Chodovar, Czech Republic

About 45 minutes away from us, just over the Czech Board is the town of Chodová Planá, Czech Republic. Nestled in the Bohemian Forest, is the family-run Chodovar brewery, beer spa, and restaurant!

For my birthday I wanted to do something relaxing and fun, I scheduled a double beer bath for us.

The real beer bath is prepared in a rehabilitation tub from bath beer, water, and mineral water IL SANO® and have a temperature of 34 °C. The special ingredients consist of dark Bath Beer, which is produced in a traditional way, based on the original copyright method and made by the main brewer of the family brewery Chodovar, active beer yeast, hop draff and a mixture of dehydrated crushed herbs. The bath level is covered by the distinct beer foam of a caramel color and the area is scented by the fragrance of freshly brewed dark beer.

*images taken from website

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Twenty-Seven

I am officially 27!
This is the 3rd and final birthday I will be celebrating in Germany (for the foreseeable future). Usually we go to Oktoberfest, but this year I decided that I didn't want to deal with all the crazy crowds and crazy people, so I opted for a relaxing day. Beer Spa in the Czech Republic, dinner at Sushihaus and even catching a movie. 

I'm so thankful for all the opportunities I have been given here and being in Germany really is a dream come true. But man another year! Some times I have to remember,
"Don't hate getting older, it's a privilege denied to many."

27 is going to be an amazing year, I can't wait to see what new adventures comes our way!

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Burgruine Flossenbürg

After checking out Leutchenburg castle ruins, we headed to Flossenburg ruins. When my brothers were visiting I took them to the Flossenburg concentration camp. I wanted to take them to see this ruin, but we couldn't find where to park, so we said screw it and headed home.

This time, Drew figured out where to park and we were able to check out the castle ruins. It was actually pretty hard to figure out where to park, since there is no actual parking address. We ended parking next to the cemetery, which is actually where everyone else parks and headed up to the ruins.

Flossenburg is the 3rd largest castle ruins in our area. After parking we headed up the little path to the ruins. It was a 300 meter hike to the top. So it wasn't too bad. But climbing uphill is never fun. But we made it to the top, and the pathway was closed! But we saw people on the top of the ruins and decided to be rebellious and go around the blocked off pathway. 

I'm glad we did, if we didn't we would've missed the whole ruins! The ruins itself weren't closed off, I think they were just rebuilding the pathway.

 

The relatively good state of preservation, the unique location and the beautiful view from the living tower make Flossenburg to a worthwhile destination. The "castrum flozzen" was originally one of the main strongholds of Nordgau. Flossenburg played an important role in the plan of the Staufer emperor to expand the prosperous region Eger to an immediate imperial territory. Earliest part of the castle is the rectangular residential building is on the rock tower, which probably dates from the Salian period shortly after the 1100s.

I love the compass!

  The view from the top was amazing!

 

We climbed around and explored a little bit. I have to admit, out of all the castle ruins we've been too, Flossenburg was one of the easiest climb/hike so far.

Sidles' @ Flossenburg

<3 them

My Happy Puppy!

For the most part I enjoyed it. Drew planned the day out and got addresses and made a plan. It is very unlike him. I'm the planner in the family. 

It was a nice day, the sun was shinning, and Rylie passed out on the way home. It's always a win-win! I'm glad we were finally able to check this ruin out. It's one of the most famous ones in our area and for good reason. The views are amazing, and it's a nice day trip

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Address: Gaisthalweg 2, 92696 Flossenbürg
Cost: Free

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Burgruine Leuchtenberg

Because the sun was shining and that's rare in Bavaria, we took advantage of the "Family Day" (On Sunday's everything is close in Germany because, they believe Sunday's should be spent with your family, which I agree with) and decided to check out another castle ruin! About 30 minutes away is Burgruine Leuchtenberg.

Burgruine Leuchtenberg is the largest and best preserved castle ruins of Upper Palatinate. The hill fort stands on the summit of the 585 meter high mountain and lighting is one of the most scenic spots in the region. The castle was built by the Landgrave of Leuchtenberg, an influential medieval noble family, in the type of medieval knight fortresses around 1300th. However, the Landgrave's left the castle in 1322. Today the castle ruin is as Freilichtbuhne it is used as a venue to annually hold the "Burgfestspiele Leuchtenberg" a medieval festival. 

 The castle ruins are literally in the town of Leuchtenberg. It's about 10 minutes outside of Weiden. At first glance it doesn't look like there is a castle in the town. But once you're in the town, you can see the ruins on the top of the hill. There's free parking right outside of the castle. It's a beautiful view from the top. Majority of the time there isn't a fee to get into castle ruins, but I think because this is the largest in Upper Palatinate region they charge 2 euros per person. Rylie was allowed to come in with us. It was 1 euro for us to bring her in.

To the left of the entrance, their is a chapel is well-preserved. The narrow tower of the chapel has a at the bottom of a Gothic, narrow lancet windows in the choir and is likely to be incurred before 1300. Back in the day, it wasn't a chapel, but the actual living quarters! 

 

The ruins it self is pretty impressive. We spent a good portion of our time there exploring. There were a lot of things for us to play with.

 

 Drew was trying to get Rylie in the cage, she wouldn't stay in there without him.

 There was a bar too!

The doors were tiny!

Drew says it was his favorite castle that we've ever been to. The most impressive part was the hall on the ground floor of the building from the 14th or 15th century. The beautiful arch is supported by a hexagonal center column. "The Knights' Hall" was a heat able lounge, dining room and banquet hall for Burgmannen who were stationed at the castle. In the hall there were medieval helmets, mailings, and gloves that Drew got to put on. He looked like a real knight! 

 

 My adorable man child ;)

There was even a torture device? Or prison device that you could stick your head into. My hands could fit out easily, but my head was too big to fit through the neck portion.

In the Dungeon.

After playing around in the hall, we headed up the tower. I'm not a fan of heights, of course Drew likes to climb to the top of everything. At the top of the tower, it was decorated. It looked like someone proposed a couple days before hand. There were flowers and balloons, it was very beautiful and the views from the top was definitely worth the climb up.

She's so curious!

Check out that view!

The entrance view from the foot of the tower

I had a lot of fun at this castle. We only spent a couple hours there since we had also planned to check out the Flossenburg ruins. I'd suggest getting to this castle early by the time we left a lot more people had showed up. Drew says this was his favorite castle to date, I wouldn't say it was mine, but I did have fun and it was nice to get out an enjoy the sunshine! 

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GPS Address: Burgweg 6, 92705 Leuchtenberg

Cost: Adults: 2 Euro | Children & Dogs: 1 Euro 

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