Saturday continued

We left Munster in the late afternoon and drove to Bad Bentheim, just east of the Dutch/German border.

 It is a town on a hill - yes, you heard me right, a hill.  And at the top of the hill is Bentheim Castle.

We spent the night in a charming pension that used to be a watermill and in the morning headed up to the Castle.  Extensive renovations were completed on the castle between 1882-1914.  However, it was occupied and suffered little damage during the second world war.  It has been memorialized by Dutch paitner, Jacob van Ruisdeal.

The castle has walls about 3 feet thick, with a walkway around the outside

 From up here you can actually look over the surroundings

There is a lovely inner courtyard

The upper floors on the left of the photo above are occupied, today, by Hereditary Prince Carl Ferdinand of Bentheim [34 years old] and his wife, Elna Margret.  Part of the connection between this German castle and the Dutch royal family is because Queen Emma (1858-1934) was the sister of  Princess Pauline, wife of Prince Alexis II.  He oversaw the renovations mentioned above.

Really very lovely.

More adventures continue.  Next blog.