The best walks and hikes around Thanstein

This is an absolutely stunning area. There are beautiful things to see everywhere you look!

looks almost too good to have been created naturally

This stamping point is one of over 50 natural history sites in Bavaria for which there is a stamping point. The stamp can be entered in a stamp booklet, and if you collect 5 stamps you win a prize.

Thanstein Castle Ruins Uto von Thanstein, a ministerial of the Count of Sulzbach, is mentioned for the first time in a document in 1218, and the Murachers are also named as co-owners. The last representative of the Thansteiners, Alto, becomes abbot of the St. Emmeram monastery in Regensburg in 1358. In Thanstein, a branch of the Zenger family takes over rule from 1353 onwards, and calls itself von Thanstein from then on. In 1390, Thanstein is captured by the Leuchtenbergers during a feud, but not destroyed. In 1425, it survives a looting by the Hussites. In 1530, the Saxon knight Georg von Ebenleben marries the last Zenger, Margarethe. When he takes over rule, he also orders the introduction of the Protestant faith in Thanstein. In the Thirty Years' War, his descendants were expropriated by Elector Maximilian of Bavaria because they fought on the side of the Swedes, but in the Peace of Westphalia it was agreed that the property would be returned. After that, the owners changed hands constantly. The castle burned down almost completely in 1811, but the rule did not end until 1848. The keep was restored in 1887. Extensive security measures and excavations have been carried out since 2011. The core of the complex is a rectangular fort on a granite hilltop, which is relatively rare in the Upper Palatinate. After the latest renovation work, the history of the complex had to be rewritten and the floor plan redrawn. Parts of the walls and the foundation of the keep were dated to around 1200 - in line with the first mention of the castle nobility. Uto was therefore not, as is often said, lord of the nearby Altenthanstein castle near Dautersdorf, but was already at home in what is now Thanstein. The entrance area is dominated by the round keep made of ashlars and rubble stones, which is still 17 m high today. It was added to the complex later and dates from around 1300. The tower has a wall thickness of 2.5 m and an entrance at a height of 5 m. The floors were once separated by wooden ceilings, and the wall recedes slightly at each step. A deep moat, spanned by a stone bridge, separates the inner castle from the large outer castle area. The entrance is a gate system that provides access to the moat, which also forms the driveway to the outer castle. At the top, houses and utility buildings are grouped around a square, some of which incorporate older wall remains. Source: Excerpts from www.burgenseite.de

Kröblitz Castle The origins of the Kröblitz castle and manor date back to around the year 1000. A large defensive structure must have existed on the cellars that still exist. The old castle or palace complex was built on a small promontory on the Schwarzach and was surrounded by the Schwarzach to the east and south. Georg the Prackendorfer is named as the first lord of the castle in Kröblitz in 1255; the manor was awarded to him by the emperor for his services in the crusade. He was followed in 1304 by his brother Heinrich the Prackendorfer, who fought from 1264 to 1268 on the side of the emperor Rudolf of Habsburg against the bishop of Basel, Heinrich of Neuenburg. Kröblitz is mentioned for the first time as an iron hammer in 1423, owned by Mertel Walzer. On April 17, 1517, Elector Ludwig V and Count Palatine Friedrich issued a hammer certificate in favor of Lorenz Heber. The Heber family owned the hammer until 1581. From May 19, 1581, Hans Manner, later Hanns Sannter, is named as the hammer master. After the Thirty Years' War, around 1650, the Kröblitz iron hammer was desolate and burned down. In 1716, Baron Kaspar von Wildenau bought the land and built the baroque castle that still exists today, which was completed in 1735. In 1743, the attached chapel was consecrated in honor of Saint Nepomuk. Baron Michael Franz von Wildenau, who had taken over the land from his parents in 1751, bought the Kröblitz hammer together with the associated flour and sawmill, and a brewery was added in 1773. In 1782, the Kröblitz castle estate and hammer passed from Baron von Wildenau to Willhelm Freiherr von Weinbach for 27,000 guilders. As late as 1870, there was a charcoal blast furnace in Kröblitz, one of the few private smelters in the Upper Palatinate at that time. Iron ore from the Erzberg in Amberg was smelted here and processed into semi-finished products such as rail and bar iron. The smelter was later converted into a mirror grinding and polishing plant. Today, a small power plant stands here. In 1886, Johann Hofmann from Nabburg acquired the remaining Kröblitz estate with the castle, and it has been in the family ever since. The names changed through marriage from Hofmann to Sinzger to Grimm. In 1973, the property was completely renovated and guests have been entertained in the castle walls ever since. Source: Excerpts from www.wikipedia.de / www.schloss-kröblitz.de

The terrace operation is great again

Wonderful view over the Murnthal

Definitely worth a detour