We walked to the train station and struggled with the machine. We could not find round trip ticket options. I asked an older man nearby, who spoke only a small amount of English. After fiddling with the machine, he too was having little luck. At that moment a bus pulled up, and he ran over to ask them. The bus was going to Neckarsteinach. Now, we would both prefered trains by far, but I didn't want to disappoint the nice old man. We got round trip bus tickets.
A twenty minute ride later and we had been dropped off in town. This town is known for its four castles. Three on one side of the river, and one more on the other side. We started with the three on the side we started on.
We caught sight of the furthest castle away as we walked up to the first one. I apologize for the haziness.
Minutes later we were at the first castle, which was beautiful, but off limits to the public. We were able to walk around the backside on the way to the next one.
The next one was more like a fort than a castle. It was abandoned and free, but restored, with a staircase leading to the main body of the tower. I begrudgingly climbed to the top. It was a semi spiral staircase, rotating off the four corners. It was near pitch black at times, thoguh there was a trickle of light from above. The top had nice views, but I found the countryside view of across the river to be nicer when taken from the bottom.
We continued on towards the third castle, but google's gps led us briefly astray. This castle was also abandoned but restoredm with free access. The staircase up the outside was wooden, and meant to replace the castle steps, which were now gone. I found this staircase even more hair raising than the previous.
On top was two towers that allowed you to see the sky, with a nice walkway between the two. I was able to get a good view at the first castle from up there.
Once we were back on the main street, it began to rain. We hid at the bus stop to plan our next move. My new camera cannot be exposed to the rain, so I packed it away in a bag, with a rain cover. There was a Thai food restaurant one minute walk away, so we went for lunch. I loved the food.
With much luck, the sky cleared up and we decided to risk going toward the final castle. It was a forty minute walk, across the bridge and then hiking up a small mountain. There was a small walled town at the top, crowned with a castle named Burgfeste Dilsberg. It cost two euro to enter the castle grounds.
We walked up a spiral staircase, in a narrow, but tall tower. At the top, you walk across a small wooden bridge out unto what is left of the walls. It is a semi circle, with railing on both sides. I found the experience of walking the walls to be quite harrowing. I failed to take a picture of the actual top of the tower while walking on it, and my one good picture of the surrounding area was crooked.
That being said, I did take a picture of a nice rose at the bottom, and a picture of a neighboring building while on the way up.
While researching online, reviews mentioned asking to see a tunnel and its fountain. I asked the castle guard to see the tunnel. I had to either lend him my ID or give him ten euros as a deposit for the tunnel key. I gave him the ten euros, he gave me directions, and we were on our way. We had to walk about five minutes into the forest, and we saw the tunnel gate.
The tunnel was very narrow and the ceiling dropped quite heavily about halfway in. We had to crouch down in order to make it to the end. At the end, there was a guard rail. This was the well. When we walked around the castle grounds, we had heard people talking below us. People had obviously been in the well.
We returned the key for the euros, and took the front exit of the town, choosing to walk down a street rather than more forest paths. Stephanie pointed out a Grinch tree.
About halfway down the path, google directed us to a small hole in the forest, as the path back to the bridge. This path...was not well maintained. We had to climb over some branches, and eventually it led to some huge tree trunks that blocked the path. Luckily, by this time we were far enoguh down that we took a side path and slid the rest of the way.
We took the bus back into town, a bit further past our hotel, and towards the center of the newer part of Heidelberg, away from the castle. We went to a local grocery store for some drinks and food. Then, we walked the length of a beautiful spacious, old time looking road, lined with shops. As I was holding our bag of groceries, I did not take pictures. Perhaps I will be able to get some tomorrow. However, I did stop to take a quick phone picture of a book shelf sitting in the middle of the street.
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