Our cute little rental car

We’ve been in Europe for a little over a month now, and so far we haven’t seen any castles.  Thus, last weekend we rented a little car and struck out to visit Luxembourg and Germany.

Our first stop was in Maastricht to grab lunch, and we ended up at Twee Heren which had fabulous sandwiches.  We hit the Belgian border shortly after Maastricht and pretty quickly began to notice a change in landscape.  The countryside became more hilly, and we passed some gorgeous ravines and valley views.

There were a bunch of wind turbines, fields, and cute little towns along the way to Vianden.  It was neat to spot the castle in the distance before even getting into the city.  We snapped a few shots from the side of the road and then went in search of our hotel.

Checking in was a little different.  We kept looking for the entrance, but it turns out that the bar also serves as the front desk (the butcher from the shop next door ended up checking us in).  The hotel was lovely, but be warned – air conditioning or fans are not common in the area.  Isaac ended up spending part of the night sleeping on the tile floor in the bathroom to escape the heat.

Cochem Castle

The next morning we went for a walk in the forest above the city while we waited for the castle to open up for tourists.  The highlight of the castle was the view of the town below, and a room which showcased all of the old books.

Next, we set off towards Germany.   The drive was spectacular!  The rolling fields of wheat and lush countryside was picturesque (literally – we took a picture).  We had a hard time following the Google Map directions, so we just followed the signs to different towns along the way and used those as waypoints.  When looking for directions in Cochem we spotted…  ANOTHER CASTLE!

In a moment of spontaneity, we deviated from our plan in a hunt to find the road to this new castle.  Our little car struggled to climb the steep hillside, but it was worth it.  Cochem’s castle ended up being the highlight of our trip.  The castle is surrounded by vineyards, and has a fabulous view of the river and valley.

Vianden Castle

One we got our second fill of castle visiting, we set off to find our hotel in Ernst.  While the hotel lacked AC and fans like the last, the generous servings of Bitburger beer, and great food made up for it.  We spent about four hours on their patio appreciating the scenery.

On Sunday, we went off to find Burg Eltz (the final castle).  We ended up parking our car in Moselkern and hiking up through the surrounding forest.  The castle itself was under renovation, which detracted a bit from the otherwise epic view, but we still had a great time. The “Treasure Chamber” was full of neat weapons and old items too.

Overall the trip was a success (especially considering what we put our little rental car through) and now we are happily back ‘home’ in Leiden.

Our tips:
- Driving on country roads in Germany & Luxembourg is not for the faint of heart
- If it’s hot bring a travel fan or make sure your hotel has AC
- Explore.  If we had just stuck with advice from travel sites, we wouldn’t have seen the castle in Cochem