![]() Wrapping up my day, I sat on the hotel’s terrace. Smooth and perfectly flat bike lanes remain separate from car traffic, allowing you to ride in peace while admiring gorgeous riverside scenery. Boats come and go all day for relaxing river trips, though because of the locks, they can take longer than you’d like. As if animating some symphony to the direction of a cosmic conductor, a huge and orderly flock of black birds swooped back and forth like sound waves across the fields and around the spire.īiking and boating are great ways to while away a Beilstein day. Above it a church spire stuck like a slate spike through a hill cloaked in a green corduroy of vineyards. Across the glassy river, the sleepy little ferry was parked. In a moment, it was gone, and I was left with the tranquil essence of the Mosel. ![]() Stepping outside onto my small terrace, I saw a massive barge filled with coal lumbering by on the river. On my first morning here, a rumble shook my room at the Hotel Haus Lipmann and woke me up. Midday in peak season, its charm is trampled by tourists. Today it’s still just grape vines, cobbles, fancy door knockers, the smell of dank back alleys, and Mosel River views. It’s nicknamed the “Sleeping Beauty of the Mosel” because until about 1900, it was inaccessible except by boat. Beilstein has zero food shops, zero ATMs, one bus stop, one mailbox, and 140 residents who run about 30 guest houses and eateries. If you’re looking for convalescence, this is the place to go. Just upstream from Cochem is Beilstein, the quaintest of all Mosel towns. The finely decorated master bedroom contains all the comforts of the time, including a toilet - one of 20 in the castle, each flushed (occasionally) by rainwater. A carved jester and a rose look down on the big table, reminding those who gathered that they were free to discuss anything (“fool’s freedom” - jesters could say anything to the king), but nothing discussed could leave the room (the “rose of silence”). It was a comfortable castle for its day: 80 rooms made cosy by 40 fireplaces and wall-hanging tapestries. The castle is furnished throughout basically as it was 500 years ago. Thanks to smart diplomacy and clever marriages, Burg Eltz avoided wars and was never destroyed, remaining in the Eltz family for eight centuries. Lurking in a mysterious forest about 30 minutes by car from Cochem, and an hour via a handy train/bus connection (summer only), this is my favourite castle in all of Europe. This 19th-century reconstruction is more fanciful than authentic.īurg Eltz, on the other hand, is the real deal. Though it looks majestic - rising dramatically from a hill right above town - Cochem’s castle is better admired from afar. Like most Mosel towns, Cochem grew up below its castle. Throughout the region on summer weekends and during the fall harvest, towns host wine festivals with oompah bands, colourful costumes, and dancing, powered by the good food and wine. ![]() Sample local white wines or Roter-Weinbergs-Pfirsich Likör - a cordial made from the small, tart “red peaches” unique to the Mosel Valley. To join in the fun, take the Sesselbahn (chairlift) up to a hilltop (and restaurant), enjoy the views, hike down, and end the day sampling some of Germany’s finest wines. Stroll the delightful riverfront promenade, play life-size chess, or just grab a bench and watch Germany at play. ![]() The main tourist town of Cochem, tucked between steep vineyards and the river, boasts picturesque medieval streets. The Mosel River, near Germany’s western border, is the Rhine’s peaceful little sister. When I need a dose of quaint cobbled towns and storybook castles, I drop into Germany’s dreamy Mosel Valley.
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