Burg Nanstein

"Hey, let’s take a drive to the local castle ruin." Now, that’s something you’re not going to hear very often in the States. Well, that’s exactly what Jeff said last Sunday and, since it was such a great spring afternoon, that’s just what we did. The closest castle ruin to us is in Landstuhl, Burg Nanstein. Landstuhl is just south, across the A-6 autobahn, from Ramstein Air Base and a 15 minute drive from our house.

Burg Nanstein sits high on a ridge overlooking the town. It was built on the orders of the Holy Roman Emperor in 1162 to reinforce the defenses of the local area.

From the center of Landstuhl you can see Burg Nanstein high above.

Jeff and I first visited Burg Nanstein around 25 years ago so we thought it would be interesting to see what had changed. One significant change is the nice gasthaus and beer garden that’s been built since our last visit.

Here’s me at our beer garden table with Ramstein Air Base in the background.

Closer view of Ramstein. Here you can see the large air mobility ramp and the new multi-story billeting building. Behind billeting is the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center, the KMCC, of which billeting is a part, and includes a huge BX, food court, and concession vendors. This beer garden is a great place to sit and watch the arrivals and departures at Ramstein.

Landstuhl from Burg Nanstein. This is looking to the north toward Trier and the Eiffel region. Behind us is the Pfalz Forest that lays to the south of Kaiserslautern.

Another thing that’s changed is that now there’s an admission fee to get inside the castle. We passed on that because you can see most it from the outside. Here are a few images of Burg Nanstein.

As with all things German, there are rules and expected behavior, or there will be consequences for any "irregularity."

Well, that was last Sunday afternoon.  Very leisurely visit an 850 year old castle.  That's hard to do in Texas.  Cheers!!