Grigsby Gazette: Dornburg Castles

I'm terribly behind in our travels, and I'm afraid that will only get worse since we have four more trips planned in the next three months (not including the one we are currently finishing). But tonight we are taking it easy and I've decided to take full advantage of the internet we're paying 20 euros for 24 hours for.

At the beginning of September, Jason, Jackie, and I randomly decided to head up to the Dornburg castles on Saturday afternoon. Jackie and I had gone kayaking on the Saale in July and saw these gorgeous castles from the water. We knew we had to go see them up close and ended up picking the perfect day to do it.

There is not a lot of information on these castles in English, but if you want to try out the German wikipedia site you are welcome to do so. The small town has three castles right next to each other, each one in a different style. The Old Castle (Altes Schloss) is the oldest of the three and belongs to the University in Jena now, so it is not open to the public. However, meetings and conferences are held there all the time. Of course, you can visit the outside all you want!

The castle in the middle is the Roccoco Palace and is the newest. It was a built as a hunting lodge for Duke Ernst August in the 1700s. It is open to the public for a small fee.

The last, but not least, castle is the Renaissance castle and was build in the 1500s over a 14th century farm house. It is open to the public, has a small cafe, and certain rooms can be rented out for special events. There were so many people around that day since the weather was gorgeous that I was not able to get a better picture of it. You can barely see a white building on the hill in the picture below. R-L: Renaissance, Rococo, and Old.