Colmberg

This is our home for the next few days. It has a history dating back through the 700s, with many changes of ownership. The Hohenstaufens (who ruled as Kings of the Germans, and some as Holy Roman Emperors:Frederick I Barbarosa and Henry IV the most famous) had a connection to the place. Not that either of them were ever here, unfortunately.

After the end of the Hohenstaufen line, the lands reverted back to the local rulers, who got themselves into tremendous debt. The castle, left to various baliffs, became a home for brigands, earning it the distinction of being a robber baron castle, such as were prominent in lawless Medieval times, with the lower nobility turning to highway robbery, illegal collection of fees, and what not.

At some point in the early 1400s, Frederick IV of the house of Hohenzollern (European history buffs will know that name) bought the castle. He was made Margrave of Brandenburg in 1415, and that began the family's steady climb onward and upward. Spoiler: this is the family that eventually ruled Prussia, and then the united Germany crafted by Bismarck. By that time, however, they had nothing to do with the castle, so don't get too excited.

It was under Prussian administration for a time in the late 1700s, but when the various Franconian holdings were incorporated into Bavaria, so too did the castle come under Bavarian control. After 1880, it passed through the hands of several individual owners, until being bought by the current family in 1964, who worked to turn it into an hotel.

More than you wanted to know, but wait... There's more!

Today they have a private deer park, a restaurant that suspiciously serves a lot of venison, and a renovated "new building" with an elevator. We opted for the old building, because we wanted a more "authentic" stay, and honestly, that's where the cheapest rooms were. And we got the cheapest room in the place. It's nice, but not as fancy as the suites with the real art and the four poster beds and big soaking tubs.

They also have a ghost. The White Lady, who shows up in the middle of the night, usually between two and three. She wanders the halls, floats around outside windows, and all sorts of ghostly things, or so I've read online. People have actually claimed to see her in the old wing in their reviews of the place, so we shall see, won't we?

Lots of pictures incoming, and more on the Wolpertinger Wanderings facebook. It's a very interesting place. A lot of public rooms filled with furniture, various decorations, and hunting trophies. The trophies make sense, as the castle has a history as a hunting lodge.Read more