What a change – we woke up to clouds and cool temps this morning! Today was a bit of a lazy day, doing jobs around the van like washing and cleaning the car, then towards mid-day the sun came out so we set off for Coburg.


 Our destination today was Veste, the castle which overlooks Coburg and is a very impressive structure. We parked at the top of the hill and walked all the way down to the castle, then all the way up the long access ramp, cursing most of the way. The entrance gate is very imposing, with gargoyles and crenellations all over it, then inside is the courtyard surrounded by examples of building from different eras.


 The castle was started in the 11^th century and was the seat of the dukes of Saxe- Coburg & Gotha. It is historically famous because Martin Luther (the reformer) lived there for 6 months in 1530 while he continued his translation of the Bible into German; it was converted to a museum during the 20^th century. We paid our €8 each entrance, & I was really pleased that my asking in German for 2 adult tickets resulted in a reply in German – until we realised that he couldn't actually speak English! Much pointing & waving later, we acquired 2 audio guides and set off on the self-guided tour.


 It started in the exhibition hall, and the current offering was a display of modern glass; there were some wonderful examples, many of which didn’t look as though they were made of glass at all, done by international artists and displayed with sign cards in English – hooray.


 Having perused those, we went upstairs to the real part of the castle, where room after room displayed artefacts from the many periods of occupation. In Martin Luther’s small private chapel, I particularly liked the organ which was almost suspended high up on the wall with a huge carved pillar holding it up.


 Next were bedrooms, dressing rooms and link rooms, all with pottery/glassware/medals/coins of the various periods. Much of the glassware was Venetian and was sourced by Queen Victoria’s second son Alfred, and we marvelled at the intricate designs on some of the glasses.

 
 I was fascinated by the 16^th century room heaters – great carved ceramic "boxes" taller than me, in all kinds of colours and with drawers to put things for warming – who knew that there was central heating that long ago?


 To me, the most impressively decorated room was the Hunting Room: every inch of the walls and ceiling was covered in intricate carvings of hunting scenes done in the 1630s and still absolutely perfect today. And in the corner was one of those lovely ceramic heaters!


 We loved the carriages and sledges, brightly decorated and still retaining their colour after 500 years in some cases; the sledges were used for jousting and we could just imagine the knights hanging on for grim death while their horses careered them round the tournament court. In the same room were 2 gilded wedding carriages of similar quality, both dating from the Renaissance.


 Most impressive of all was the Armory, with dozens of examples of simple armoured breastplates and helmets from ordinary foot soldiers plus many of the full armour worn by dukes and knights. There was even a full suit belonging to a midget alongside that of the Duke he served, and the best preserved “dog” helmet (named because of its pointed mouthpiece like a snout) in Europe, dating from 1490. Hubby said it is the best and most complete collection he has ever seen and found it all fascinating.


 The guns also had to be seen to be believed – intricately carved stocks, some inlaid with mother of pearl, some with ivory and others with contrasting woods. Many were over 1m long and must have been really hard to point and aim; I wasn’t too impressed though with the result of their use – a stuffed boar hanging over a cooking pot…


 We ended our tour with a walk round part of the walls, giving great views over the surrounding town and countryside, but some of the trees were so tall that they obscured the old part of Coburg, sadly.




  Christina came and picked us up to take us into town for the local tradition of coffee and cake – a tradition we enjoyed very much! We were sad to say goodbye to her – she had been such a great hostess and tour guide, and we really enjoyed her company – but we had to return to the site to start packing up for the next phase of our adventure: a trip to the easternmost part of Germany and a meeting with old friends.