Here you can find even more info and inspiration for your family vacation: excursion destinations, sights and hiking routes as well as stories about knights and castles.
With this interactive game, little explorers become heroes! Together with Knight Reinhard the Sprightly, families go on a special journey: At interesting destinations throughout Rhineland-Palatinate, riddles and tasks await children with which they can collect points. Those who have enough points will be admitted to the Knights of Falkenfels. We explain how it works and what you can discover.
On the net under family-adventure.rlp-tourismus.com families can register directly. All you have to do is choose a really chivalrous order name and off you go! Everywhere in Rhineland-Palatinate where it is particularly exciting and interesting, there are tasks and riddles for the knightly family adventure: Where can the wildcat be found in the zoo or the small legendary Elwetritsche hidden in the treetop path? Who will find the hand-carved chest at Berwartstein Castle? No matter where the family order of knights enters the adventure, the route can be chosen freely. There is also no time pressure. The family adventure can be played during a weekend in the Palatinate Forest as well as during the entire summer vacation.
By the way: Knight Reinhard the Sprightly is always there. He and other knights like Henry the Hearty or Edana the Eager join in, tell exciting stories about their regions in the audio, and even call in from time to time to help with the tasks, or they send little riddles by text message. With every task you solve, you get a little closer to your goal of finally becoming a member of the knightly order Falkenfels. Tip: try out the free "Ritterophon". If you call the phone number of the Order of Knights Falkenfels, you can listen to a new knight's tale from Rhineland-Palatinate on the first Sunday of every month.
Knight Franz the Fearless knows his way around the idyllic Nahe Valley, because he is a true Nahe native. And he really likes it there. He is particularly fond of the spas with their thermal springs, because not only he, but also his mare Hildegard, is into relaxation and wellness. And the two of them have earned it, because when they're not roaming the national park, they're protecting the region from dangerous dragons and evil robbers.
Together with Franz and "Hildi" we also go deep underground, into the copper mine Fischbach to the glittering gemstones in the three mines of Steinkaulenberg. The stones found here are not only precious, they are also said to have great healing powers. In addition, the gemstones are the subject of a legend about beauty, treasures and villains, which Franz likes to tell.
Incidentally, Franz the Fearless learned his chivalrous courage in the depths of the forests, where he fled from bears, appeased wild boars and howled with the wolves. Today he knows that in the forest with the animals, not everything is as it seems. In the Wildenburg open-air game reserve, he is happy to show how to find animals that are otherwise hard to spot.
The people who live in the Westerwald are called "Wäller". Although he already has gray curls and wears glasses, he is also called "the youthful one". With him, it is really fun to walk along the beautiful Westerwaldstieg, to paddle on the Wied, to hike in the Basalt Park or simply to let flat stones slide over the water on the Dreifelder Weiher. He travels around the Westerwald with his former brewery horse Helga, always on the lookout for new adventures. He and Helga even took on a dragon once ... a heroic story!
But even experienced knights like Jupp can still learn something. About dragon burns and bruises, for example. The best place to do that is the Kneipp Pharmacy Garden in Bad Marienberg, with its many medicinal plants and barefoot park. Jupp also likes to come along to the Stöffel Park on the heights of the Westerwald. Because there are still many treasures to be found in the old dumps of basalt mining: old machines and prehistoric fossils, for example. So it's never boring with Jupp - Westerwald knight power! By the way, Jupp's favorite beer is Hachenburger, which also explains how he came to be a good customer of the brewery.
In the Hunsrück there are still plenty of well-preserved castles where parties are celebrated, battles are fought and weapons are forged. At Kastellaun Castle, Loretta is the cunning lady of the castle. She not only knows a lot about knightly life in the fortresses, but also about nature and the wild rugged wilderness around Kastellaun. There is a lot of history to be discovered in Kastellaun, especially in the castle ruins above the town. The lower castle, which is still well preserved, now houses the "House of Regional History", which no one traveling through the Hunsrück should miss.
One of the newest structures in the region is the Geierlay suspension bridgewhich crosses the Mörsdorfer Bachtal. However, this is only something for those who are free from giddiness, so rather nothing for knight Reinhard the Spry. Loretta, on the other hand, regularly trains her knightly strength here. The Geierlay suspension bridge is 360 meters long; in the middle, visitors' gaze plunges more than 100 meters into the depths.
Incidentally, the infamous Schinderhannes, who escaped from his prison tower in Simmen, also roamed the Hunsrück. The tower still exists today, and there you can learn in the exhibition what the villain was all about. Loretta the Cunning also has her own personal history with such a Hannes. But with cleverness she may manage to win him over ...
Cover picture: Welcome to the legendary robber baron castle Berwartstein © Rhineland-Palatinate Tourism GmbH / Dan Mausolf
