Tag: Schaippach

2025 · Travel Tuesday

From Schaippach To The Rieneck Castle In Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany ~ 1986

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Rieneck Castle (German: Burg Rieneck) is a hill castle in the town of Rieneck, in Bavaria, southern Germany. It was built by Ludwig I, Count of Loon and Rieneck, around 1150. It is today used by the German Christian Guide and Scout Association. Rieneck Castle sits on a hill in the town of Rieneck, overlooking the Sinn River. It is located in the Spessart hills, in the Main-Spessart district of Bavaria, about 80 km east of Frankfurt.

In 1150, Ludwig I, Count of Loon and Rieneck, ordered the building of the castrum Rinecke on the northeastern boundary of his territory, intending to safeguard the lands of this aristocratic family against the neighboring lordships of Mainz, Würzburg, and Fulda. The little hill in the Sinn valley offered excellent conditions. There was only one direction where the castle required additional protection by a defensive ditch and offered as narrow a front as possible to attack. The latter can be clearly seen in the ground plan of the keep, the 19-meter-high “Thick Tower”, which is outwardly an irregular, seven-sided polygon, whose tip points towards the nearby hill. The castle complex initially consisted simply of a courtyard surrounded by defensive walls and the keep, with its 4 to 8-meter-thick walls. Inside the walls, half-timbered buildings were constructed as living quarters, store rooms, and stables. Of these, only what we now know as the “arched cellar” survives.

: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rieneck_Castle

2025 · Travel Tuesday

From Schaippach To Gemünden In Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany ~ 1985

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When I was 11, my schoolmates and I went to a school camp in Schaippach an der Sinn with our teacher. In the mornings, we had regular school. But school started at 9 AM and ended at noon. And in the afternoon, we hiked several miles to learn more about regional history and geography. There was still plenty of time to hang around the building or sit in the story area and write a letter or postcard for the family at home. We also had responsibilities like taking care of the dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Make our beds and go to bed on time. Sleeping was another story when being in a room with nine other girls. After five or six days, we rode the bus back home, where our parents, in my case, grandparents, were waiting in front of the school to pick us up. At home, we had a lot of stories to tell about that week at camp.

On one hike, we went from Schaippach to Gemünden. Our teacher was always talking about the merging of the rivers Sinn and Saale into the River Main (pronounced: mine). A river merging with another river into a larger river means “münden” in German. Therefore, the town at the three rivers is named Gemünden. So, we students wanted to see it and hiked to the exact place where the merging of the rivers can be viewed from that spot.

Gemünden is about 25 miles (40 km) NNE down the river from my hometown, Würzburg, and located in the region of Main-Spessart in Lower Franconia, Northern Bavaria, Germany.