What with work and other commitments, Weina and I hadn't had a chance to spend a day together since Easter...
I like the middle Rhein Valley and hadn't spent a significant time in any of the little villages. Weina and I decided to visit Bacharach for the day -- by train.
Upon disembarking we passed a place where wine tasting was in progress, for 5 euro. We decided to pass that up and be real tourists, e.g. sight-see.
Because it was fairly early in the day, the motorcycle groups, cars, and few camping vans that would arrived later were missing...as were groups from the tour boats. Perfect timing on our part. The town http://www.loreley-info.com/eng/rhein-rhine/city-cities/bacharach.php has been in existence since the 9th century or earlier and has long been known for its vineyards.
We were hustled (by the owner) into eating (and drinking) at a cute little restaurant. The food didn't match her claims, but it would be impossible to fault the attention and friendly atmosphere.
We decided it was essential to trek up the hill -- up what seemed an infinite number of steps as well as trails -- to visit the Stahleck Castle. The castle has been around since before 1135, was blown up by the French in 1689, and rebuilt in the mid 1920's after which it served as a training area for Hitler youth and more rebuilding occurred in the mid 60s. Today part of it is a youth castle. It's pretty impressive.
Before heading up we decided to get permission...
and be fortified by religious splendor.
Good thing we did. It helped us make it past the gargoyles
And the awe inspiring Gothic ruins of Werner's Chapel -- an edifice memorializing a supposed 'saint' who, in 1287, was 'supposedly' murdered by the Jews for the use of his blood in passover.. This fear/belief/libel resulted in pogroms that wiped out the Jewish population of the middle Rhine and on to the Mosel. Without knowing the history, the ruin is still, especially on a cloudy day, an evocative, darkly fascinating place.
Stahleck Castle is .... well, so 'castle-like'. I find the walls, with vegetation growing in them and slots for bowmen well fitting to a lifetime of images from books and films. (Maybe not the flowers).
Weina tried scaling the walls. I wasn't as nimble as she, so we walked up the pathway and more stairs.
What gives me perhaps the strongest sense of age in places I visit here, is the way steps, and thresholds of rock are worn smooth and troughed by a thousand or more years of feet.
In Stahleck Castle.
Courtyard
Great view of the Rhein as major transport river -- one major reason for all the castles in this region.
Walking back down we had a great view of a lookout tower and the hillsides with the vineyards. Erosion is controlled with terracing by rock walls.
Bacharach has a plethora of half-timbered houses as well as stone walls surrounding the town.
It has, like so many other lovely places world-wide become a tourist haven and one sees the hybridity of cultures. Note the Tibetan flags....
Hey... It was a great day with a great friend!
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