The view from Landshut is gorgeous, and one can see in multiple directions up and down the Mosel valley.
In the lower photo, one can see a hill in the background where another castle sits. We planned to hike to it, but it turned out to be further out than we first thought, and so we abandoned that quest. However, we did get a chance to see some of the back areas of the town.
Below right, and two photos lower, are shots from inside the inner ward. The staircase is fairly recent, but was built along a medieval pattern.
Bernkastel-Kues is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Germany. While not as large as Rothenberg ob der Tauber, it still has some fascinating architecture and buildings. Moreover, while there were many tourists there, we saw not one American, as most of the tourists were Germans or Dutch. As to the town itself, the site goes back to the ancient world, but the town first received munipal status in 1291. It was spared the ravages of war, and remains a beautiful example of medieval design and construction.
Right, this is arguably one of the most famous of the town's buildings, Das Spitzhäuschen (essentially, the "Pointed House"). If you look carefully you can see how narrow this house really is! It currently houses a wine shop. Below, two other views of the town, showing the narrow streets and overhanging design of the houses to maximize space. While narrow streets might be quaint today, in the medieval world they were actually quite dangerous, as they brought people too close to disease or fire.
Finally, one last thing must be said about this area. We started looking for a place to stay and enquired at a small gasthaus in one of the nearby villages. The owner indicated he was full, but said he knew of a place, a gastezimmer, where we could stay. Well, as it turned out this place was the BEST we had ever seen for the BEST price! It was a lower floor in a house, with what amounted to a bedroom, bathroom with shower, living room, and an attached kitchen. Moreover, it was fully equipped... one could have lived there comfortably for months. It even had its own private parking space. It was in a back-road village and a little hard to find (we met the lady who owned the place along the road while trying to find it!). But it was well worth it. To the right is a photo of the living room area to give an idea of how nice it was. The price: 40 Euro with breakfast!
