Burg Eltz Castle and Cochem

Stunning.

Guten Abend from Cochem! Today marked our second day in Germany (and second accidental weinfest day, but who’s counting?) and we had a great time. Our BnB is right near the centre of Cochem - we started today with a nice hearty breakfast (the kids have been loving sampling all of the different breakfast foods so far on this trip - lots of pastries, breads, meats cheeses, etc) and then headed back to our car (parked a bit of a ways from the BnB because the Weinfest has closed most of the streets, including the one we are staying on) and headed off to the Burg Eltz castle about 30 mins away. 

This castle is ridiculously gorgeous

Brad is the one who planned most of this trip - he spent much of Covid avidly listening to history podcasts and reading history books and as a result has developed quite the list of places he wants to visit. Near the top of that list was the Burg Eltz castle. It is a medieval castle dating from the 12th century and it’s still owned by a branch of the House of Eltz and is one of the only castles of the region that has never been destroyed. The castle is perched on a steep rock promontory, and is absolutely stunning to see.  

We arrived mid-morning and took a short shuttle from the parking lot to the castle (there is also a foot path, but in the interest of time, we opted for the shuttle - I think the hike would be super nice though). The construction of the castle is really unique because it was historically occupied separately by three different branches of the Eltz family, who constructed three completely separate homes within the castle walls.  

The girls were immediately enchanted with the fairytale appearance of the castle and they also took the time to make sure they would be camera ready for their castle visit. :)

Traveling with teens/tweens? You are relegated to the role of insta photographer.

Could I just get one nice photo with no one pulling a weird face? No? Okay then...

We explored the Treasury, which boasted all kinds of interesting objects, ranging from medieval armour and weaponry to fine china and serveware.

Spectacular old keys from the Treasury 

The castle inside was only able to be seen via guided tour, so we hopped on an English tour with an excellent guide who brought us through the castle and explained all about the construction, use and history of the building.  After the tour, we took a bit more time for a few more photos and then headed back to Cochem.

Along the way, eagle-eyed Brad spotted a bakery, so we stopped for a delicious but not especially nutritious lunch of savoury and sweet pastries. They were super yum and I regret nothing.

Just eating the most delicious lemon chiffon Swiss roll. Yummmmm

As Brad alluded to yesterday, navigating Cochem during Weinfest has been a bit of an adventure because so many streets are closed to cars that Google Maps keeps telling us to drive down streets blocked with literally hundreds of wine-imbibing pedestrians. But we eventually found our way back to a parking spot close enough to our BnB but also well above the crowded fray. :)

When Brad and Rosie were exploring the city last night, Rosie spotted a lit cross high above the city so today their plan was to climb up and see that view point. Turns out that while there is a steep hike that leads there, one can also hop on a chairlift and get a ride most of the way up.  Since we didn’t really have time allotted for a serious hike today (and two of the party didn’t really want to do such a hike), we opted to ride the chairlift up to a spectacular vista over Cochem.

Family pic at the Pinner Kreuz viewpoint over Cochem

We took the Cochemer Sesselbahn up to the Pinner Kreuz viewpoint and enjoyed a panoramic vista of the town and its looming castle. We also encountered another family at the top - they had two girls, a few years younger than Zoe and Rosie, and I couldn’t help but laugh when the dad likened successfully photographing his progeny to trying to take a photo of maggots as the two little girls squirmed and wriggled all over the summit and their mom (and dad) did their best to block all opportunities for the girls to pitch themselves off the cliff. It gave me flashbacks to that time in the Faroes when the girls mountain goated their way down a steep Ridgeline.

After, we headed back to the BnB for a little RnR before heading out for night two of Weinfest. :) While we really enjoyed our meal last night at Zom Stuffje, a lot of restaurants are closed on Mondays and we had passed a pretty delicious smelling bratwurst stand, so we opted for a dinner of Bratwurst and other tasty festival foods tonights (even tried a fantastic vegetable platter of sauteed mushrooms, fried cauliflower and sauce that was incredibly flavourful and delicious). 

Next level street meat. Flavourful snappy brötwurst in delicious crusty rolls. A bit of a size mismatch between bun and sausage but we all very much enjoyed.

NOM. Wandered around the town enjoying the live music, sipping wine and enjoying the beautiful evening atmosphere of Cochem.  The girls have been highly and repeatedly amused at my attempts to speak German over the past couple of daysd(58 straight days of Duolingo has to count for something, right?), so when they begged for yet another soft drink, Brad and I handed them some Euros and made them go order for themselves. I’m sure they’ll forgive us eventually. 

If you're going to make fun of mom's bumbling German, you can order your own dang churros.

Tomorrow we make our way to Colmar, France, with a couple of stops along the way.