Adventure

The best pizza I've ever tasted was in Italy, of course. There's a secluded village in the Apls where I stayed. The inn was cosy, and from the large windows of the dining room you could see a deep valley full of vineyards. While I was eating, the chef came over and asked me how I was enjoying the food. He was obviously proud of his work and had every reason to be. He also asked me why I'd gone there, if it wasn't for the local wines. Well, I'd been on quite an adventure.

I was happy to share that I was looking for a lost castle that used to belong to my ancestors. I first heard about it when I was a kid. My grandma's sister showed me an old photograph of it, but she didn't know where it was. Every so often I'd try to find it online by its name, and one day I finally did. It wasn't too far from that village. The locals weren't sure what to think about my idea of a ruin in the nearby forest.

I understood why they weren't aware of it. If you look at old drawings of this ruin from the early 19th century, you'll see that trees were growing out of the main tower. Even 150 years ago, nature had already reclaimed it. OK, I started to worry a bit, but didn't falter. So on the next morning, I just strolled into the forest, and followed one path after another, little by little closing on the GPS coordinate.

And there it was! With some epic mountains in the background, there stood the ruins from the photograph. The crumbling walls had trees growing over them. The turret that used to be next to the drawbridge was missing -- it had fallen into a ravine below.

I put my hands on the walls that had been abandoned at least three centuries years ago.

It was lovely and tranquil, just the sound of birdsong and a breeze coming off the mountains.

A piece of forgotten family history rediscovered.

A piece of my family's history

Back in the 14th century, one of my ancestors saved a king from certain death by rescuing him from the clutches of a group of 'Saracen warriors', as the grant of arms says. The king must have been very grateful, as the family name and the crest could be inherited by the female branch in the absence of a male heir.

Listening to my grandmother's sister tell stories about the family history was fun and amazing. But finding the actual genealogical papers in my grandfather's study decades later: that was incredible.