Over hundreds of years, the blocky crenellated towers of the mighty Romanesque fortress defended the nation against Moorish, Norse, and Spanish invaders. It’s perched on a hill above the northern Portuguese city of Guimarães, the country’s first capital. If you want to see where Portugal began, head to the Castle of Guimarães, the birthplace of the nation’s first king, Afonso Henriques, in 1109. There are also multiple hikes to the castle from nearby towns the most popular is from Moselkern (under 2.5 hours by train from Cologne), a moderately challenging 45-minute climb. Hatzenport is less than 90 minutes by train from Cologne (with a change of trains in Koblenz). A seasonal Burgenbus (castle bus) departs from several area train stations on weekends and holidays the closest is Hatzenport, about a 20-minute ride. The treasury, filled with gold and silver historical artifacts, can be visited independently.īurg Eltz is open from April to November. A required 40-minute guided tour, in English, leads you through period rooms decorated with original 15th-century murals, tapestries, and furnishings, and vaulted halls lined with medieval armor and weaponry. It juts out from a 230-foot-tall rock, surrounded by forest, deep in an isolated side valley of the Moselle River. Owned by the same family since it was built nearly 900 years ago, the beautifully preserved Burg Eltz-with eight soaring turreted towers, oriel windows, gables, and half-timber frames-looks straight out of a fairy tale. Here’s how to visit 14 of most impressive medieval castles in Europe and the United Kingdom. They all were started during the medieval era (aka Middle Ages), which is about 500 to 1450 C.E. The following 14 castles illustrate the range of architecture on view. So while there is no shortage of castles to explore, some are decidedly more intriguing than others. Many European castles are scenic ruins but plenty have survived intact. Wales has more than 600 castles (the most per square mile). In some countries, you can hardly throw a stone without hitting a castle. (Alas, photos were not allowed.) That lack of privacy at the privy underscored the communal nature of castle life. But what captured her attention was down a slim stone hall: The latrine had double-, if not triple-, wide seating. It featured the living room or great room of the place. At the least, touring one will leave you grateful for the mod cons of 21st-century indoor life.Īn example from Ross Castle in Ireland, which an AFAR editor recently explored: After winding her way up corkscrew staircases, she reached the top floor. When your agenda includes visiting medieval castles-from the mighty feudal strongholds of Scotland to Germany’s fairy-tale-like creations-imagination helps to conjure up the smells, draftiness, and lack of central heating. The appendixes gives the names of some more important builders and architects and their titles in different languages (French, Portugese, Spanish, Duch, Sweedish, and Russian), a chronology of important sieges from 623 (Constantinople) to 1529 (Vienna), a history of medival artillery and a glossary.There are endless amounts of B/W pictures alongside with even more B/W line drawings and plans of forts, just like on the front cover of the book.Whether it’s seeing a Renaissance sculpture or enjoying street food in Singapore, there’s no substitute for being there when it comes to travel. The reader is guided through fortifications/castles in Great Britain, Ireland, France, Low Countries, Switzerland, Holy Roman Empire, Scandinavia, Central Europe (present day Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, and Slovenia) Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Eastern Mediterranean, Italy, Spain & Portugal, and North Africa. The First deals with the elements of a fortification the Second deals in general with the different kind of fortifications in different parts of Europe (Islamic, Byzantine, Frankish, British, Norse, Slavic and Magyar (Hungarian)) the Third does the same, but with emphasis on the emerging castle the Fourth chapter introduces gunpowder and the decline of the high castle walls through the description of several sieges (Constantinople, Rhodes, and siege of fortifications during the Reconquista) Chapter Five goes in depth with some selected fortifications in Europe: Some of the more famous ones and some more obscure. book, which covers the development of fortified places through out Europe and North-Africa from the early to the late middle ages - when the forts had their glory.The book is built up of five main chapters. It does not matter if you all ready are a "fort-geek" or some one, who just want a book on the topic: This book will for sure please you."The Medieval Fortress" is a nice big (app.
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