オーバーエルツのおすすめライド

Unfortunately, it's only open from Thursday to Sunday; we were there on Wednesday 😕

The oldest part of Bürresheim Castle is the imposing keep, a 12th-century tower that clearly reflects the castle's defensive origins. Over time, the castle developed into a complex double complex, consisting of the so-called Cologne Castle and the Trier Castle, which underwent different construction and expansion phases. While the Cologne Castle formed the older part and primarily served economic purposes—leading to its eventual decline—the Trier Castle was transformed into a prestigious residential palace, which continues to shape the character of the entire complex to this day.

The lower castle has completely disappeared. You can still see the beginning of the ring that connected the lower castle and the Ulmen city wall, a two-story outer wall of the palace, as well as a cistern and some foundation walls of other buildings. The old part of Ulmen Castle was built around 1074 AD and likely rests on the remains of a Roman settlement. In the Middle Ages, Ulmen Castle was further expanded and divided into the upper castle, whose remains of the walls still exist, and the lower castle, which extended to the banks of the maar river. Two knightly families lived in the castle, which is believed to have never been attacked or destroyed until 1673 due to its size. Only the Sun King's troops succeeded. It was rebuilt, but fell again in 1689 during the War of the Succession. However, Ulmen Castle was also rebuilt this time, with only the city wall being abandoned. With the invasion of Napoleon's soldiers, Ulmen also became French and later Prussian. The empty castle, whose last descendant died in 1801, was auctioned to a merchant from Cochem, who sold it as a quarry. When a devastating fire burned Ulmen to the ground in the 19th century, the residents of Ulmen rebuilt their houses with stones from the castle. That's why you can still see a coat of arms on some of the stables today. It wasn't until the early twentieth century that Ulmen Castle was declared a listed building and became the property of the municipality of Ulmen. The castle is always freely accessible.

The late Gothic castle was besieged, destroyed, and rebuilt several times over the course of its eventful history. The current complex consists of the upper castle with the 34-meter-high Golo Tower and the slightly lower outer castle. The castle is protected from the city by a large castle gate, and on the other side by the keep and a moat complex. The former moat is now a ring road spanned by a 20-meter-long Gothic stone bridge. The Genovevaburg Castle houses two exhibitions of the Eifel Museum: EifelTotal and the German Slate Mine.

The castle belongs to the municipality of Sankt Johann in Rhineland-Palatinate and is located northwest of Mayen on a rocky outcrop at the confluence of the Nitzbach and Nette rivers. Along with Eltz Castle and Lissingen Castle, Bürresheim Castle is one of the few aristocratic residences in the Eifel region that was never conquered or destroyed, surviving unscathed both the wars of the 17th and 18th centuries and the social upheavals resulting from the French Revolution. Its history was largely shaped by its location on the border between the two ecclesiastical electorates of Cologne and Trier.

good bakery

Not far from the beautiful viewpoint in Höchstberg is the Ulmener Maar

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