Tag: Pfalzgrafenstein

Tour the Blackfly Kingdom: Pfalzgrafenstein Castle

How about a tour the Blackfly Kingdom? My favorite castle on the Rhine: “Pfalzgrafenstein” is kind of a mouthful, so people call it by the name of the nearest village, Kaub. ©Laurel Decher, 2020.

When we travel these days, we often drive or fly.

In earlier times, the rivers were the highways. Big and long rivers, like the Rhine River in Germany were important for delivering people and things.

[Is that why Amazon is named after a river in Brazil? I don’t know, do you?]

If you visit, you can stay at the nearby youth hostel or the YMCA hotel in another castle, high up in the village of Kaub. Down at the Rhine riverbank, you take a small ferry across to the island.

This castle is the perfect place for collecting tolls from ships bringing cargo up and down the Rhine River. If you’ve ever seen a modern tollbooth, you’ll agree that this is about the fanciest tollbooth ever!

Modern tollbooth for cars.
Source: Shutterstock Royalty-free stock vector ID: 683431282

The first tolls were collected almost 800 years ago in 1257. The castle changed hands several times and new parts were added and reinforced. The Prussians finally stopped charging ships tolls here in 1866. Since 1946, the castle belongs to the state of Rhineland Pfalz in Germany.

  • Reinforced castle wall
  • A dangerous road for barges
  • A castle like a ship
  • Nose to nose with the Blackfly Kingdom
  • A possible reindeer landing strip?
The Rhine River has strong currents and can be high and stormy. The Pfalzgrafenstein castle is built to stand up to the storms. It’s the inspiration for the Blackfly Kingdom in the Seven Kingdoms Fairy Tales. © Laurel Decher, 2020.
  • Keep dry when the water’s high
  • Queen Ash’s visitors aren’t voluntary
  • A courtyard for reindeer
  • Inner balconies of castle
  • Watch your step!
  • Long hallways
  • View from Queen Ash’s office
Inside the Blackfly castle.
The tall steps keep the castle dry when the Rhine River gets high from too much rain.
The castle has lots of staircases, open walkways for croquet or chase scenes.
Queen Ash’s office (the Kommandant used it first 🙂 gives her a good view of possible “customers”. She doesn’t want to miss a chance to collect a toll from a passing ship.

Tired of the view from your window? Take a mini-tour of an 800-year-old tollbooth. #SevenKingdomsFairyTales

  • Winch for chain to hold back ships until they pay
  • Where to go when you have to go
  • Don’t want to pay? It’s the Water Dungeon for you!
  • Water Dungeon Part 2: How long can you balance on this disc hanging from a rope?
Special Features of the Kaub castle.
A huge baking oven (sorry, my photo is too dark!),
A chain to block the river so ships had to pay their toll,
A privy, and
A water dungeon where you had to balance on round board hanging from a rope.
© Laurel Decher, 2020.
tablet phone ebook hardcover images of LOST WITH LEEKS

If you like the Blackfly Castle as much as I do, you might enjoy Prince Nero’s adventures in LOST WITH LEEKS

Click here for more about the book.

Cartoon drawing of the Seven Kingdoms with locations on Rhine and Mosel Rivers marked by colored towers
Click the map to tour the Seven Kingdoms: Cochem, Marigold, Magenta, Indigo, Saffron, Rose, and Blackfly.

_______________

If you’d like to stay in touch, sign up for my Reader’s List. Once a month, I share a new book recommendation for readers ages 9 to 12, story-related freebies, and/or related blog posts. If it’s not your thing, you can unsubscribe at any time.