Another sensible get up time for us today meant we had a full day ahead of us to get out and about. We decided to head down the road to Burg Eltz, probably the cutest castle in the world.
We parked up near to the castle and went on the ‘Wanderweg’ through the forest along the side of the valley. After about 20 minutes of walking we rounded a corner to see our destination.
The castle is a proper fairy tale one in the middle of the valley on a rocky outcrop with a river running at the bottom. It has round turrets and it looked (as we found out later to be true) like it was a mix and match of buildings joined together.
As we got nearer, it was clear to see that the Sweeney Family curse was once again coming into effect. Probably one of the most beautiful places of the holiday so far had an entire wall covered in scaffolding. Frustration set in as we got closer and we found that the entire castle was being held together with giant pins to renovate and stabilise the schloss.
The scaffold was there for a reason and I was happy with the reason, without it, the whole place would fall apart and it would be lost.
We had a good look round. I would, when taking a camera, make sure you have a decent wide angle lens (a 10-20mm would be ideal) or make sure you have panorama software to get the inside courtyard shots.
The team at the castle do tours in German, Dutch and English, we had to wait for ours for about an hour but it was worth it in the end. We spent some of the time looking at the treasure collection; it was full of very pretty shinies!
We were taken round the castle with a large group (which was a little too large to be honest) and we were forbidden from taking photos, (boo). There was little to take photos of really. Most of the rooms inside were covered in plastic sheets as the interior was being renovated.
Hopefully in time, when the works are finished, the place will be awesome and we will have to come back. There is no expected finishing date for the work.
All in all, it is a lovely place to go. The parking is €1.50 and the adult entry fee is €8.00. It’s not so bad but probably worth waiting a few more years for the work to be finished.
Anna got us an ace little fridge magnet for home and we started the long walk back up the roadway to the car. I’d say, it is easier to park and do the Wanderweg both ways as the gradient is a lot less steep.
Knackered and back at the car, we decided to pop over to Cochem.
Cochem is a very pretty town with lots of nice Tudor style buildings and cobbled streets. It is on the banks of the Mosel River
It was packed. Hundreds of elderly people shuffling round looking at the tat shops, lace and leather merchants and going for coffee and cake. It was brilliant!
Once the rain started, we headed off quickly to the car and back home.
It was a shame when we realised that Cochem, (being a staging post for German forces during the war for the Ardennes ), was completely flattened by the RAF during the 1940s. The town has since been lovingly re-created in a similar style to the original.
Why could Stevenage, Hertfordshire, UK
Even the large Burg that overlooks the town is a re-creation as the original burnt down in 1689.
The rough guide describes Cochem as “Averagely uninspiring”, I kinda agree but it is a generally ‘nice’ place to go. There’s just not that much there apart from the food places and crappy shops. Bit of a shame. We didn’t fancy sitting on the chairlift in the rain to get to the top of the hill to look over the town either. Ah well. At least I saw a dog that looked like an ewok, so it was pretty cool in the end.
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