Good morning. We are in Germany today. This is our first time in Germany. We
did have a quick layover in Frankfurt before heading to Italy but this is our first time
really being out and about and we love it so far. We drove an hour last night to Koblenz
where we stayed the night which is also just a cool city. We didn't have a chance to explore
because we just have this one day before we have to catch our flight home. It was about
a little over an hour drive from Frankfurt and it is where the Rhine River and the Moselle
River meet. There are some castles nearby that area as closer to Koblenz than even where
we are now that are in the Rhine Valley we drove along the Moselle river and saw the cutest
little towns. It was a 30 minute drive to our first stop today which is Burg Eltz or Eltz castle
You will pay four euros for parking and they will give you a little guidebook. You can then
either pay two euros per person for the shuttle or you can walk the footpath. We chose to do
the footpath this morning. We're here in October and the leaves are starting to change. It's
really beautiful. It says it's a 15 minute walk. We'll let you know more about it. It is
a little uneven and rocky but not too difficult so far. It may start raining this afternoon
so we may take the shuttle bus back but we'll just kind of see what the weather is like when
we finish. This Castle Burg Eltz or Eltz Castle has been in the possession of the same family
in its entirety so it is very authentic and we're excited to see it. It is very instagramable
when you just like see this the pictures and the videos You'll see it's just gorgeous.
The walk up to the castle was 15 minutes and we got to the parking lot at 9:30 and a couple
minutes after we reached the castle it was super crowded like a tour group of kids showed up
a tour group of older adults showed up so lots of people here. It's a Friday in October
so I can only imagine how crazy it is in the summer. As you walk up the hiking trail the
footpath there's a really pretty view that's definitely worth circling back for if you
took the bus. You just walk up to the castle and go right instead of going straight and
there's a beautiful view there. The castle is open for tours April 1st through November
1st and tickets are 12 euros for adults, seven euros if you're a student, and as of October 14
2022 masks are still required in the castle. We forgot to bring ours up and so they do
have them for sale for 50 cents. Worth it to just buy a new mask instead of having to either
walk all the way back or pay the four euros round trip on the shuttle. The entrance includes
a self-guided tour of the treasury. Everything is in German but they give you a pamphlet
that has translations. There's not a lot of context for many things. It kind of just
says this is this kind of knife or sword or gun but it's pretty interesting. There's a
lot of unique and cool things there. We showed up and the English tour wasn't for another
30 minutes so we went and toured the treasury and then came back and did the English tour.
There's no photographs and I assume that meant videos as well inside the castle so I don't
have anything to share from there but it is really cool. I had a really good time our tour
guide knew so much it was crazy. People asked him these questions and he would just be like
oh that's from you know 1681 and it does this and that and it was very he was very impressive
and I feel like I learned a lot. Also everything felt very authentic like he would say this
is from the 16th centuries from the 17th century and there really weren't like a lot of replicas.
Everything was pretty much original. There were a few things that were being repaired
or restored or that were you know replicas but really not much. So that was pretty cool
to see that everything is really authentic and original. We had lunch here it was actually
pretty good we got the currywurst and the potato soup. I loved the currywurst. Potato soup
was okay in my opinion. Nefi liked it though. And now that we have some food and we're feeling
ready to go we're gonna head back to the car and drive to our next stop.
It started raining on us pretty much right as we started hiking back to the car since
we decided to hike and not take the shuttle bus. And it's stopped raining it's kind of still
misting. We drove 30 minutes from Burg Eltz to the town of Cochem and we parked in the
city center. We're here to see Cochem Castle but the entire town is super cute. You have
to park in the city center and then walk. It is pretty uphill. I'm a little bit out of breath.
After parking in the city center we walked to the bridge because there are just beautiful
views of the castle perched above the river and the cute little houses. So that is a must see
view in my opinion. And then to get to the castle you just have to walk through the old
town which is beautiful and you would want to see it anyway.
The rain has really really stopped which is good. It was misting for a little bit and it
made everything kind of hard to see from the views. We made it to the top of the castle
the top of the hill where the castle is and there are beautiful views of the valley below
and the little town and the river so definitely worth it even if you're not gonna go inside
the castle to come out and check out the views. They also have a restaurant where you can
eat. We got some apple strudel and ice cream and it was really good like apple strudel was
great so I would recommend eating at the restaurant. We did that while we waited for the next English
tour. Tickets are 7 euros for adults, 3.50 for children, and 6 euros for like adult
students. The guided tour takes about 35 or 40 minutes and it's really fun. The guides
wear kind of like medieval outfits which is fun and they're very informative as well. There's
definitely some differences from this castle and the other castle that we saw earlier. This
castle was destroyed in the 1650-ish by the French and then was rebuilt 200 years later
so it's definitely newer. The castle that we Burg Eltz that we saw earlier was original
had never been destroyed. They do let you take pictures and videos in the castle so I was
able to share a little bit of the Interior with you which is fun. This castle is definitely
unique too compared to the other one so I think they're both worth a visit. I was trying
to like pick one I'd be like oh if you have to go in one you have to do this one. I think
it'd be Burg Eltz if you go in one go in that one even though in my opinion they're both
worth it. Doing both of these as a day trip definitely you're gonna have a jam-packed
full schedule. We have one more activity that we're trying to do before we head back to Frankfurt.
And our last activity of the day is a boat tour. So for 11 euros you can take a boat down
the Moselle River and it is really fun activity. We like it because you just have to sit there
and enjoy the surroundings. There's no walking or driving or any kind of work involved so
it's a really nice relaxing way to end the day. They have various times leaving from Moselle
from various locations. We saw two different locations even though I think they're owned
by the same company anyway so I'll include links to some of the companies so you can
look up the times for the departures. It's about an hour tour. They have food and drinks
on board that you can purchase. They do also have like information if that makes sense
like somebody's like announcing information or they have a recorded voice that's telling
you information about what you're going by but it's in German so we don't know what they're
saying. They don't have an English translation. And that is the end of our day trip out here.
We did stay the night in Koblenz so if you were coming from Frankfurt you would have
a little bit more driving than we did. It is about an hour and 45 minute drive back to
Frankfurt from Cochem and so we're gonna try and leave here around 6ish so that we can
have plenty of time to get back and return our rental car before we stay the night and
fly home tomorrow. Coming in the fall was super fun. The leaves are starting to change we're
here mid-october about October 14th and so the leaves are starting to change on the trees
and it's really beautiful. We did have a little bit of rain so with the fall in the winter
you know weather just starts to become more of an issue but really it didn't rain too
much and so we were still able to see and do everything that we wanted to do. October
is also way less crowded like we have the entire half of this boat to ourselves and
so we're really able to spread out. Burg Eltz was pretty crowded though even first
thing in the morning. It is very popular. The second castle that we visited was not as popular.
Cochem Castle our tour group really had like less than eight people we were in English
speaking tour the German tours were bigger but it's been really nice to have less crowds
and be able to explore on our own here. Highly recommend coming out and seeing some of the
Moselle valley as part of your trip to Germany. If you have any questions for us let me know
in the comments and we will see you next time. Don't forget to like and subscribe!