in German)...
Castle Katz high above the town of St....
A closer look at the Katz castle.
One more look at the Katz Castle high above the town.
Another castle not so well preserverd / restored.
The Maus castle.
Passing by another steep hillside of vineyards, these of...
Half timbered buildings on the outskirts of Braubach.
And high above is the Marksburg castle, our...
We docked in Braubach just long enough for the folks...
From the park where we docked and would meet our bus, a...
Driving through the town of Braubach.
Continuing our drive through Braubach we see one of the...
It's a narrow winding road up to the castle.
After the some 100 steps up the hill from where the bus...
Sandra waits while an attendant opens the gate to let us...
Wildflowers growing on the side of the wall seen as we...
A window of the castle.
Lucia now holds the key to the Marksburg Castle.
Not a smooth walk through this area.  It's now...
The Coats of Arms of all the families that owned the...
Whew!  And there's more rough walking to come!
Looking back from where we just came and will walk again...
Back on semi-smooth ground, a quick look up toward the...
One of the guns in the small battery.
Quarters attached to the great battery.
A look up reveals a birdfeeder in a...
One of the guns in the Great Battery.
One of the guns did not have a screen in front of it,...
A look down into one of the old towers and the city of...
Looking out at the Rhine below us.
The Marksburg castle's central keep.
Now we head down to the wine cellar.
In the wine cellar... no tastings here!
And, going out the other way a narrow, steep winding set...
In the castle kitchen.
Herbs hanging to dry.
A humongous fireplace for cooking in the grand kitchen.
The Royal Bedroom.  The bed was hardly larger...
Going from the Royal Bedroom to the banquet...
In the banquet hall.
All castles and palaces seem to have their own private...
A statue of Madonna and Child prominently displayed in...
And leaving the chapel, we encounter an even smaller...
And a staircase that was even steeper and less even than...
Suits of armour from the 600BC to the 1500AD...
Looking out a window from the armoury.  Note...
And, no medieval armoury would be complete without a...
The Royal Bedroom window from the outside.
Heading into the castle's forge.
As we enter, we pass a box of pansies.
Inside the forge.
And another shot in the forge with additional tools.
Whew!  Back out over the rough walking,...
Jochem and Sandra (cruise managers) waiting to gather us...
Our boat has arrived in Koblenz before us.
The Viking Sun, our home on the river, docked on the...
After freshening up, we head down for dinner and are...
And on the other side, 3 more of the housekeeping...

Total images: 82 · Last update: 10/23/07 4:15 PM · ©2007 T&R Flinn Productions · Comments · Generated by JAlbum 7.3 & Chameleon