Top Ten Castles in Europe (Intro)

from the point of view of a Canadian living in Germany

 

Isenburg: the ruins of an 800 year old castle no one bothers to mention.

Castles are everywheres in Europe; on every cliff top, above every river, in every city there is one or two. If not a fully restored citadel-turned-museum complete with parapets and towers and suits of shining armour, then at least a hidden eerie ruins overgrown with creeping vines.

Europeans pretty much take them for granted. They grew up with them and were forced as children to visit them on school trips.

They don’t always quite understand the North American fascination with castles. Case in point, I’ve been living in Essen for three years and not until last week, did I discover, quite by accident, Isenburg, the ruins of an 800 year old castle just around the corner from me.

A dozen photos of Isenburg on flickr

My German friends couldnt understand me crawling around exploring these ruins for an hour

When I say “discover” I dont mean to imply I was the first person to stumble on this place – but it was honestly almost that hard. Not once in the last three years, in none of the zillions of conversations about what I “really must see” did anyone ever mention Isenburg to me.

Admittedly there isnt a lot left of the castle; when it was destroyed in 1288, it was the largest structure in Essen but now there are just some partial walls left standing, some half-buried overgrown foundations poking out of the undergrowth, a moat and a restored drawbridge, some steps, and lots of scattered rubble – but more than enough to stoke my imagination.

I spent an hour up there on the “ramparts” dreaming a bit and just soaking up the atmosphere of the place – something my German friends couldnt understand.

Looking down on Lake Baldeney from the ramparts of Isenburg

This got me thinking about all the other castles I’ve seen in Europe. And I have to admit, Im starting to lose count. I figure it’s time I write a little about them. So I’ve decided to crank out a list of my top ten favourite European Castles.

To be frank I havent been that far afield. Ive seen a few castles in France and Belgium and lots and lots in Germany. Nonetheless I have seen some really fantastic ones: Ive seen first hand the inspiration for Disney’s castle, Ive toured the robber castles of the Romantic Rhine, and hiked the hills of northern France, climbing through grapefields and woods of wild boar on my way to forgotten hilltop outposts.

Best of all was sneaking through a recently abandoned castle, climbing right to its upper tower, all the while watching out for the owners and their guard dogs.

Enough anyway to make a good list.

First in the series: #10 Gebrochen Gutstein (Broken Goodstone); ruins on the Danube (Ed.note, 25.1.2011: Ill add the link here soon – as soon as Ive written the first entry )