Burg Eltz

by Bradley

On the walk down to the castle

          Katherine found this castle, Burg Eltz, when she did research for our trip, Tim and Stephanie had never been and I don't think they had heard about it either. Since it was a new experience for all of us it made it that much more fun.

          The really unique part of this castle is that it is actually located in a valley; every other castle we've seen is on a hill for obvious defense reasons. We were told that it is located where it is because it protected a valuable trade route along the water. To me, it looked like a tiny creek running along side it but I imagine that it was probably a much larger river back when the castle was built. I still prefer Tim's explanation of why it's in a valley "It was probably some prince who was just confused."

---

          Another thing we really liked was that we basically got a private tour, no one else bought tickets for our time slot for a tour in English so it was just the four of us and the guide! I also found it very interesting that in the kitchen there is a huge section of a tree used for chopping meat and as a cutting board. It is sooo big, to this day they do not know how they got it in there. It couldn't fit through the door or window, there is no evidence that either was larger at one point and made smaller and the kitchen is nowhere close to ground level; if they had built around it they would have had to hoist it high into the air during construction.

Visiting Information:
          Parking: 2€
          Time to walk from parking: 15-20 min (it's uphill on the way back!)
          Hours: Daily 3/24 - 11/3   9:30am -5:30pm, Tours every 15 min in
                         German, English and French
          Length of tour: 35-40 min and you can enter the museum after at your
                                          leisure.
          Cost: 9€ per person
Notes:
          There is a bus that runs regularly from the parking lot to the castle for
          which you may buy a ticket.