Marksburg Castle - 14th July

Castle gate

We docked at Marksburg and were bussed up to the castle you saw in the previous post. We went through four gates to get into the castle proper, the first gate is where the drawbridge was originally located.

Castle walls

Here you can see the external walls - imagine trying to storm these in the middle ages!

Garderobe

This wooden structure is a garderobe, the medieval equivalent of a toilet. The waste dropped straight down the outside of the wall, either into a cesspit or the moat. Later on, you'll see the inside of it.

Guide with castle key

This is our enthusiastic guide at the last of the four gates holding up the key to the castle gates. This castle is original, never having been destroyed and rebuilt like most of the other castles in the region. Note the rough floor, hewn straight from the native rock on which the castle sits.

View from top

You have no idea how many stairs I had to climb to get this view! But I think it was worth it.

Bed chamber

The bedroom, paneled with wood for insulation against the cold and the four poster bed, with a canopy and curtains that were drawn around the bed to keep the occupants warm. The bed is small for two reasons - 1. medieval people were not very tall, 5 feet at the most; 2. - they had a superstition that if you were lying flat, the Devil would think you were dead and take you away, so they slept sitting up!

Bottle glass window

Flat sheet glass that we have today did not exist in the Middle Ages, windows were either open to the outside air with shutters or, if you could afford the luxury, they were filled with bottle glass such as this one. This window is original.

Sink

This is the washing facility - a sink hewn out of a single piece of stone with a drain pipe going - yep, you guessed it - straight out the wall outside. No such thing as internal plumbing in medieval times.

Garderobe interior

Remember the garderobe you saw outside? This is the interior of that. The door had no lock on the inside because this garderobe was in the dining room and you left the door open so you could continue to talk to your dinner guests. Yes, that's correct, common practice in the Middle Ages. There is a lock on the outside of the door to prevent enemies breaching the castle by climbing in through the garderobe. Yuk!!

Roof of chapel

There is a small chapel for the residents, decorated with drawings and paintings of Jesus and his disciples. Religion was very important in medieval times, so castles always incorporated a chapel in their construction.

Narrow stone stairs

This is the stone stairs we had to climb out of the chapel. Deliberately made small so if enemies did get into the castle, they could not move easily or very fast. The door was also very small, I had to turn sideways to get through it.

Knight costumes

These are some of the knight's armor used in the Middle Ages. The one nearest without armor was a musketeer who didn't need armor for obvious reasons.

Hurdy gurdy

After the tour, it was time for the banquet and we were greeted by musicians playing authentic medieval instruments such as this lady to the right playing a hurdy gurdy.

Hurdy gurdy interior

For the uninitiated, the hurdy gurdy produced its unique sound by having a wooden wheel that was turned by the handle on the exterior. It vibrated the strings contacting it and the tune was produced by pushing levers underneath it which activated hidden frets, as you can see at the right of this picture. The frets shortened and lengthened the strings, changing their pitch accordingly. It is a weird other-worldly sound, but very musical nevertheless.

Suckling pig

No banquet would be complete without a roast whole suckling pig. The entertainers went to great lengths to make the experience as authentic as possible, with mead served in stone cups and music and much announcing during the banquet. All the food was delicious. We had the chicken.

Acrobatic entertainment

One of our number was press-ganged into "assisting" the female acrobat, who was highly entertaining. Here she is regailing the crowd of her abilities and achievements, plus describing the requirements of the gentleman lying prone on the table.

Finale

And here she is performing her balancing act with the assistance of said gentleman. She received thunderous applause, more for her conversation than the balancing act. After this it was time to make the perilous descent to our waiting buses to be driven back to our ship.