De Backes - Sankt Goar

We made a stop at this castle in St. Goar while we were doing a cruise on the Rhine River. It was spectacular and well kept up. Beautiful photo spot and a lot of history. They have an adorable little gift shop on site too. I was happy to find it, since I collect magnets everywhere I go.

This is the best 11th C castle that I have been to in Germany. There is no awfully narrated audio tour and no bored guides leading you through the passages. Its self guided so you go at your own pace. It is large and has a lot of areas including secret or dark passages that you can explore on your own. Bring a flashlight. Seriously. Though my iphone with flashlight app worked just fine. It has some new areas such as the museum but mostly this is a very well preserved ruin. Expect to spent 2-3 hours here. There is a tram from town that will take you up but its no more than a 15 min walk. We did it pulling our luggage and leaving it at the ticket booth while we explored. The kids will love this place. Oh and there is a restaurant there too in case anyone in your group would rather drink. Have fun.

This place is so awesome. I didn 't actually stay in the hotel part though because I didn 't know about it; I wish I would have. The castle ruins are great though! It 's huge and you can spend hours here just walking around the grounds. A couple of the hallways were very dark, if not pitch black, which didn 't stop me from going through them. Until I discovered huge spiders chilling on the very low ceilings in the pitch black rooms! I ran outta there like a bat outta hell! But most of the castle is light enough to see where you are going. This was my favorite castle to explore out here, despite that it is in ruins! I think that is what adds the charm. There is also a gift shop, very tiny museum room, hotel and restaurant in here. A must see.

We dined here our last night in St. Goar. We had already had so many amazing meals but we felt the need to splurge and dine up at Burg Rheinfels. We were pleased to have walked in without a reservation and still be seated by a window with a beautiful view. I imagine that is uncommon during high season, but we were very pleased. We dined at Auf Scharffeneck. The food was good, but it was not where I thought it should be at that price point. The carpaccio was magnificent, definite high point. I had a fascinating tomato soup with cream cheese balls, I'm still not sure what to think of it. My fiancée had the parsley root soup which was delicious. We thought things were going to continue to go well, but we were only mildly pleased with our entrées. I wanted the venison, but they were out, I went with the lamb with ratatouille and potato gratin. My fiancée went with the veal steak, which I enjoyed more than he did and I enjoyed it more than my own dish... We knew very little about the dining experience here prior to our dinner. Like I said, it wasn't bad, it just didn't wow us like we really hope to have been. Service was wonderful and friendly and the restaurant is lovely and it goes without saying, but the grounds and views are stunning.

It was bit odd for sure staying as a single person in hotel with the name romantik in it. I stayed here in the summer of 2014. The hotel itself is a new building on the site of the ruins of castle and connected to it and the view of the Rhine is amazing. My room had a balcony and the most wonderful view of the Rhine. I could have spent hours sitting there watching the ships go around the bend in the river and I did pull out my laptop and do just that. But I also roamed around the castle ruins with my friends I was travelling with and had a great time exploring the area around here. I did get any romance but it was lovely staying here.