Wine tasting in Albersweiler:Castles in Felsenland: France/Germany

As we approached the village of Albersweiler, our next aire, we could see limestone rock outcrops sticking up among the trees. From the aire behind the vineyard, we had a lovely view across the vines and hills, with Trifelsburg ruins across the valley.  We were invited to taste some of the wine by an elderly gentleman who spoke no English.  He turned out to be the uncle of the current manager, and poured a huge glass of Reisling for us to try.  He seemed quite disappointed when we didn`t want a glass of the same size to try the next wine. Communication was slightly hampered by language difficulties, but we managed, and tried several different wines. Thankfully we didn`t have to try his complete stock.  We decided to buy six litre bottles, and were staggered by the low price of 17 Euros. The aire itself was also very reasonable at 5 Euros including electricity, and two huge bunches of grapes thrown in for good measure.

The next day, we visited two castles in the area, which is known as the Dahner Felsenland, and part of Rhineland Pfalz. 47 of the red sandstone rock formations around the town of Dahn are protected national monuments.  Dahn has two castles, Ruine Altdahn and Ruine Neudahn.  [Rather careless with their castles] The old castle has guardrooms, etc, carved out of the rock, and dates from 1100, although it is actually 3 castles, which constitute extensions for a growing family. The castles are as much excavated from the rock as built onto it, and form a fascinating labyrinth of passages and stairways, with great views from the terraces.

Off then to Burg Bewartstein. A former robber Baron`s lair dating from the 12th and 15th Century. There are old kitchens, hunting rooms, terraces, and underground passages. We managed to avoid being attached to a guided tour, and had a good old mooch - rocks jutting into passageways, squeaky floorboards, a fur lined bedchamber, an old kitchen, suits of armour, and a torture rack, chastity belt, stocks, etc. The castle is basically in a good condition [as it was rebuilt in the 19th century after a fire].   The stairs and floorboards, however,  are in a slightly sorry state.

Next, off to the aire, [Umleitung, 2nd of the day, at Bad Bergzabern], but we found our road.  Then, just as we got to Strasbourg, a third Umleitung - really confusing. Found the aire with Minnies help.  Quite tight spaces, but having parked, realised there was only one power point for about 12 vans, and no-one was plugged in [a bad sign], and as we wanted two days, we would want to be plugged in quite a bit. Quick consult of the Stellplatz book [for Germany], and went into Kehl, about 4km across the Rhine, back into Gernany.  Much bigger spaces here, and electricity, although metered, there seem to be more power points, plenty to go round.  Usual charge of 1 Euro for 2 Kwh, and water etc on a sani machine, 1 Euro a time.