Saturdays and Castles

Before viewing the following beautiful castles and quaint little villages, don't forget that
every week we do put in a full 40 hours at the office before venturing out somewhere exciting
on Saturdays.  In other words, we've earned the break!

Our Zone Leaders, Elder and Sister Riggs from Tennessee, invited us to go with them for a
full day's "castle hunt."  They have a great atlas that highlights cities or castles
as "good," "better," and "best."  They invited us one Saturday to head out with them
for a super five-stop adventure.

Here is our first view from the roadside of the Lindenfels castle originating in the 1100s.

Here is what was eventually constructed by the 1300s,

and this is what was left after almost one thousand years!

 

 The view of the village below shows the typical clusters of 

white walls and red tile roofs seen everywhere in Germany!

We got a kick out of this one vine whose growth covered an entire wall!

We took one last look at Lindenfels before moving on to our second stop.

 The quaint village of Erbach was next on our list.

The benches reminded us of what Derek might be working on in Alaska.  

Besides this little display of "woodwork," there was a shop, Drechselstube, that went on for blocks, containing thousands of typical German woodcarvings:  Everything from nutcrackers to Christmas pyramids and arches to "smoking men/incense burners" to bread boxes and
music boxes!  It would definitely be worth a return visit!

 Beautiful Erbach Palace was built into a princely residence in the style of the times in the 18th century.  Only the middle wing of the planned three-winged building was ever built. The facade is not the normal sandstone, but rather wood sheeting colored to look like it!

Its castle was not the typical kind, but it was still unique.

But its town center was certainly typical of all that we've seen so far!

Our third stop was the Fürstenau castle at Michelstadt.  We'll never forget this stop because this was where a "good Samaritan" went out of his way to lead us there by car since road blocks 

prevented our navigation system from doing the job.

This castle, begun in the 13th century, seemed more Italian to me, not at all the typical
medieval type.  It was refreshingly different!  It is currently a private residence, but tourists
are allowed  to wander around the courtyards.

The magnificent ornamental arch between two of the structures was added in 1588.

We were amazed once again at how one single vine could attempt to cover an entire wall.

Next we headed to another old castle, Burg Breuberg im Odenwald.  With its more than 850-year history, it is one of the largest and best preserved castles in southern Germany.

I love the big heavy defense walls where perhaps moats used to be!

More awesome castle walls!

And although a lot had fallen into disrepair, a lot had not.

In fact, what is unique about this castle is that it is currently used as a hostel!  Prior to that it had housed various princely families, a camp for foreign workers in WWII, and a toy factory!

  

 The restored part of the castle below houses the cafeteria.  I should have taken a picture of
the dungeon, where I was surprised to discover a fussball game and a ping pong table!

View from the top looking out over the valley

Our last stop of the day was Gross Umstadt, another quaint little town.  

The churches in these old towns are so big and beautiful...and so OLD!!!  How could they possibly build things like that centuries ago?!!!  Although the city is largely Protestant since the Reformation, this Catholic church of St. Gallus serves many of the Portuguese 

and Russian citizens of Gross Umstadt.

The Rathaus, or town hall, built in 1596

 

Another favorite town square! 

This old, old home currently under repair reminds me of what the medieval houses probably looked like in their time.  I doubt they were as freshly painted and appealing as they are made to appear today for the benefit of all us tourists!

And, lastly, I couldn't resist posting this charming, crooked little house seen down a narrow alley!

 

All in all, it was a great castle-hunting day!!!