Eremitage, Bayreuth, Germany

One of my favorite places in Germany was only 15 minutes away from us. In Bayrueth there is so much to see and do. One of my favorite places in Bayreuth is the Eremitage, or "New Palace". Located on the outter area of the city. Although it's great all year round, my favorite time to check out this palace is during the summer when the fountains and gardens are in full bloom.

The Eremitage has its origins in 1616, when the margrave purchased a tract of forest not far from Bayreuth. Half a century later, Margrave Christian Ernst turned part of it into a deer park and shortly afterwards added a "grotto and fountain house".

Margrave Georg Wilhelm founded the Eremitage on the site of a zoo belonging to his father Christian Ernst. In 1715 the Old Palace was begun as the focal point of the hermitage. In the palace and the scattered hermit's huts in the woods the court played at being members of a hermits' order.

The New Palace with the upper grotto, the lower grotto, the Margrave's Hermitage, the "Ruined Theatre" and other small buildings from Wilhelmine's day are still the dominant features of the Eremitage. At the end of the 18th century, the Court Garden was transformed into a landscape garden, which included replacing the boskets with natural stands of trees and meadows. Over the last 30 years, individual sections of the park which disappeared in the 19th century have been reconstructed.

It's such a beautiful place to visit, and although the fountains are closed during the winter it makes the perfect backdrop for photos! We even took our Christmas photos here one year. Perfect place to visit for people of all ages!

Additional Information:
Cost: Free (Grounds)
Pet Friendly
Stroller-Friendly
Address: Eremitage 4, 95448 Bayreuth
Park open all year round
Waterworks: May to October every hour:
Bassin at the New Palace: Daily 10 am-6 pm
Lower Grotto: Daily 10.15 am-5.15 pm

view post

Burgruine Hohenberneck

The day after Christmas, or boxing day, is usually spent either lounging at home or off shopping. In Germany, December 26th is a Holiday. So of course what else could we do on a beautiful day, but check out castle ruins?Google is such an amazing tool. I wanted to check out a new castle ruin so in Google Maps, I typed in Burgruine, and Burgruine Hohenberneck popped up. Actually a bunch popped up, but Hohenberneck was the one that caught my eye, and the best part about it, it was only 35 minutes away from me! On Google it says that the Ruins are only open until 12:30 pm, by the time we figured out where we had wanted to go, it was already 12:30 pm We decided to take a chance and check it out anyways. Luckily it was open! That the best thing about ruins, they're usually always open. I'm not sure why Google tells you it's closed, It's open every day, unless there is an event going on, but that's only during the summer.When looking up an address for the Castle ruins, I had to put in a nearby resturaunt, since there was no real address for the ruins. Luckily, we parked right next to the entrance of the pathway. (Side note; there is a little parking lot at the entrance, and during the weekday you will have to pay for it.)The hike up to the ruins is pretty easy. Once you get to the top you'll see the Tower Castle, or Alt Berneck. Don't stop there, keep walking! The ruins are located on castle hill in Bas Berneck. There are actually 3 ruins located next to each other. The Hohenberneck, the "Old castle", and the "Tower Castle" or Alt-Berneck.Burgruine Hohenberneck is the furthest away. We checked out the Old Castle on our way to Hohbenberneck, but at the time had no idea which was which! There are of course some signs and information placard at each of the three ruins, however, it is only in German, so they won't help if you can't read German.The Old Castle is a simple ruin consisting of a single structure with a few rooms. Although it looks, today, nothing like it did in it's prime, it is easy to see that the building must have been very beautiful. Interestingly enough, the "Old Castle" is where the Chapel used to be located, and during the height of the castle's reign, was located within the castle's defenses.

Hohenberneck is located in the North. To enter the castle ruins, you have to cross a small wooden bridge that stands where the original drawbridge once stood. The drawbridge itself clearly shows the late Gothic style of the castle. It is probably one of the smallest castle ruins we've ever visited, but it was unique in that the ruins themselves were a little unique. Just by looking at the pictures, you can see how the castle is slightly different than other ruins we have visited. One interesting feature that you can't see in pictures is that in 1506, the castle was fitted with tubular wells. Meaning the castle had running water! This is a very interesting feature, and actually helped to provide some historical records of the castle.In the east, the circular tower was incorporated into the construction of the wall. There are two circular bastions at the sides of the eastern tower, which are all that remains of the former towers in the castle ramparts. The powerful cannon tower in the northwest is popularly known as "the dungeon", but in fact, it never served as a tower dungeon, but was instead incorporated into the base of the wall as a defense structure. The most prominent building on the castle was the "Palas", or residential building. It is worth note that the unequal arrangement of the window and door openings, which corresponded to the taste of medieval nobility. The relative comfort of a castle of the late Middle Ages can be seen today by the beautiful bay window above the entrance on the south side, and the two embedded wall openings on the ground floor, which historians interpret as former fireplaces. The beauty of this castle can still be seen today. In comparison to other Castle Ruins, Hohenberneck is relatively new. The castle period is considered to be mid-15th century.The views of the town are absolutely beautiful. The sun was not cooperating with me when I wanted to take pictures. I was half joking that the sun is only out when I didn't want it to be. Since all the best photo opportunities involved staring the sun in the face, we didn't get as many good pictures as I would have hoped. But at least the sun was out! I got to use my fancy new USF sun glasses! :)
After checking out the ruins, and letting Rylie run off some energy. We headed off to the Tower. There is a seating area, and a stage. I wondered why, after doing some research I found out that during the summer they host open-air concerts!

