Cardona Castle 18/06/2016

After going to and event in Solsona with my family we were going back to Barcelona by car. I was driving and felt a bit sleepy and wanted to take a coffee. My mother knew there was a cafe in a rebuild castle called Cardona and we decided to go there. The castle can be reached by car and you can park inside the walls of the fort. The castle has been reconstructed and is now a church, cafe, restaurant and hotel. As it can be seen it was about to rain so we rushed into the cafe and that's the reason I don't have better photos.

The castle was build in the IX century but was lately expanded as a fort and modified in order to be effective to the new fire weapons and artillery that appear during the different centuries.

After parking ( the parking lot is located in number 5) you can inter the older walls by going through a door/small bridge. Then there is a set of small climbs and small streets that let you go through the castle, it's open to everybody without any fee or ticket.

At the top, just near the cafe there is the Minyona tower, that was build in the XI century. Unluckily it was raining quite a lot , so we could take a look.

Castell del Burriac 14/06/2016

This time a visited a small castle near Cabrera de Mar called Castell de Burriac (Burriac's castle). I went there because I was doing a barbecue in the nears and we decided to do a small trip before the meal. The better way to explain the route is to show a track which I'm now able to post thanks to strava support for blogs. The ride was short but enough to sweat as it was hot and the climb steep. For more info check the activity,




The castle was firstly build by romans in the II and I a.C. century but most of the remainings date back from other centuries as the place was rebuild and modified. The most beautiful parts where the tower which was build between the XII and XIII c. and the reamings of and old chapel also build during those years.

Alsace North Part 1 07/07/2015

Big trip today! I woke up early in the morning prepared some walking clothes, put all the motorcycle equipment on and started my trip to north Alsace. In the morning the temperature was perfect for riding.

The road once I got inside France was amazing, nicely mantained full of turns and a crazy 90 km/h speed limit. Sincerely I don't think lots of those turns can be taken at that speed without killing yourself. I took it easy and drove at my pace. After an hour of riding I got to the the Fleckenstein parking lot. My motorbike is clearly not prepared for riding on dirt which made the last kilometer extremely fun.

Castle walk

Once in the parking lot I put most of the motorbike equipment in the topcase and prepared myself with comfortable clothes. However I still had some weight in the backpack. In the information point the sold me the tickets to get inside the Fleckenstein castle (7€). 

The plan for the day was to visit the Fleckenstein castle however I found there was a hiking trip to visit 3 other castles and decided to give it a try. In a first moment I though to see the 2 closer ones but I really enjoyed the hiking and visited all of them. I didn't have much time because I had german classes at 5.45 pm and I also wanted to visit some WW2 bunkers so the hiking was alternated with small runs. Thays why today,day after the trip, my legs are pretty sore.

Fleckenstein

The first castle to visit was the Fleckenstein. This amazing castle dated back from the XII century. It was probably build by the Hohenstaufen but the Fleckenstein were the ones in charge of it. The castle was constantly improved during the years and it was finaly destroyed in 1680 under Louis XIV reign.

Map of the Fleckenstein castle:

1. Gate Building
2. Guard's residence
3. Gutter for rain water
4. Barbican with moat and drawbridge
5. Today,castle museum
6. Wellhouse and chamber
7. Spiral staircase
8. Lookout cloff with spiral stone stairs
9. Main quartes
10. Two stone steps on the inner side of the cliff
11. Flanking tower

Loewenstein

Loewenstein was the second castle in the walking trip. This castle was totally destroyed and not much of it was left. The views from the Fleckenstein castle were amazing. I forgot to take a photo of the information panel and I'm not able to find information of this castle.

Map of the Loewenstein castle:

1. Moat
2. Corridor through the north cliff
3. Wel or cistern
4. Entrance to the north cliff
5. Staircase
6. Wooden/stone steps to the south cliff
7. Cistern
8. Bridge

Hohenbourg

The Hohenbourg castle was originaly built in the 13th century. In 1482 the castle became property of the Lords von Sickingen. The build new fortifications for the castle. Nevertheless, much of it was destroyed in 1523 ans it was only rebuilt several decades later.

The origna castel was build around the main rock, agains which the large protective wall was erected. The barbican erected by Franz von Sickingen dates back from 1504. In the most recent part of the castle one can see the remmants of a round tower that had a spiral staircase.

This castle was in much better condition than the Loewenstein and large pieces of structure remained there. The stairs were really step but the views from the top were worth going through them.

Map of the Hohenbourg castle:

1. Rock chamber
2. Stone stairs at the upper castle
3. Round defensive tower
4. Renaissance portal
5. Two rock chambers with wells or cisterns
6. Residences
7. Defensive wall
8. Spiral staircase tower
9. Out buildings

Wegelnburg

It's the highest castle from all the previously visited. Wegelnburg was build as a fortification of the German Empire at the end of the 12th century. The castle is names after "B. de Woeglenburc", a vassal of the emperor, whose name appears for the first time in 1247. 

The castle was conquered and destroyed by the citizens of Strasbourg and the emperor's custodian. The castle was restored by the German Empire in 1330 and 1417. In 1680 the french general Montclar burned down and razed Wegelnburg castle.

Map of the Hohenbourg castle:

1. Gate house
2. Former gate tower
3. Well shaft
4. Former defensive wall 
5. Stone steps to the upper castle
6. Large rock chamber of the middle castle
7. Open rock chamber of the upper castle
8. Large rock chamber of the upper castle

Durlach Turmberg 05/07/2015

Today I did a small motorcycle trip to a tower next to Karlsruhe. It was a extremely hot day with temperatures of 43 ºC in the sun. The tower can be reached by using a Tram or by using the super long stairs. I didn't wnat to wait or do any kind of sport with those extreme temperatures so I rode my motorcycle till the top of the mountain

The tower ruins (Turmberg-ruine) formed part of the Hohenberg Burg ( Castle of the tall mountain). The castle was build in 11th century and actually nearly all, if not all, have been destroyed.

The castle was destroyed in 1279 by Bischod Konrad II von Lichtenberg. However the tower stills remained. Even though the walls are quite full of recent concrete, the tower still has the old looks and it provides good views over Karlsruhe and Durlach.

Heidelberg 11/04/2015

Today I made a visit to Heilderberg to visit the ruins old the Heildelberg Schloss (castle).

This time I did the journey with my motorbike. It took around an hour of straight autobahn. I was able to park really close to the castle. Just before I parked I found a really curious traffic signal warning for the presence of frogs. I had never seen one of those so it deseverd a photo.

As soon as I started walking I had really nice views from the city. In the picture you can see an overview of the old-city. The big church is called Heiliggeistkirche (church of the Holy Spirit) and the bridge is called Älte Brücke (old bridge).

The entrance in the schloss costs 6€. You can see most of it from the outside but I think it's worth to get inside to take a look.  From the outside the towers are impressive. Some of them are in good condition and others are partly destroyed. Once you get inside it looks like a town-center. 

The original castle dates back from the 12th century. It was later expanded, destroyed and reconstructed several times. That's why we can see different types of buildings. 

Inside the castle there is the main square from which you can see al the buildings. Some of them look pretty well preserved and others are nearly ruins. The style of this buildings looks really different from the ones of the towers.