Several weekends ago we took advantage of a beautiful spring afternoon and did some exploring here in the Neckar River valley. We drove about 20 minutes from our home to the cities of Dilsberg and Neckarsteinach where five castle ruins remain nestled on the river's banks.
Dislberg, Germany is a fortress city which sits a top of a small mountain - hence the "berg" in its name. The walled city complete with castle ruins will celebrate its 800th anniversary this year. (To offer some perspective, Dilsberg existed for over 300 years before the Iroquois formed the League of Nations in what is now the U.S.) The very small city is complete with cobble stone streets and walled defenses. It was amazing to walk around and see people still living within the city walls. One of the most impressive views of the city from our second stop of the
afternoon Necharsteinach.
Necharsteinach, Germany is a small city with four castles, with two accessible to the public. To get to each castle ruin we walked along some well-traveled walking trails and despite the age of the ruins, we were able to climb up and into the existing towers. Hintersburg (pictured below with one central tower) originated in the 12th century and was closest to the river. Schadeck (ruins pictured below with two towers) was started in the 13th century and a 15 minute walk from Hintersburg. You can see from the picture that between 100 years and about 1 kilometer, architecture took a huge leap.
