Bacharach & Burg Reichenstein

We visited Bacharach, a small town on the Rhine river a few weeks ago. It's a part of the cultural landscape of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, which joined in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2002. It's also a part of the Middle Rhine wine-growing region, which cultivates mainly Riesling (about 65% of the whole vines) as well as Pinot Noir (about 10%) although we didn't have a chance to taste any local wine during this trip.  

The town's car park was right next to the river. We walked down to the water edge. J, me, some swans and the Rhine. Very peaceful. We was nice to get out of a city! The countryside air refreshed my mind. 

We started exploring the town, which was pretty quiet in the morning. First we climbed up steps to ruins of the Werner Chapel, a Gothic-style pilgrimage church built from the late 13th century to the 15th century that stood on the hillside in the middle of the town.

We had a nice view of St. Peter's Church. The church was built in the period from the late 12th century to the 13th century and its architecture demonstrated the transition from Romanesque to Gothic in the region around the times. I guess we somehow missed seeing the inside of the church!

We found a trail that led us from the Werner Chapel ruins to Burg Stahleck on the hill. We walked higher and higher... The rewards were beautiful views of the Rhine valley! 

This was Burg Stahleck. The11th century castle, which is now a youth hostel, was one of the oldest castles found in the Middle Rhine. We walked into the courtyard and had wider views of the Rhine.

We took a different route to go down to the town. The vineyards on the hillside looked lovely. It is said that the steep valley sides of the region have been vineyards for over 1000 years!

There were many old half-timbered houses in the town. We have been to some medieval old towns with half-timbered houses but I haven't got tired of watching colorful medieval half-timbered houses yet!

There was the hilltop castle over there. We were there just some minutes ago!

We walked a lot without having a breakfast. Actually we didn't find a place to eat when we got there. It seemed that most of the cafes/restaurants there weren't open in the morning... except a bakery. I knew only one bakery in the town. While we were walking toward the bakery, we found a cafe that was open by chance. I had tea and a sweet pastry. It was pretty good. J had cappuccino and a German style breakfast set. I know it really isn't his favorite but I guess he enjoyed it after a long walk!

The town was pretty small. We felt we have already seen all major parts of it. After the breakfast, we decided to visit more castles nearby. Say good-bye to the town, going through the old gate tower!

There were at least three castles on our way home. We were going to visit Burg Reichenstein and Burg Rheinstein but we did only the former due to a car park problem. In fact there are about forty hilltop castles along the Upper Middle Rhine valley. Some are now a hotel, museum, or event venue and invite public visitors. In the Middle Ages, princes and nobles of the region built the castles not only for residential and defensive purpose but also as customs stations to collect money and duties from the traders and boatmen on the Rhine. Later, some were abundant or destroyed by the wars in the 17th century and then became ruins. Some of them were luckily restored and reconstructed during the late 18th and 19th century Rhine Romantic movement, the time that many painters, poets and thinkers were attracted with the picturesque scenery of the valley. Burg Reichenstein was one of them.

Burg Reichenstein was originally built around the 12th century and it was owned by the Electorate of Mainz, one of the most prestigious and influential states of the Holy Roman Empire in the 14th century. Then the castle declined as the result of the wars since the 16th century, but was converted to a residential castle by some different owners in the 19th century, including a wealthy industrialist, Baron Dr. Nikolaus Kirsch-Puricelli. He changed the castle into a neo-Gothic castle in the English style. The Kirsch-Puricelli family is still the owner of the castle and recently modernized the castle to a hotel/restaurant/museum complex. We visited the museum, which you can see how the family's "home" looked like. 

There was a menu of the dinner in 1906 when Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor visited the castle. It's difficult for me to read but at least I can see the words, Suppe (soup) and Käse (cheese).

We went up to the rooftop. The weather was pretty!

When we came down to the ground floor. There was a dining room that looked pretty scary...

The collection of the antique furnace was quite interesting.

There was a chapel, which is still used for a wedding, for example.

There was a terrace too.

Since the castle stands on the hill slop, we couldn't find a spot to see the entire castle. Perhaps if we were on the opposite side of the Rhine, we could see the dramatic view of the castle over the Rhine?

The restaurant at the castle was supposed to be good. We wanted to try a lunch but the restaurant was preparing tables for a party or something and didn't look like serving foods. Oh well, at least it was nice to see the museum.