Ruins paydirt, part II

The second ruins on our pilgrimage today were the Ruinen Hochburg, which put all the other ruins we've visited so far to shame. While most ruins make you think about how cold, cramped, damp, and dark life must have been high up on that isolated hill, Hochburg makes you think about what skilled artisans those stonemasons were, and what nice views those rich folks must have had out the windows of their multiple third-story privies. (Which reminds me to mention that Elias's current favorite bathroom reading material is The Economist. It's in English and has pictures.)

Hochburg is situated on a large hill covered with apple orchards, woods, and vineyards, located outside the town of Sexau, near Waldkirch. According to our Badische Zeitung pocket hiking guide, written documents first refered to Hochburg as early as 1127. Unlike Kastelburg, which changed lineal hands multiple times, the Margraves of Baden-Hachberg owned and expanded on the site from the 12th century until the 1600s. In 1636, during the Thirty Years' War, Habsburg troops conquered and destroyed the bastion. The margrave Friedrich VI had the castle rebuilt beginning in 1660, but his successors vacated and destroyed the new fortifications to prevent an attack by the French in 1681. In 1684, the upper portion caught fire; and in 1688 the French occupied the site and demolished what was left.

For all of that knocking and burning down, a remarkable amount still remains for tourists to view through a romantic lens.