May 4, 2018. Cochem to Burg-Eltz castle. Castle number two on our European Castle Road Trip… Burg Eltz is about 30 minutes Northeast of Cochem in Wierschem, Germany. It is a beautiful drive through bright yellow canola fields. Access to the castle is a footpath that is a 15 minute walk on a dirt path. It was a very easy walk through a beautiful forest. At the end of the path you arrive at the castle bridge. The castle is built up on a rock hill and surrounded by the forest.
Eltz Castle is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family (the Eltz family) that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. Bürresheim Castle, Eltz Castle and Lissingen Castle are the only castles on the left bank of the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate which have never been destroyed.
The castle is a so-called Ganerbenburg, or castle belonging to a community of joint heirs. This is a castle divided into several parts, which belong to different families or different branches of a family; this usually occurs when multiple owners of one or more territories jointly build a castle to house themselves.
The oldest part of the castle, having begun in the 9th century as a simple manor with an earthen palisade.
Today the Rübenach and Rodendorf families’ homes in the castle are open to the public, while the Kempenich branch of the family uses the other third of the castle. The public is admitted seasonally, from April to October. Visitors can view the treasury, with gold, silver and porcelain artifacts and the armory of weapons and suits of armor.
It was a lovely day and a great outing. We took the walk on the footpath to the castle and explored. Then had lunch at the little snack shop right past the castle gate and walked back on the path to the car. It was the perfect stopover to see a castle and stretch our legs on our journey.