And Another Train

Our first full day of tourism, we prepped early to catch the 8:45 train to Moselkern where we met Charley Taxi to take us to Burg Eltz.   We had arranged for Charley over the Internet as Burg Eltz is quite isolated and difficult to get to.  Hiking down from the car park the castle magically appeared around a bend.  

Unlike most castles Burg Eltz is not perched on high rocks but nestled on an outcropping in a valley.   This choice of location and it's near inaccessibility has made Burg Eltz one of the very few castles to survive intact for over 800 years and is still owned and occasionally lived in by the same family, the 33rd generation to to so.   For those of you who have never heard of Burg Eltz it is considered one of the best preserved castles in Germany.  

After an amazing tour we stopped in at one of the castle's patio cafe for beer and pretzels.

  Kelly made a new German friend and earned the nickname "Burg Mädchen".

Training back to Cochem we boarded a Mosel river cruise and headed upriver to the tiny time capsule of a village called Beilstein.

 This beautifully preserved village is made up almost entirely of hotels and cafes and is utterly charming.   There is a castle in ruins and a monastery which closed after the last monk retired in 2009.  This beautiful little town is known as the "Sleeping Beauty" of the Mosel Valley and a favourite honeymoon destination for Europeans.  

We cruised back to Cochem along the Mosel River whose valley is literally carpeted with vineyards from riverbank to mountain peak. 

For anyone who would like a different and possibly more irreverent take on our trip Kelly is posting her own thought and photos on her own blog, www.lensandlash.com.