Marksburg Castle in Braubach

I love being in Germany in the fall. 33% of this land is forested with the most beautiful woods filled with conifers and colorful deciduous trees. The trunks get darker as the leaves turn to golds and rusts, carpeting the earth below. It smells heavenly as the rains and wind help the leaves to fly.

Today a group of us decided to drive to Marksburg Castle, about 1.5 hours away near the town of Braubach. The castle is up on top of a solitary hill surrounded by woods that were beautiful to drive through.

It was damp today, the ground was wet from a mystical fog. We parked, then walked a short way up a hill to the castle, arriving about 20 min before the 12:00 German tour.

Marksburg Castle is the only hilltop castle along the Middle Rhine that has never been destroyed. It has been inhabited for over 800 years and thus represents an ever-changing and developing building complex that has been growing into its present shape over centuries. Unlike most Rhine castles which were rebuilt from ruins, Marksburg Castle’s structure and architecture remain authentic.

We went in through the drawbridge Foxgate and a vaulted tunnel that took us to the ticket place and a fun giftshop. There was also a little restaurant there at the entry. The castle and walls and fortifications were build from what looked like shale rock stacked and cemented. OLD. There are 4 medieval gates to the castle.

The view of the Rhine River from the castle. (I took the first photo last summer while we were on an Rhine cruise.)

Here’s some information about the castle that was covered in our German tour:

Above the 3rd gate is a little balcony with a opening in the floor where defenders could throw stones at the attackers underneath. The archway was made smaller after the medieval ages.

We climbed through what is called the Rider’s stairway (rocky passageway cut or hewn from the bedrock stone. It was uneven and a little perilous. One older lady actually fell as she tried to navigate the path. I think it was never evened out to make it hard for people or horses to enter the castle.

There was a blacksmith’s room at the top of that passageway where riders could get their horse’s shoes fixed after that dangerous uneven climb. Things here were original, 800 years old, like the fireplace, bellows and tools in the shop.

After that climb, we entered the castle and went into different rooms after circling outside the castle. There was a row of cannons (from 1880) pointing out towards the Rhine river below.

There was an herb garden that wrapped around the outside of the castle with more than 150 different medieval herbs and plants growing. Some were for potions and spells, some for cooking, some for produce.

There was a toilet room off the great hall with a sit-down toilet that hung out over the outside of the castle and the waste dropped into the garden below.

This room in the castle is where prisoners were tortured or held captive.

This was the wine cellar with huge barrels and a wine press.

I love castle kitchens. They intrigue me. I like to imagine the women who worked here.

This is an ice cabinet:

This kitchen and cooking area were right next to the main dining hall.

Treasures that have never left the castle:

In some parts of the castle there are newer additions (the half-timber rooms). These were added on in the 1700s.

I loved this little corner outside one of the bedrooms. It made me want to sing, “In my own little corner, in my own little chair,” from Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, my childhood favorite.

The next photos are from one of the bedrooms.

This piece of wall interior was revealed to show how it was constructed.

There was a small castle chapel that dated back to 1371. There were old paintings on the walls (added in 1903 to look like they would’ve looked long ago). One was of St. Mark, the patron saint of the castle.