Burg Rheinfels

After completing our Rhine River cruise, we drove to Rheinfels Castle up above St. Goar. Rheinfels is the one of the largest castles on the Rhine River. It was once much larger than it is today, but was destroyed in 1797 by the French Revolutionary army. Rheinfels Castle is still the largest ruined castle we've explored. It is so large that we weren't able to go through all of it in the approximately two or three hours we spent there. There is a labarynth of mine tunnels that can only be explored by flashlight since they are completely dark. These tunnels are so small that only someone Jack's size would be able to stand straight up. Jaxon and I tried exploring the tunnels for a little while but got tired of crouching over before too long. I think Rheinfels was probably our favorite castle experience in Germany because we didn't have to worry about keeping the kids quiet and restrained like we did at the well-preserved and museum-like Burg Eltz and Burg Neuschwanstein. There was also a lot to see and do at Rheinfels. Here's a good profile view of the castle from another blog:

(L) Us exploring the castle ruins (R) A dark hallway on the northwest side of the castle. If you look closely on the left side of this photo, just beyond where Jack is running, you'll see Jaxon climbing up out of a stairway. The labyrinth of mine tunnels began there and ran underneath a significant portion of the castle.

(Above) The German flag was posted at the top of one of the castle's remaining towers.

(Above) Some great views from one of the look-out points on the castle. On the left is a valley that ran perpendicular from the Rhine River. On the right is the Rhine River and St. Goar.