("click" to enlarge)

Fun and impressive nature for your little ones

The ancient Eggersberg Castle - the castle rock viewpoint

Just a few steps away from the "New Eggersberg Castle" a path leads to one of the best viewpoints of the lower Altmühltal valley.

Where once rose the proud ancient Eggersberg Castle, which was home to some famous and sometimes also infamous lords, the only thing left now is the apse of the Holy Cross Chapel. In the 19th century the chapel was left to decay.

Two exquisite altarpieces of the 16th/17th century, that the chapel was endowed with, can now to be admired in the Hofmark Museum at Eggersberg Castle. Another unique piece is the monstrance containing a verified fragment of the True Cross that was given to the chapel by Baron Joseph von Bassus.

From the castle rock viewpoint you have a wonderful view of the valley the original river Danube once ran through before it carved its course through the hard limestone rock near Weltenburg.

From early on attempts had been made to connect the river Main with the Danube. The Fossa Carolina ("Karlsgraben" in German) was a canal connecting the Swabian river Rezat with the river Altmühl and consequently the river system of the Rhine/Main with the Danube. The Karlsgraben had been created long before the Ludwigskanal, which was finished by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, and the modern Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. All the canals had to and have to pass the European Watershed.

The most common theory is that in 793 Charlemagne gave orders to dig a 3 km long canal near the Bavarian city of Treuchtlingen. The goal of this work was to ensure supplies during the war against the Eurasian Avars, who had invaded Bavaria in 788.

Ludwig I's canal can still be seen from the castle rock viewpoint, including an original canal lock and a restored sluice house.

A little further away, on the left side, there is the ancient fortified church of the former monastery of Altmühlmünster.. The area has seen human settlement since ancient times. The name is derived from Altmühl and the large church (Münster).

The bowl above the main entrance of the church is a symbol of the Order of Saint John.. The order's emblem shows the head of John the Baptist?s head on a platter. In the Middle Ages, the Order of Saint John and the Knights Templar resided in Altmühlmünster, later the Knights of Malta prevailed. Why don?t you take a hiking tour from Eggersberg to Altmühlmünster and up to Rosskopf Mountain? You are sure to enjoy it!

From the viewpoint at Eggersberg you can also see the Wolfsberg in the background. Beneath the hill's top soil a Celtic Oppidum, a Celtic city, is hidden.

Turn your gaze to the right and you encounter modern wind turbines on the two opposite elevations. They are erected on the premises of the stone quarry at Jachenhausen, where one of the extremely rare specimens of the first bird "Archaeopterix" was found. The smallest known dinosaur, the bloodthirsty and group hunting "Compsognathus longipes", was also found here. The first produced models of those two dinosaurs can be seen in the Hofmark Museum at Eggersberg Castle.

The new canal can not be missed. It is surrounded by remaining branches of the river Altmühl that used to meander through this beautiful valley.

It is worth every step of the walk!

Rosenburg Castle

The impressive times of the burgraves of Riedenburg, who were famous poet-musicians, so-called minnesingers in the Middle Ages, are long gone. Today Rosenburg Castle is home to one of Bavaria?s most beautiful falconries. We highly recommend a visit.

Crystal Museum in Riedenburg

Do you know the largest known crystal in matrix in the world? You may find it hard to believe, but it is right here in the lower Altmühltal valley - in the Crystal Museum in Riedenburg. And of course there are also a great many other interesting pieces pertaining crystals and gemstones. It is a must see!

Plankstetten Abbey

http://www.kloster-plankstetten.de

Have you heard of the Benedictine Abbey of Plankstetten? It was founded as far back as 1129 as a private monastery of the bishops of Eichstätt by Count Ernst VI and his brothers Gebhard II of Eichstätt and Hartwig, steward of the bishopric Eichstätt.

Not only the historical background and the impressive building are worth a visit, but also the monastery shop. The pleasant smell of home-baked bread and hearty sausages from the on-site organic butchery is a temptation for every visitor.

Benedictine Abbey of Weltenburg

The Benedictine Abbey of Weltenburg is situated exactly in the opposite direction, right at the entrance to the romantic Danube Gorge. It is the oldest monastery in Bavaria and was founded around 600 by two Iro-Scottish itinerant monks of St. Columbanus, Eustasius and Agilus from Luxeuil (Burgundy).

The baroque church, a masterpiece of European Baroque, was built and decorated by the Asam brothers between 1716-1739, by order of the Abbot Maurus Bächl (1713-1743).

Do not forget to taste the famous dark beer!

Hall of Liberation at Kehlheim

Golf Club in Neuburg an der Donau