Revisiting a Favorite Childhood Place

 

Taken from the moving car

Münsterland - the area around the city of Münster - has an abundance of (moated) castles, and one of them was a favorite place in my childhood. Whenever we went to Münsterland, this particular castle was always top on our list: Burg Vischering.

So when we stayed with Kaefer in Münster, we of course had to take her there (and the Geek hadn't been here before either). It's not a long drive from Münster through the beautiful surrounding landscape.

You approach the castle through a couple of gates.

Then you have to cross the first body of water until you finally have a first view of the castle.

I liked all the old gates here.

The castle is surrounded by an additional, deeper body of water, the moat. Since Münsterland is very flat, in order to protect themselves, castles were surrounded by deep moats and you could only enter the castle grounds via a drawbridge and heavy gates.

Here you can see part of the chain in front of the gate that would draw up part of the bridge.

Burg Vischering was founded by the Bishop of Münster in the second half of the 13th century and became the ancestral seat of the Droste zu Vischering family who has owned the castle to the present day. In 1521 a fire caused substantial damage to the castle, but it was rebuilt and extended in the Renaissance style by 1580. In 1986 it has been declared a historic monument and today houses the Münsterlandmuseum. 

The inner courtyard:

We immediately noticed the interesting construction of mirrors and of course we all had to take pictures here.

I liked the doors, the symbols above them and the handles and locks.

We couldn't figure out this small opening - a special door for the castle cats?

Stairs and little details...

I didn't take many pictures inside the castle, but I do want to show you this old manuscript and there was an abundance of Delfter Fliesen.

You can walk on the wall that borders the courtyard.

One of the castle residents lives here.

You can also see the adjacent buildings from here. I like the clay shingles, they are typical for this region (I grew up in a house with clay shingles) and many parts of Germany.

Now let's take a walk around the moat and look at the castle from there.

Windows with tiny shutters that would only cover parts of the window.

I loved the reflections in the water. That's what I remember the most from my childhood visits.

Usually re-visiting sites that you loved as a child can be disappointing. Burg Vischering, however, was exactly how I remembered it, except that it wasn't possible to go inside back then. I'm very glad that we went here and strolled down memory lane.

Outside I noticed the paving stones and the crest of Nordrhein-Westfalen (the Bundesland - state - Münster and the Münsterland belong to) on the manhole cover.

A last view through one of the crenels, and then we were on our way back.

A few shots out of the moving car of the area. As I mentioned, Münsterland is very flat which makes it perfect for riding a bicycle. This is Kaefer's preferred way of transportation. However, as beautiful as it is, I would miss the mountains or at least some hills. I have always lived in regions with hills and mountains, so I don't know how it is to live in completely flat surroundings. It might be nice for a certain time, though. Kaefer, who likes to hike and climb, does miss the mountains a lot and I can well understand it. I would, too.

Since there are a few faces in this post, either human or 'stony', I link to Nicole's Friday Face Off.