As I continue sharing the story of my Viking River Cruise with you here on the blog, I want to pick up where I left off earlier this month while we were cruising down the Rhine, visiting the Upper Middle Rhine Valley Unesco World Heritage Site. After visiting Burg Reichenstein we came upon Burg Rheinstein and the village of Assmannshausen.
Of course, we could see Burg Rheinstein from Burg Reichenstein.
It too, was nestled in the Bingen Forest.
It is a privately owned castle that offers tours, lodging, has a restaurant and even hosts weddings and other events.
It was one of the first and most important of the reconstructed castle ruins that happened during the Romantic Reconstruction period. And if you remember the fairy tale about this castle and Burg Reichenstein, this is where the Princess lived.
This castle is also known as a spur castle since it is built on a spur of protruding rock. The castle dates to about 1316/1317 and was not known by Rheinstein until the reconstruction in the mid 1800’s. Some of it’s other names are Vaitzburg, Voitsberg and Faitsburg.
It really is a lovely castle.
There were quite a few visitors that we could see from our ship as we sailed underneath.
The castle is said to be beautifully restored and has many outstanding features, such as stained glass windows from the fourteenth century. I love the little chapel for this castle. It looks so tiny compared to the castle.
And hidden below on the bank of the Rhine is the km marker for this section, right below the train tracks.
This would be another castle that would be fun to tour I suspect. And even spend the night in!
Here you have a really good view of the rock spur it is built on.
Oh how magnificent! But where is the village, Assmannshausen that I mentioned?
It is on the other side of the Rhine, across from the castle. The village dates to around 1108 (in 2008 they celebrated their 900th anniversary) and is simply charming. There were quite a few tour boats docked as we sailed by.
There is a hunting lodge above the village that is accessible by cable car. You can see the cable car line on the upper left above in the picture.
They are also known for wine making, growing Pinot Noir, one of the few areas producing red wines in this region which is known for its Rieslings.
They are also know for healing spas and are a former mining town, like Trechtingshausen. They have a lovely old church, the Parish Church of the Holy Cross and many old half timber structures.
And they are a huge tourist destination with many shops, restaurants and hotels. I loved this building, especially the wisteria arch above the entrance.
You can see the vineyards that come right down into town behind the old buildings in the central part of the village. The slopes here are very steep and there is one referred to as Hell Mountain.
The Gasthaus Krone above is one of the oldest hotels in Germany, dating to 1541.
It is such a romantic looking little inn. I am sure it would be fun to stay there and explore the surrounding area of Assmannshausen.
But we were sailing on. Saying goodbye to Burg Rheinstein.
Heading on to Burg Ehrenfels, Bingen and finally Rüdesheim, where we would dock and have some time to explore the city.
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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