Manderscheid, a town in the Eifel region of Germany, has an upper and a lower castle. Both are set on a hill that towers over the banks of the Leiser River.You can see the one from the other. We joked about living there in the old days. "Hey, run over and borrow a cup of sugar from the neighbor."
Castles were strategically built at the top of a hill to view the invaders. These were built and added on to starting in 973 AD. They passed hands many times and was destroyed many times. Today they are in ruins.
We climbed a steep hill just to get to the entrance. Then we began going up and up... exploring towers...rooms like caves... and open spaces where the roof had long been gone. It was a delightful experience of discovery!
As we got further up, we looked down. You could see the floor plan of lower levels we had explored.
Finally we got to the square tower with the flag. We climbed up and up till we reached the roof. A kind elderly German man snapped our photo.
Every August there is a medieval festival with jousting, vendors, and the like.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counts_of_Manderscheid (History in English)
http://www.niederburg-manderscheid.de/html/geschichte.html (in German)
