I heard about Hechingen from Ms. S and Mr. N, our hosts in München, who described it as an insider tip – the most famous Hohenzollern castle is at Sigmaringen, but this one, at Hechingen, is a hidden gem.

And when I saw it from far away

it reminded me of a book with germanic fairytales from when i was a kid, where they were talking about a dark count of Zollern.

And indeed, i was to find out that this hill was called Zollern hill, and at its top

was the impressive Hohenzollern burg, site of origin for the famous royal family of Hohenzollern.

Walked up on a steep path with a green sealing

to finally get to the fortress gate.

To get to the courtyard you had to pass through a spiraled way guarded by a tall wall

and then through a tunnel

where you could see stuff like this through the windows

and bang, the main courtyard

of course featuring a canon, skillfully operated by a brave warrior.

Did the fortress tour, guided, unfortunately no pictures. Pretty neat. One of the highlights was the family tree right at the beginning, featuring Carol I, Carol II, Ferdinand I and Michael I of Romania – the kings of Romania between 1881 and 1947 were from the Hohenzollern family.

After the tour, i checked out the dungeons (is this the word?), where you can see the rock which the foundation was built on, and some cool corridors.

Out in the sun again, i enjoyed a traditional german gourmet meal – sausage and french fries, and, after a last look at Svabia extending beautifully in front of our eyes,

I left.