~ Bad Godesberg, 29.08.2020 ~

The ruins of the mediæval Godesburg tower over the declining city of Bad Godesberg.
Most of the castle was razed in 1583 A.D. during the Cologne War, but its keep remains standing.
A restaurant and a hotel settled around it in modern times.

The climb is steep, and takes one past the hollows of former fireplaces, the deep alcoves of arrowslits and windows; up narrow staircases in the tower's thick walls, and finally wooden scaffolding. The empty corbels hint at the many floors the tower once boasted.

The view rewards the effort. Downstream Bonn, and behind it Cologne with its great cathedral; on the other side the Seven Mountains.