stork protecting its nest in schierstein.
rhineland-palatinate's own wine region is called rhenish-hesse. it's the biggest wine region of germany and spans about 26 516 hectares. we haven't yet visited most of it, only the borderland, which is directly situated next to the rheingau region ( where i live ). in rhenish hesse you can find ingelheim, a little city which was once a very important place for medieval emperors. an imperial palace was build here from which they could govern their massive empires. there were more of them all over germany, all being important foundations for future cities. but this is not a post about ingelheim, rather a post about a little corner of the city we visited. on a steep hill not far away from the main city you can see a tower from afar, the bismarckturm ( bismarck tower ). this was our goal for that particular afternoon. but before i'm telling you a bit about its history here are some random shots from an evening walk around schierstein harbour.
in schierstein you can always find lots of storks. somehow this little harbour village developed into stork mecca over the centuries.
and apparently this spring there were lots and lots of herons around, too. these big birds are really a sight to behold, kind of looming like big shadows high in the trees or ominous precursors of an impending doom. except that they never bring doom with them. i'm always excited if i'm lucky enough to see them in nature. i feel a strange kinship to them, as they often appear very lonely & autonomous.
until they find a partner & start building nests ;)
also, let's have a swan couple.
tails high up in the air :D
on to the bismarckturm.
the hill where the bismarckturm in ingelheim is located is called westerberg and you can also find abandoned gardens up there.
the tower was erected in honour of the imperial chancellor otto von bismarck. there are several towers all over germany that commemorate this big character of our history. this particular one was build in 1912 and designed by wilhelm kreis. despite him having a very shady career throughout the third reich you have to admit that his works were quite monumental, almost a little bit slaying, though. i guess, that's what he always intented to create, architecture that leaves you standing in front of it feeling small. very fitting to the dark times of national socialism. i do appreciate the uniformity & evenness, though, it feels very modern while essentially it's a rather traditional approach.
the entry.
the inside. the acoustics in there were damn fine, i had the thought that a cozy concert in here would be tremendous.
view onto ingelheim. far in the back you can see the taunus mountains. this was taken in the direction of wiesbaden/mainz.
there were some orientation signs up on the tower and under the glass cover there was a tiny ladybug cemetery. poor babies were bleached out.
ingelheim's industry quarter. again, in the background you can see the mountains again & hessia's rheingau region.
into the direction of rüdesheim & bingen. there's a gap through the mountains on the left side, which is the entry to the middle rhine valley.
the view was breathtaking, really. couldn't stop taking photos.
the weather was rather mixed with blue skies changing into cloudy rain fronts. helped with getting dramatic shots, though ;P
more of ingelheim & some other communes & cities further away. i actually would claim that the city in the back is actually wiesbaden. not too sure, though.
the stairs that led you down the tower again.
the view down the tower.
we decided to do a little hiking tour around the tower.
woodpecker toilet.
gently curved trees.
some rare colour. march isn't exactly the greenest month, but at least nature was in its first stages of spring.
then a huge storm came a-rolling.
split sky. it rained a bit, but it wasn't as grave as we first thought i would be.
we continued our way and found some green hellebore. it's a very poisonous plant.
and we also encountered some horses.
another downpour passed us by and this time left with a tiny surprise. the beginning of a rainbow!
one can never say more to that phenomenon, i always feel so blessed coming upon one.
goodbye!
some budding trees.
not only budding but also overgrown with colourful lichen.
when we returned in the evening we didn't find a parking lot at first, so decided to park next to the new extension of the ministry of finance. i lovelovelove this building.
Comments