Here you can browse through my blog posts prior to February 2022. Currently I'm sharing my travel experiences, candid opinions, and what's on my mind solely on my Facebook page. — Rick
When I first hiked up to the Ehrenberg Castle ruins, it was overgrown with trees and entirely desolate. Today, it’s more welcoming for adventurous travelers thanks to a local archaeologist, Armin Walch.
Standing atop the Ehrenberg Castle ruins and surveying the valley, which two thousand years ago was the Via Claudia upon which Roman trade crossed from Germany south into Italy, you can appreciate the strategic importance of a castle erected right here.Armin Walch — who I think of as the Indiana Jones of Tirolean archaeologists — has endless energy to make his dream of turning Ehrenberg, an ensemble of four castles from four different ages, into a meaningful historical experience. Even in a driving rain, he took us to the highest castle to proudly show off his work in progress.On my last visit a few years, ago I was “knighted” by my medievalist friends here in Reutte. Coming down off the mountain, having surveyed the castle ruins with Armin, we were met by the “Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian” and his entourage for a fine dinner where I was presented with my own sword (which now resides in the little castle museum).The next day, we dropped by the castle museum with our group and enjoyed letting our imaginations off their leashes. Here, tour guide Reid sets tour member Malcolm up in a suit of mail. Very stylish…but kind of heavy.
Hiking to the Ehrenberg Castle ruins with our group brought back memories of the 1970s, when I was a college kid taking gangs of eight through Europe in a minibus on our very first tours. Over years of experimentation, we discovered the fun sights that distinguish our tour program to this day. From this video clip, you can imagine how fun it is for me to share this amazing sight with our tour members 35 years later.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
Way back in my student travel days, I discovered a handful of completely offbeat sights and experiences like the Ehrenberg Castle ruins in Reutte (in Austria’s Tirol), just across the border from the extremely popular and commercial “Mad” King Ludwig’s castles. To this day, we carefully balance the sightseeing on our tours, mixing the famous must-sees with undiscovered “Back Door” sights like these.
The Ehrenberg ruins are an example of the countless castles ruins rotting away on hilltops all over Europe. They’re free to enter and offer lots of medieval wonder to anyone hardy enough to hike up to the top. Imagine: You’re all alone in your own private castle ruins in the Alps of Austria.A tour guide has to be careful not to exhaust the group. An experience like this is optional for our tour members. We’ve already had a full day of regular sightseeing. Those who are ready for a break are dropped off at the hotel. Then, the rest of us storm the castle.Assistant tour guide Trish Feaster helps tour guide Reid Coen surprise our gang of thirsty knights by serving beer at the summit of our little mountain. By the way, many of the photos on this series of blog entries were taken by Trish (for her travel blog, see www.thetravelphile.com).
It’s important to balance a bus tour itinerary with both serious sightseeing and flat-out fun and exhilaration. And in Bavaria, that means a mountain luge ride (Sommerrodelbahn). We give a careful safety talk and, invariably, someone still drags their elbow on the side of the course and takes home a ripped coat or a nice long luge scab with which to ornament their trip journal. This little video clip gives you a peek at why this ride is a favorite with our groups — and why travel reminds me that it’s never too late to have a happy childhood.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
Tour guides love to refer to Bavaria’s Ludwig II as “Mad” King Ludwig for building his three extravagant castles in the foothills of the Alps, here in the deep south of Germany. Every tourist seems to have his ultimate fairy-tale castle, Neuschwanstein, on their list.
Ludwig was a romantic king with artsy friends like the composer Richard Wagner. Ludwig, whose dream castle comes with rooms inspired by Wagner’s operas, ruled in an age of Bismarck and “Realpolitik.” Sadly, but perhaps not surprisingly, before he even finished Neuschwanstein, Ludwig was found dead, face-down, in a lake just south of Munich.This hardy group of travelers started our Mad King Ludwig sightseeing with a group selfie from Mary’s Bridge, overlooking his castle.Mary’s Bridge — quite an engineering accomplishment in its day (1866) — provides a commanding view of the castle (from where this photo was taken) and the idyllic Bavarian countryside.After touring a couple of Romantic 19th-century castles, it’s time for a more thrilling 21st-century travel experience: the luge ride. Across the Alps, you can find various ski lifts jiggered to give travelers a few summertime thrills (and generate a little extra income). The luge ride is always a hit with our groups.
