Rhine castles, Nuremburg, Dachau

Anne and I had just returned day before from our 3 –day train tour beginning with the BD Shipping boat ride on the Rhine from _____ to Bacharach with a wonderful stop at Marksburg Castle for 3 hours -- the only medieval ages castle in Germany that is still as it was when built and improved over those years. It sits atop a high, wooded hill commanding a long curve in the river. Its floors, ramps, and multi-stairways are mostly carved right out of the rock of the mountain. One room has a collection of some eighteen full suits of armor used from 400 BC to 1500 AD and the guide popped one can-shaped helmet on the head of a boy and asked how he would like to fight from that.

The castle has a knights dining hall where a whole ox can be roasted with a notched wheel to turn it with – giving rise to the German expression “turn it up a notch”. It never suffered was capture, Napoleon and other armies passing it by rather than try to attack such a well-fortified castle on a high hill. The dungeon has a torture room with all the old devices you have nightmares about, including neck/wrist clamps, stretching bed with weights and chains, an iron mask and stocks, The toilet jutted out from the wall near the chapel, had a lock-able iron door because it was open beneath for the sewage to fall into the woods and was a weak spot for attacks. One could get stuck in there for some time if enemies were around, and they had a special knock signal to unlock the door.

The Rhine was the chief center of all commerce, and the multi-castles built along it testify to the greed of the various families contesting control. The city of Pfalz laid a huge chain across the river which prevented ships passing until they had paid the taxes. They became very wealthy from the taxes, Pope Pius the II demanded they be destroyed and inspired army to try, but Pfalz prevailed. We stayed the 1st night at Bacharach which has a seven tower Roman wall and vineyards on the steep hill surrounding it. Wine making and transporting dominated their economy then and now.