{"id":3282,"date":"2012-11-25T21:37:47","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T04:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/?p=3282"},"modified":"2014-04-14T13:17:32","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T19:17:32","slug":"reifenstein-castle-moment-reflect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/?p=3282","title":{"rendered":"Reifenstein Castle – A Moment to Reflect"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I ponder the sites that I saw in Alpine Europe this spring, my mind recalls the moments when we toured the Reifenstein Castle, which is found about one hour south of Innsbrook. \u00a0In the words of Rick Steves, “Reifenstein offers castle connoisseurs the best-preserved original medieval castle interior I’ve ever seen.”<\/a><\/p>\n

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Reifenstein Castle (Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

As I was preparing for my trip this phrase intrigued me. \u00a0If you don’t know who Rick Steves is, then it’s time to head to your local library to check out some of his books. \u00a0You can also turn your channel to PBS and see some of his shows there. \u00a0This guy has toured thousands of castles all across Europe, so I knew that his quote had to be accurate.<\/p>\n

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Location of the Reifenstein<\/p><\/div>\n

My first feeling about this place helped me to realize why people “looked up” to their leaders. \u00a0This castle was built on a small hill right inside the valley. \u00a0Supposedly the peasants worked for their Lord, who in return offered them protection from any outsiders and food for their families.<\/p>\n

The tours are only offered three times per day, and for some crazy reason I didn’t keep track of when the tours began. \u00a0I couldn’t ever find a website about this place, and pictures are not found anywhere because they don’t allow you to take pictures once you get inside of the castle walls. So it is somewhere that you’ve got to visit in person. \u00a0The GPS coordinates are\u00a046\u00b0 52′ 41″ N, 11\u00b0 26′ 40,5″ O<\/p>\n

Also understand that this castle was constructed over the last 2000 years. \u00a0The tallest tower was built first, and offers THICK walls at the base, and a dungeon down below. \u00a0As the valley became more prosperous they added more rooms and features. \u00a0The tour is given in English, Italian, or German so don’t worry about language barriers.<\/p>\n

Why you need to visit this castle:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just as Rick Steves mentioned above, this castle offers the closest thing that can be found when looking into the past. \u00a0From the front door, to the last minute of the tour you’ll be amazed at how well preserved this castle really is.<\/p>\n

The guide will take you to the kitchen where the meals were prepared. \u00a0Upon entering you’ll already know that it is the kitchen because you’ll notice the smell of soot on the walls. \u00a0When you look around the room you’ll notice that black soot from the fire has covered the walls of the kitchen. \u00a0Both the smell and the pots and pans used can help your imagination to run wild of what this place must have been like during the Medieval Ages.<\/p>\n

The dungeon gives you a real sense of what it would be like to live your last days trapped in that small room. \u00a0They drop a light down into the dungeon so you can see how large the room was. \u00a0Many of the prisoners probably were thrown into the dungeon, and broke bones on the way down to the 15 or 20 feet drop. \u00a0They also take you to the room where the criminals would have been tried for their crimes. The post upon which they were whipped and beaten before being tossed into the dungeon still shows the indentations of the feet of those being whipped.<\/p>\n

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Max and I knocking on the front door<\/p><\/div>\n

Sitting at the top floor of the castle boasts a breathtaking view of the valley just before the Brenner Pass. \u00a0It gives you the chills to think that this valley has been commonly used as the passage between Germany and Italy for thousands of years. \u00a0Popes, knights, robbers, and missionaries have crossed the valley floor in their journeys to faraway lands.<\/p>\n

This moment at the top floor of the castle sparked a moment of contemplation of my life, and how wonderful things are for me. \u00a0I feel so fortunate to live in a wonderful country where I am entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. \u00a0I also enjoy a warm home in the frigidness of the Idaho winters. \u00a0A hospital that is close provides a level of comfort where I know that highly skilled doctors can save lives. \u00a0Even something as simple as life insurance, that ensures that my family will be fine financially even if something were to happen to me.<\/p>\n

We enjoy a lot of things in this life, and it’s not until we get out of our box to see other places that we can really recognize these blessings. \u00a0This is one of the reasons that I love to travel. \u00a0It gives me a greater appreciation for the time in which I live, and for the blessings which I enjoy. \u00a0Come along and Worldwanderlust with us so you can have life changing experiences like this. \u00a0Make sure you like us on Facebook and subscribe to our blog by putting in your email address in the right hand corner of the blog so you never miss another post!<\/p>\n

Hotel<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Four Points by Sheraton Bolzano Hotel Room<\/p><\/div>\n

I recommend you stay at the Four Points by Sheraton in Bolzano when touring the Reifenstein Castle. \u00a0The hotel is within walking distance of a grocery store, and within an hour of the castle. \u00a0When you get the Starwood Preferred Guest\u00ae Credit Card from American Express\u00a0you will have enough points to cover up to 7 FREE nights at this and other hotels in the area.<\/p>\n

Make sure you allot enough time to enjoy the swimming pool on the top floor, and their steam rooms and saunas. \u00a0This is a great way to relax after a long day on the go. The beds are comfortable, and you’ll sleep well in this hotel.<\/p>\n

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As I ponder the sites that I saw in Alpine Europe this spring, my mind recalls the moments when we toured the Reifenstein Castle, which is found about one hour south of Innsbrook. \u00a0In the words of Rick Steves, “Reifenstein … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[601,16,92,627,24],"tags":[807,811,809,808,810],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1DhXV-QW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}