View from our Hostel
We arrived in Koblenz and set off to find our hostel. We crossed a bridge and I saw a "castle" up on a big hill and was thinking...that was on the website of our hostel, I think we are staying there. We asked locals on the bus how to get to the youth hostel and they told us when it was our stop and said go up the hill. So we got off with our huge backpacks and hiked up the hill... I was not a happy camper. The Castle seemed more like a prison and we got an errie feeling it was a nazi camp used in WW2.... this is not for certain just a guess on our part. The view from up on the hill at our hostel was amazing of the Rhein river below. We checked into our separate dorms, girls in one boys in another... I looked out my window and saw a chair lift inside I was happy but mad cause I just hiked up the huge hill with my backpack for nothing!
We took the chair lift down.
Part of the area our hostel is in... however where we stayed they fixed it up.... totally looks like a nazi camp/prison.
..nice. Then we wanted to go see Eltz Castle but diapointingly found out it was difficult to get to and once at the train station for there we'd have to walk about a mile to the castle on a dirt path and it might close before we get there. I was disapointed because that is Rick Steves Favorite castle in Europe and the reason for our stop in Koblenz. However I didn't stay upset long when i found out there is another great castle, Marksburg, near by and it was one of the only castles on the rhine not destroyed in any war. We hopped on the bus there and got off at the stop and disapointingly looked up at this high mountain with a castle on top....We found a sign by a pathway for Marksburge and began our long hike up it. I am really not happy now! We reached the top and the castle was beautiful! We took a tour, in German, the only one offered with a little english paper handout.
marksburg castle... unfortunently we had to climb the hill up to it.
We had about 2-4 sentences at each stop and he talked for about 10-15 minutes so I think we missed a bunch but it was beautiful and i got lots of pictures instead. Ryan and I also played the game where we would just laugh after the guide said something randomly... i think people thought we were cruel when we did it in the tourture chamber... but it was fun.
We went back to the hostel to the chair lift to find it closed for the night... so we had to hike up again and i was the most unhappy camper ever!!! Most disapointing day although lots of good stuff happened too. Back at our hostel we hung out in a bar/lounge wirting in our journals and talking with some Scottish men who were biking from Amsterdam to Munich for the opening of the World cup the next day.
Beautiful Marksburg
Their travels seemed great but I don't think I could bike that far (and they were real biking not on motorcycles). I also enjoyed my first German Bier in Germany and it ended up being my favorite ever and still is...Franziskaner Weissbier.... I recommend that everyone tries it at least once and they sell it in the US and all over the world so no excuse not to!
