Every now and then, you are able to go to a tourist location and visit it without any other people around you. On those rare occasions when you aren’t surrounded by a hundred people taking selfies in front of what you’ve come to see, it can be a truly memorable moment. It really gives you the opportunity to let your mind wander and imagine what it must have been like to have been there during some historical period of the past. Because we often travel during the off-season, we have been fortunate enough to have a few of these experiences.

For this week’s Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge, we decided to use photos from one of those experiences. When we went to Schloss Stolzenfels on the outskirts of Koblenz we were able to walk the castle grounds without anyone else around us. Walking through the dense forest as you climbed the path up the side of the hillside to reach the castle, it was as if we had been transported to a different time. One could easily imagine horse-drawn carriages making their way up to the castle to attend some royal event. Or perhaps a band of robbers hiding in the woods waiting for the opportunity to make off with some jewels from passing travelers.

It is no wonder that so many fairy tales came from the forests of the German countryside. Walking the roads and trails at night with the fear of wolves, robbers, and other mystical creatures must have been at the forefront of any travelers mind. For a couple of hours, we walked those woods and imagined what life must have been like back in the 16th century.