The HIVE Tour - Episode 40 - Klopp Castle and (almost) vertical vineyards @ Bingen am Rhein

And the HIVE Tour just became 40! It's actually older if you also count the sub Episodes (more like 50) and time wise it's also close to the middle so yes, mid life crisis is a challenge at this moment 🙂

So I'm leaving behind Medard village to head for the beauties of Rheinland Pfatz region as proposed by my good Bavarian biker friend Andreas and after some riding here I am looking for some privacy to... pee:

Not much as you can see though:

I manage it anyway as I am close to Bingen am Rhein and I'd like to walk around there in the absence of such burden. 10 minutes later I've parked my bike ready to walk this promising slopes full of vineyards:

Much better than the view behind me:

Wait a minute... did you see that drawing on the chimney top left? This one:

Cool!

I'd love to know how the wine of these beauties tastes but at the moment I enjoy the optics of the whole thing:

This tree looks a bit lonely being the only one around but its shade is very welcome for a short break during my walk:

Here you can see the properly equipped tractor that trims the grape trees:

You'd better have as properly maintained tractors and drivers who knows what they are doing up here since these slopes are very steep leaving no space for errors.

I continue my walk looking for a view point preferably not too far away since I've already walked uphill for a while and I have many things to visit today:

Looks like the view is not that bad right here:

The road goes on and I'd continue on any other chance with more time in my hands:

I didn't expect those shortcuts of stone stairs to be unused:

Probably not a top touristic attraction hence vegetation took over. You'd better keep those stones in place with such inclination though:

Can you read this?

I'm leaving this place behind to head for the local castle, Klopp Castle that is. I leave my bike at its parking lot and take a few shots of the surrounding building so you get a small taste of this town:

By no means ugly, quite the opposite but unsurprisingly the castle is more attractive:

And the view near the entrance is promising for what it will be like later:

Let's go in!

This wins me instantly:

The same goes for the walls of the bridge that leads to the entrance:

How nice!

The first bit I see as I make my first steps in is this one:

This is a wonderful building next to the castle:

Behind the trees you can see part of the bridge I walked to enter:

This might have been the trench of the castle back in the day but now is a walkway:

Even from this angle I get impatient about how it will look like later:

Not that the castle itself isn't the star:

If you wonder how come that car there spoiling the view, FYI the castle today hosts the administration of the city.

Behind all this green is the local cafe/restaurant:

Now I get a first good idea about the view though not at its fullest yet:

So many passes and corridors to do in my limited time:

At this point I have no doubts that the ones working in here as very lucky bastards:

Not that I consider myself unlucky walking around here:

There's even a playground here actually:

You're not able to admire it from this angle but this tall tower behind the tree is lovely:

I'm kinda pissed that the sun doesn't allow enough (if any) choices for a decent(ish) image of this piece of art but, better than nothing, here it is:

It's all German to me but here's a few words about this sculpture:

Unlucky to have this maintenance going on but glad this gem is being taken care off pretty well:

Now you can have a much better idea of that tower than before:

This castle complex is such a pleasant time travel:

I guess this was the well back in the day:

Now brace cause it might look deeper than you thought:

Considering that I took the above picture "blindly" while not wanting to lose my phone forever it came out better than I expected.

Here's the tower again from one more angle:

No shortage of flowers here:

Definitely no shortage of view either. Look at that!:

Did I say the guy who work here are lucky bastards? I did but repetition is the mother of learning and the sister of truth (I added the latter):

I hope you enjoyed it dear ones, here is a video in 4K from both the vineyards of the previous sub episode and the castle:

Stay tuned cause my day is far from over yet - see you on the next place!