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Hechingen, Germany

Today we piled into Tobi’s BMW and sped up the road from Wernau to visit one of those most spectacular castles that dot Germany. From the highway you can see the castle, perched high above, and its exactly what one expects a medieval castle to look like. Turrets, high walls, an impressive fortress. A curving road leads up to a parking area where you can take a pathway that follows the contours of the steep hill or if you want to save your energy for the castle you can hop on a shuttle that will drop you off at the gate. The original castle was surrounded during the 30 Years War and after nine months the defenders, having run out of food and water, surrendered. The castle was razed to the ground only to be rebuilt in its current state. Once you enter the main gate you follow the roadway up through several gates and under sections of wall many metres thick until you are high above the entry way and looking down on the many layers of defensive walls. The view from up there is breathtaking as well, you can look out on the surrounding hills and valleys and see for miles in all directions. We chose not to go inside the castle instead exploring the outer structures and going down into the cellars to see some of the troop quarters and store rooms deep in the bottom of the castle. Narrow passages lead from room to room with nicely documented plates describing what each room was for and some of the lore connected to the castle.

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