idar-oberstein is known mostly for gemstone mining. in the mountains surrounding this town miners could find natural deposits of agate, jasper & quartz and because of that a lot of jewellry makers & goldsmiths settled there. nowadays the town is clearly a touristy one - the deposits are empty now. we wanted to visit idar-oberstein's gemstone museum but we never found it. instead rof looking at interesting stones we decided to roam the city and hike up the hills to take a look at the castles instead & also admire the 'felsenkirche' ( rock church ). even though i would've loved to visit the gemstone museum, our time in idar-oberstein was not doomed. the city is situated in a really interesting environment - steep stone walls & mountains - at the south rim of the hunsrück - a low mountain range in rhineland-palatinate. the city itself could be really charming, but unfortunately it seems a little bit forgotten - slowly perishing away as it seems that people migrate into bigger cities for work. which is a real bummer, actually. we already made plans to return again, next time we / i want to finally visit the gemstone museum and maybe even a mine - i really want my gemstone experience.
view onto fort bosselstein & felsenkirche.
urban freeway.
on our way up to oberstein castle we spotted the rock church again.
and it was a perfect day for cat spotting as well!
dreamy!
perfect view onto oberstein castle and fort bosselstein.
oberstein castle is a ruin, but at the same time it's not. a lot of rooms were preserved and now show us how life could've looked like in the dark ages.
hall of the crests. everything was meticulously furnished.
the orial room was my favourite, there was a beautiful tile stove and as you can see a lot of nice skulls on the walls.
the tiles of the stove depicting a lion.
there was a window with embedded gemstone fragments and it was another favourite of mine.
i think this was the former kitchen.
a look into the courtyard.
the lion cellar. there were tiny lion heads embedded in the walls, hence the name.
great view onto the town district oberstein. the dark spots are the clouds fault.
and the view onto fort bosselstein from oberstein castle. right under fort bosselstein the rock church is embedded into the cliffs.
i found another cat!
this pathway reminded me of the street that dorothy in 'the wizard of oz' had to walk to get to the wizard.
view onto oberstein castle from fort bosselstein. today we have a ball with all kinds of views, don't you think?
the remains of fort bosselstein.
another view onto the city. it was breath-taking.
and then we finally stopped by the rock church. legend tells us that two brothers were in love with the damsel of fort bosselstein ( the castle above the church ). one time they argued so heavily about her that one of the brothers threw the other one out of the window down onto the spot where the church was then created in commemoration of the poor soul. no one knows if that legend is really true, though, because historians can't find anything in the old sources of that time.
the staircase into the church. cave stairs to be exact :)
interiors. it was nothing spectacular, but who needs a luxurious interior when the church is built into a cliff? i think that's spectacular enough!
stone walls.
you could also walk up to the belfry - another cave staircase!
just as we climbed the belfry the bells rang their uproarious song. it was damn loud up there, but so amazing to be so close to see it swing from side to side.
and the last picture shows an agate cross, definitely something i'd put into my own church as well.
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