Well, three nights of free camping has turned into four as we keep finding more castles and villages to explore in this under-publicized gem of an area. We visited 2 wonderful medieval castles and one amazing palace yesterday. It turns out that Burg Vischering Castle is one of the oldest and best preserved fortified medieval castles in northern Europe. It dates back to 1270. Like slipping into a time warp, you can just imagine the lifestyle of the day. In the photo of me holding open a round door in the floor of a castle tower; this is an “escape” hatch for women and children when the castle is under enemy siege and it leads down a circular stair to safety. The amazing thing is, you only have to walk about a kilometre away to visit another wonderfully preserved rival castle, Ludinghausen Castle.
Next, we moved on to our first official campsite and have spent the last two days here in the city of Munster. Some very interesting history here including a very famous Astrological clock in an amazing Gothic Cathedral. We also saw the impressive court room where the peace documents were signed to end the 30 year European war in 1648. We had a delicious bowl of sausage & pea soup in a cold but cool “open market” while enjoying the fantastic 1700’s old town centre of Munster.
On a more frustrating note, we’ve been having some WiFi SIM card issues over the last few days that we hope to sort out soon. Will keep you posted!