European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 1, 1950, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 castles near Stuttgart interlinked in history by George Learned staff correspondent photos by Kurt Meier any of the castles East of Stuttgart Are inter linked in history today As they were in Conquest and Romance in earlier to Days tour is recommended to the As the castles Are now in ruins and can Only be reached after but Steep we started from 42 kilo meters East of Stuttgart on from the Center of town a Small Road runs Northeast to hohenstaufen and our first our first Castle looming above the Village of the same name is a conical Peak where Only the foundations remain of Castle Hohen it was constructed at the end of the Lith and finally destroyed during the peasant you can drive about Halfway up the legend says the Church in Goppinger and the Castle were once linked by but dont bother to try and find the stories also claim that giants that used to live on the Castle site once lobbed boulders at the by air line there about 10 Kilometres looking to the Northeast it is possible to make out the ruins of Hohen Rech but to drive take the Road to Strass Dorf and then double Back to the town of the Castle is off to the right just before you enter Rech and the Road is we were the villagers frequently witness Blue lights in the sky supposedly caused by the ghost of a former Castle Page at the madly in love with a Sweet Young thing at used to Tromp through the Hills each night to serenade the Prin Cess with songs and airs on his part is murdered the Lovesick villagers Arent sure but agree it could have been either 1 another suitor or 2 some crotchety character who was tired of the musical Blue flames Are merely gases escaping from surrounding swamps which ignite under certain atmospheric the exterior Walls of Hohe Rechberg still but the Interior is in except for a couple of Ulrich Yon descendant the original Castle still lives in nearby Donz the Castle is owned by the the Rechberg family is supposedly plagued by a strange knocking noise heard when a member of the family it was first heard in the 1500s when the wife of Duke Ulrich von Rechberg ii was praying for her husbands safety in the Castle she was interrupted by the knocking and turned to see workers carry the body of her dead husband across the As the family is reported to be in excellent we didst stay to Check the driving South to Dondorf we turned West briefly toward shortly be fore entering Sussen the ruins of Castle Sta Feneck can be seen from the it is not open to the to get to our last Castle we turned South from Sussen to Geislinger and then Southwest toward Muhlhausen to join the follow the autobahn to Ward Stuttgart until you reach the owe Kirchheim Road and then turn South to behind the Village the spiral Tower of Castle Teck Points sky Ward in an inspiring Here a Long climb up the Moun but we advise leaving your car in the Village and walking the entire Dis As it is All but impossible to turn a car around once you Are on the Nar Row tourists find the old Castle grounds Fine picnic spot with a Panorama of Countryside almost made to a Small travellers shelter contains old paint Ings of the owned by Frederick Sou can drive up to the drawbridge of Hohe Rechberg left from which body bearers footsteps started noises that occur whenever death returns to the after a Long climb to Castle you can climb some More of the Tower Steps right to look at any on most warm summer the Blue flames Are supposedly seen jumping in the sky Between the two a few years ago a couple of scientists investigated the whole while casting no doubt on the the Learned and interpreter mapmaker Horst Lipski look into Castle hohenstaufen Tain is you can drive about two thirds of the but its the last third that gets the Castle was built on jutting rocks on a sheer Cliff of perhaps feet the silo shaped Tower is open and the railing around the outside look out is engraved into the circular railing Are Points of the com pass Down to the the direction indicated to every Castle within the general Many of the Castle notations have slight notches the indicate conquests or no one seems to the except for the was destroyed in the peasant War the remaining rooms House the caretaker and a Small restaurant which overlooks the Valley and the Castle dates to 1152 since the 15th Possession was held by the Wurttemberge the counts of Wurttemberge also hold the title of Duke of Queen Mother Mary of England was born a Princess of during the nazi period the area around the Castle was used for glider training and and to the North of the Castle Are huge sloping with abrupt Cliffs that make for excellent glider some of the hangars Are still visible from the Tower of while looking at the Countryside from the Tower youll see the massive ruins of Hohen Leuffen several Kilometres due West our time was up and we didst pay a the Teek guide said the View from a distance was All that was Worth fortress Sti also by Ehrenfreund and Meier i Astles around Strau bitty Are falling and in afraid its All because tin knights who built them liked their Beer Tot every Castle on or tour of the Straubing area was in How the fortress within i the City built about the same still we  figure this out at first later we found what made the it was this is How the Straubinger Tell it the regular mixture of Cement and water has never hardened properly when used with the Type of Granite Rock found in this part of nobody knows exactly but castles built with these stones have not Back in the Middle when the people of Straubing started work on the fortress around their they were aware of this weakness in their and they decided to try a strange expert instead of they mixed Beer with the the idea the mortar took on a new and today those Straubing Walls Are As firm As but apparently the noblemen who were building the castles in those Days so conc their Heads to his somehow they just  get used to the idea of tossing to their Beer away in a tub of As a their castles Are decayed and this Castle tour is a tour of nonetheless they Are a colourful and picturesque group of our trip from North through the bavarian forests and took us 100 we started off on the main High m t m i k a w r