What an awesome view!

Drew caught Rylie and I taking selfies!

Here's the picture! haha

This is the third ruin we've visited where they hold concerts during the summer. I think it's such a a great idea. I would love to attend an outdoor concert as a castle ruin! Unfortunately, we haven't had the opportunity, yet. One day though. If you ever get the opportunity, make sure this castle ruin is on your list!--Additional Info:GPS Address: Hofer Str. 12, 95460 Bad Berneck in Fichtelgebrige (Address to Hotel, you will see the ruins next to it)Cost: FreePet-FriendlyKid FriendlyParking: Next to the Hotel, pay to park during the week

view post

Felsengarten Sanspareil & Schloss Fantasie

The weather in Bavaria is so unpredictable, last weekend it was 50 degrees, rainy cloudy and cold, this weekend it was beautiful 75 degrees and not a cloud in sight! Since the weather was beautiful we decided to take advantage of it and head out to check out Castles, Palaces and just hang out outside with Rylie.

I've been wanting to check out these two places for the longest time. But of course, things happen and we never got around to it. The Felsengarten is located about 20 minutes west of Bayreuth.

The rock garden is open all year round. The exhibition rooms of the castle and the museum Zwernitz in Oriental Building can be visited from April to October for an additional fee. The garden includes the existing rock structure of the Franconian Jura and the medieval castle Zwernitz.

The drive wasn't too bad, it took us about an hour to get there. I found an address online and it took us right to the parking area. Once we arrived we were lucky enough to get parking right in front of the entrance.

 

 Caught them taking a selfie! haha

 

There are a few paths you can choose to reach the theater. We chose the quickest path. Haha. It was an easy walk. The path way was pretty smooth and we just followed the signs to the theater. 

There were lots of places to stop for photo ops. We even found a tree that had the initals T & A carved in it. It was fate! 

 

The theater was the coolest part of the Rock Garden. There was a family playing tag when we got there and we waited until they cleared out so we were able to get some pictures

After checking out the garden area, we headed off to see Burg Zwernitz. The castle being included in the concept of rock garden was obvious because the rock formation had their highest formations there. The daring position of one of the buildings above a wide overhanging rock shows how the limestone cliff was transferred to the architectural design and increased in an exemplary manner. The curvy walls of the castle closely follow the curves of the Castle Rock and avail as the specifications of the available land. We didn't get to see inside of the castle, the gates were closed, and because we took Rylie with us I knew we wouldn't have been able to bring her in with us. So I settled for checking out the outside.

After leaving the Felsengarten we decided to check out Schloss Fantasie. Since this palace is located in Bayreuth, it was literally on our way home. I've wanted to check this palace out for a long time, but we never got around to it. we figured since we had a little bit of time to kill we would stop off on our way home.

 Once we got into the town, there was parking upside the hill for the buses and next to the Palace was a Hotel, which had some parking, it was completely full, so we turned around and headed to where the buses parked. Come to find out if we had continued down the road we would've found the parking lot. But it worked out for us in the end. If we parked where the parking was, we would've had to take the long way to see the palace.

The grounds were pretty impressive. Lots of fountains and open spaces, Rylie would've loved to run around here. We were pretty tired by the time we made it to Schloss Fantasie, so we didn't explore the grounds too much. But if you have the time, and you like touring around castle grounds, Schloss Fantasie is the place to go! If you see in the picture below, Schlosspark Fantasie has long trails, and a plethora of fountains, lakes, open fields, ponds, pavillions, etc. You could easily spend an entire day here alone!

We had a great day just exploring the outskirts of Bayreuth. More and more often, we find things to do in the surrounding area! Hopefully the weather holds up. I can't wait to visit all the other locations I have saved on our "day trips" list.
--
Felsengarten Sanspareil:
Address: Sanspareil 34, 96197 Wonsees
Cost: Gardens Free/ Entrance to the Castle 3.50
Pet Friendly

Schloss Fantasie:
Address: Bamberger Straße 3, 95488 Eckersdorf

view post