A couple of weeks ago I told you about Sooneck Castle, part of my experience of cruising along the Rhine on my Viking River Cruise in 2014. Well, the next little village we came upon was Trechtingshausen and its castle, Burg Reichenstein.
Trechtingshausen is a small little village known for winemaking and its quarry, which I mentioned before when talking about Burg Sooneck.
We passed these two little tug boats waiting along the bank for barges that would soon be loaded with stone from the quarry and headed back up the river to the Netherlands, where it was used for coastal development.
We were constantly passing barges along the way. And most were family owned. Many would have cars on board for land travel when they were docked. And some like this one had little boats. We even saw some with playhouses and children’s toys.
Trechtingshausen did not look as touristy as many of the other little villages along the Rhine we had already sailed by on this marvelous afternoon. And there weren’t any big cathedrals, just the one church that we saw surrounded by houses in the village.
There was a park bordering the Rhine and there were lots of people biking and walking as we sailed by. Even though it didn’t have that touristy look, it did have a castle and there was an old chapel, we just hadn’t gotten to them yet. They were on the other side of the village from the quarry.
But they did have their village name painted on the wall along the park, so you know I had to get a picture.
And then the castle came into view. It was a huge complex of buildings and fortification walls, tucked into the Bingen Forest, separated a bit from the village.
Here you can see more of the park that lined the bank. It had a large section of green space with picnic tables and the path for walking or riding bikes. The village dates to 1122, so it was not as old as many of the other villages. It really felt more like a working village with lots of more modern looking structures. But it was picturesque none the less.
Burg Reichenstein sprawled out above the Rhine and looked very imposing. I liked how there were flags of several different countries other than Germany being flown. You can see the U. S. Flag in the middle of the three flags grouped on the right outside the castle gates.
The castle is open to the public and dates to around 1100. It has a drawbridge and portcullis and a courtyard garden known as the Burgandy Garden. The garden is named for the burgundy grape vine growing there. It is said to be 500 years old and still able to produce grapes.
You can see part of the fortification wall going up the hill to a tower behind the visitors center.
And there was a campground below full of holiday campers.
This is another castle that has been rebuilt or reconstructed along the Rhine. It was first rebuilt around 1344 and then later rebuilt in the mid 1800’s during the Romantic Reconstruction period.
It was finally finished around the turn of the last century and it was a private house before becoming open to the public as it is now.
Along with the vistors center there are restarants, too. And you can even spend the night in the castle if you like.
It really is a very pretty castle. You can find more information about the castle here, on a blog that I found.
Unfortunately, these pictures are kind of washed out. The castle was on the side of the Rhine where the sun was not a photographer’s friend at this point in our cruise.
It really looked like an amazing castle and I am sure it would have been a lot of fun to visit and explore.
But we were moving on.
Ready to see our next site.
The castle was rebuilt in a neo gothic style. I loved all the little corners and cutouts and protruding window boxes all around.
And below the castle was Clemenskapelle, a little chapel named for St. Clement. This was the second Clemenskapelle we had seen on this part of the Rhine.
There even is a fairy tale about the chapel and the castle that our Viking guide told us as we sailed by.
There was a young Knight that resided at Burg Reichenstein and he fell in love with a Princess at the next castle down the line, Burg Rheinstein, which would be the next castle on our agenda.
To show how much he loved her he gave her a beautiful white horse. They would spend many hours horseback riding in the forest between the two castles.
He finally decided he wanted to ask for her hand in marriage, but didn’t have the courage to do so himself, so he asked his uncle to do so on his behalf.
His uncle agreed and asked her father for her hand in marriage, but realizing how beautiful she was when he saw her, he failed to tell her father that he was asking for his nephew. Her father was impressed by this bold proposal and agreed to give his daughter’s hand in marriage to the young Knight’s uncle.
When the Princess found out about this she was so unhappy and had no recourse but to marry the uncle. On the day of the wedding, the bridal procession was coming down the hill to St. Clement’s chapel when a bee stung one of the horses, causing a distraction that allowed the Princess to flee on her white horse to Burg Reichenstein where her true love awaited. Her bridegroom attempted to attack the castle with his nephew inside but could not surpass the castle’s defenses. He ended up falling from his horse in the attack, dying from his injuries.
The Princess’ father reluctantly gave in and gave his blessing on the marriage of the Princess to her young Knight and they ended up living happily ever after. A true fairy tale to go with a fairy tale castle and chapel!
Next we were on to Burg Rheinstein!
This is not a sponsored post. This is my experience from my trip with Viking River Cruises. Email me to find out how you can save $100 when you book your first cruise with Viking through their referral program.
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