I just love a good castle, so the included excursion from Koblenz was one that I was really looking forward to! Marksburg Castle was one of the castles we had seen from the river earlier that day.
Dad, Bryn and I (mom decided to sit this one out) boarded a bus shortly after docking in Koblenz that took us winding down tiny roads to the base of the hill (mountain?...not sure, it was steep!) that Marksburg Castle sat on.
From there, we had a bit of a hike up to the castle's entrance. It was uphill, but not nearly as strenuous as the ship's crew had made it out to be, in my opinion.
Then, we waited in a courtyard until it was our turn for a guide to use a huge, old fashioned key to let us into the castle, and lock the door behind us! (She did explain that she wasn't so much locking us in, but making sure to keep non-paying visitors out. You can only visit the castle on a guided tour. You can check out the website here.)
Inside is where we discovered the treacherous footing. The floor on the inside was original from the medieval castle and was apparently originally stairs! There was very little resemblance of stairs at all, and you will definitely want sturdy shoes to walk on it! Luckily that was only in the main entrance to the tour.
These are the coat of arms for each family that has lived in the castle.
The views aren't too bad!
I was obsessed with the plants growing on the castle's walls...like tiny, red succulents!
Our guide did an excellent job telling us about the history of the castle, about the construction, the different rooms that we visited and about what life would have been like living in a castle on a hill in the medieval times (cue Ed Sheeran...).
Fun fact...people did not sleep lying down flat. We were given multiple explanations for this, but the two most common were that people were superstitious that only dead people were laid flat, or that the air quality was so poor that you had to be propped up to breath.
There have been multiple additions to the castle by each family that lived there.
Being built in the early 12th century, there was very little natural (or artificial) light, so I took most of the indoor photos on my phone, so I apologize if the quality isn't great! (There was a medieval torture exhibit that was just too dark to take photos of).
There is also an exhibit of the history of armor, basically someone's private collection that they display in the castle, but dad explained to me that it wasn't 100% historically accurate, but still interesting to see!
Marksburg is definitely what I would consider a fairytale castle, so if you're like me and love a good fairy tale, definitely make it a part of your trip!!
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