CASTLES ON THE RHINE AND A VISIT TO A MEDIEVAL TOWN

On my return home from Greece last October, I stopped for a few days in Mainz, Germany to visit my friend Patrick. I told him I'd like to see some of the Rhine Castles and he had arranged with his friends Wolfgang and Jurgen to drive us to several sites.  We hopped on the train at Mainz and rode to a town nearby where Patrick's friends were waiting. 

It happened to be a rainy day, but that wasn't going to stop us from having lots of fun. We drove along the scenic river enjoying the views of vineyards that grow up the steep banks and river boats plying they way upriver.Even in the rain the scenery was beautiful. 

Patrick, Jurgen and Wolfgang, my tour guides.

Rhine vineyards

Our first stop was the Sooneck Castle, built on the ruins of a Medieval castle by Prussian princes as a neo-Gothic hunting lodge. The castle was constructed in 1282, destroyed in the Palatinate War of Succession in 1689, and acquired by Frederick William, Crown Prince of Prussia and his brothers in 1834.

Sooneck Castle

An amusing little Russian guide named Leo greeted us as we entered and showed us through the various castle rooms. He explained all the artifacts on display from the long-bow hunting equipment to the bedrooms, which weren't actually slept in but more for show. 

Our Castle guide, Leo 

 bedroom

 dining room

crossbow for hunting

It was still raining when we left the castle but the weather began to clear by the time we reached the picturesque little Medieval town of  Bacharach located where the Steeg Valley meets the Rhine Valley at a juncture near the old Roman road, Aosonius Way, which connected Mainz with Trier, branching off from the Roman riverbank road. The area was first recorded settled in 1094 bu probably was inhabited from antiquity. 

 old gate entrance

 craftsman and his art

In the Middle Ages the town of Bacharach was an important outpost on the Middle Rhine, an economically prominent site as a place of transfer, trade and warehousing for wine and timber.  We entered through a gateway in the original stone wall of the city.  It was like stepping into a picture book, with quaint timbered houses and narrow streets, obviously these days a popular tourist site. 

The Church of St. Peter

 Interior of Church of St Peter

Located in the centre of Bacharach, the Church of St. Peter is dated between 1230/40 but has gone through numerous changes and renos.  It has a baroque style sacristy and is one of the most unique examples of Romanesque architecture on the  Lower Rhine. The Church is surrounded by courtyards and open-timbered houses, many from the late Middle Ages. The town's post office tower dates from the early 1400s.

 Above the church stands the ruins of the  Chapel of St. Werner dating from the early 14th century and above that, stands Stahlick Castle, a fortified castle dating to the 12th century. 

Before heading off to explore Stalick Castle we stopped in a quaint restaurant for a typical German meal of veal schnitzel and beer.

 On our way to Stahlick Castle

Stalick Castle, towers over Bacharach

Today Stahlick Castle is used as a youth hostel. There were children frolicking in the courtyard wearing capes and sparring with pretend swords. 

 http://www.jugendherberge.de/en/youth-hostels/bacharach390/shortportraet 

On our trip back we stopped at  the ruins of another castle overlooking the river, where there is now a first-class hotel and restaurant built in its place. 

View of the Rhine River

 Remains of old castle

The views along the river were magnificent even through the mist. In spite of the weather, we had an excellent day exploring and enjoying the sites along the majestic Rhine. 

  Sunset 

 Town View

CRUISING Part #2: HENRY'S HAUNTS

HENRY VIII

Henry VIII was an interesting (and controversial) character and one of the things you can do at Hampton Court is listen to "the Henry VIII talks" (which we missed). Who was the man behind the majesty and why do we still find him fascinating after 500 years? You can also attend a Tudor music festival, learn about Henry's women (we were already at the Tower were a couple of them met their unfortunate end thanks to falling out of favour with the king.) You can also see close up the 'virtual' restoration of Henry's most magnificent tapestry. (we missed that too!)

What did we see then? Well, as I mentioned in Part I of the Cruising up the River blog, we only had a few hours to tour around before the palace was closed for the day. So we went through the rooms and halls and saw as much as we could, starting with the Tudor part of the palace which was Henry's haunts.

TUDOR KITCHEN

You could actually attend a show demonstrating Tudor Cookery, experiences the sights and smells and learn about the recipes that were Henry's favorites. Too bad we missed that one!

POTTERY ON THE HEARTH

There really was so much to see. The baroque part of the palace was especially ornate and amazing. We toured around Henry VIII's apartments as well as the apartments of William III and Mary II and there are private Georgian apartments where today's monarchy sometimes gather for special occasions.

I'll post a few more photos so you can see more of the palace interior, both Tudor and Baroque.

INNER COURTYARD OF THE BAROQUE PALACE

CRUISING DOWN THE RIVER: Part #1

CRUISING DOWN THE THAMES

May 27, 2009

"Cruisin' down the river...on a Wednesday afternoon..." We decided it would be fun to see London from the River Thames, so we caught a boat that was going all the way down as far as Hampton Court Palace. They are celebrating the 500th year of Henry VIII's ascension to the throne so there are a lot of reenactments happening around London, mainly at Hampton Court, Henry Tudor's old palace where a lot of things happened, including his wedding to his sixth wife, Kateryn Parr.

It was a nice relaxing cruise, a chance to rest our feet from all the previous two-day's walking tours. We sat back and enjoyed the slow journey and all the scenery as it slipped by. Little did we realize when we set out just how long the journey would take, what with waiting to pass through the locks and all. I suppose in Henry's day it must have taken a couple of days to get into London, docking at the Tower.

GOING THROUGH THE LOCKS

About four hours after leaving London's docks we pulled into the dock at Hampton Court.
It was by then late in the afternoon and unfortunately, we'd miss the wedding reenactment and some of the other events. We didn't even get to 'see' old Henry wandering around the palace halls. The wedding celebrations included a lot of events including helping Kateryn choose her wedding dress and joining Henry to celebrate his last hours as a single man. (Now that would have been quite the party!)

We did have time to almost get lost in the famous maze, part of the gardens, and a tour around the palace itself.

There are actually two parts to the palace: The Tudor part of Henry VIII and the newer, beautiful baroque palace of William III and Mary II. In Part II of this River Cruise (Henry's Haunts) I'll describe what we saw with some photos of the awesome interiors both Tudor and baroque.

It was quite a day! After our palace tour we had dinner in a very nice little pub in Hampton Court village, then took the train back to London.

HAMPTON COURT PALACE

WAITING TO SEE HENRY