Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Km580—Marksburg Castle: This castle (boldandwhite, with thethree modernchim-
neys behind it, just before the town of Spay) is the best-looking of all the Rhine castles and
the only surviving medieval castle on the Rhine. Because of its commanding position, it
was never attacked in the Middle Ages (though it was captured by the US Army in March
of 1945). It's now open as a museum with a medieval interior (€6, family card-€15, daily
April-Oct 10:00-18:00, Nov-March 11:00-17:00, last tour departs one hour before closing,
tel. 02627/206, www.marksburg.de ) . The three modern smokestacks vent Europe's biggest
car-battery recycling plant just up the valley.
Km 570—Boppard: Once a Roman town, Boppard has some impressive remains of
fourth-century walls. Look for the Roman towers and the substantial chunk of Roman wall
near the train station, just above the main square. You'll notice that a church is a big part of
each townscape. Many small towns have two towering churches. Four centuries ago, after
enduring a horrific war, each prince or king decided which faith his subjects would follow
(more often Protestant to the north and east, Catholic to the south and west). While church
attendance in Germany is way down, the towns here, like Germany as a whole, are still di-
vided between Catholic and Protestant church-goers.
If you visit Boppard, head to the fascinating Church of St. Severus below the main
square. Find the carved Romanesque crazies at the doorway. Inside, to the right of the en-
trance, you'll see Christian symbols from Roman times. Also notice the painted arches and
vaults (originally, most Romanesque churches were painted this way). Down by the river,
look for the high-water (Hochwasser) marks on the arches from various flood years. (You'll
find these flood marks throughout the Rhine Valley.)
Km 567—Sterrenberg Castle and Liebenstein Castle: These are the “Hostile Broth-
ers” castles across from Bad Salzig. Take the wall between the castles (actually designed to
improvethedefensesofbothcastles),addtwogreedyandjealousbrothersandafairmaiden,
and create your own legend. Burg Liebenstein is now a fun, friendly, and affordable family-
run hotel (9 rooms, Db-€135, suite-€160, giant king-and-the-family room-€235, easy park-
ing, tel. 06773/308 or 06773/251, www.castle-liebenstein.com , info@burg-liebenstein.de ,
Nickenig family).
Km 560: While you can see nothing from here, a 19th-century lead mine functioned on
both sides of the river, with a shaft actually tunneling completely under the Rhine.
Km559—MausCastle(BurgMaus): TheMaus(mouse)gotitsnamebecausethenext
castle was owned by the Katzenelnbogen family. ( Katz means “cat.”) In the 1300s, it was
considered a state-of-the-art fortification...until 1806, when Napoleon had it blown up with
then-state-of-the-art explosives. It was rebuilt true to its original plans in about 1900. Today,
the castle is open only for concerts and weddings, with occasional guided tours (20-minute
walk up, tel. 06771/9100, www.burg-maus.de ) .
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