I have been to only two of the wonders of the modern world. Unlike The Roman Coliseum, Chichen Itza is really a collection of wonders. Of course the the famous pyramid is the centerpiece. However, the ball field, observatory and smaller pyramids are all fascinating and worth seeing in their own right. Truly a remarkable experience.
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Chichen Itza
The observatory
Mayan Perspective
Last year I published an article on Marksburg Castle. Here are some additional views of the castle not in the original post.
Along the Rhine River is a stretch known as the Rhine Gorge which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Forty castles line both sides of this section of the river. Marksburg is the only castle that was never destroyed and sits above the town of Braubach. The fortress was used for protection rather than a residence for royal families.
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Marksburg Castle Revisited
Marksburg Castle Revisited
Marksburg Castle Revisited
Marksburg Castle Revisited
Wine was really important in the 15th Century. Fresh water supply was not always available and this was especially true if a castle was under siege. Each castle we visited had a large wine cellar. At Marksburg Castle it was on the ground floor near the stable. While these barrels are huge they aret not as large as the one in Heidelberg Castle which is thought to be the largest wine barrel in the world and almost impossible to photograph.
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The Barrel Room at Marksburg Castle
Last month I published a post about Marksburg Castle. This post contains some more detailed information and additional images of this UNESCO World Heritage Site
Along the Rhine River is a stretch known as the Rhine Gorge which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Forty castles line both sides of this section of the river. Marksburg is the only castle that was never destroyed and sits above the town of Braubach. The fortress was used for protection rather than a residence for royal families.
Originally it was stone keep was built at the current location in 1100 by the Eppstein family and expanded into a castle around 1117 to protect the town of Braubach. When French emperor Napoleon seized the Holy Roman Empire in 1803 he gave the Marksburg to his ally the Duke of Nassau for his service. He used the castle as a prison and as a home for disabled soldiers. The castle has one of the first known indoor privies.
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Marksburg Southern View
Marksburg Dinning Room
Marksburg Privy
Braubach View
It was a beautiful day to be on a river cruise. We were sailing though the Rhine Gorge when I took this image. I thought it was another castle along the Middle Rhine which is a UNESCO site for over thirty castles that line this part of the river. I was later corrected and found out it was nothing more than a railroad tunnel. Ah Germany, yes a railroad tunnel. You can see the opening behind the tress.
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Railroad Tunnel
Along the Rhine River in Germany there is a stretch of the middle Rhine known as The Rhine River Gorge. It is a popular name for the Middle Rhine Valley, a 65 km section of the River Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen in Germany. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in June 2002 for along this stretch the river is lined with over thirty castles, the most notable being Marksburg Castle which has never even been partially destroyed.
The stretch also has lovely little villages and towns like Saint Goar. This view was taken from a Viking river cruise ship.
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Saint Goar
I cannot decide which version of this image I like the most. Once again the digital dark room makes it in some ways harder to make decisions. In a real darkroom, I probably would ave not wasted the chemical, paper and time to make multiple prints but the digital darkroom makes it easy to create multiple versions and hard to choose just one. Which do you like better?
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Original
Color Edited
Monochrome
Along the Rhine River is a stretch known as the Rhine Gorge which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Forty castles line both sides of this section of the river. Marksburg is the only castle that was never destroyed and sits above the town of Braubach. The castle is not at all “lush” like the Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. It was never used as a residence but rather was a defensive fort. During times of war the Baron’s family would live in the castle along with the knights and horses used for battle.
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Marksburg Castle
View of Braubach. from Marksburg Castle
Before I visited Chichén Itzá for the first time I thought there was just the one giant pyramid. I didn’t realize that there was a whole city of ruins. Since then I have visited other Mayan ruins in the Yucatan and Qunintana Roo. In fact there are many archaeological sites all through Mexico and they are not all Mayan. The Mayan people live primarily in The Yucatan and contrary to popular beliefs they are still here.
This ruin is a smaller pyramid in the jungle near the great pyramid of Chichen Itsa. The great pyramid is considered to be one of the seven wonders of the modern world. This one, not so much but it is still amazing to see it standing almost 2000 years after its construction.
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A Lesser Pyramid
Iguanas in the Yucatan are probably as common as squirrels in the eastern USA. I am sure Mexican people think the gringos are all insane taking pictures of what they probably consider pests. This one was special though. This was taken at Chichén Itza which is a World Heritage site, so that makes him special…right?
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UNESCO Iguana
Imagery Photography 