Burg Eltz

This is the beautiful little castle of Burg Eltz. It's in the Mosel river area of Germany (about an hour and a half north of the AF base that we flew out of.) We drove here on our last full day in Europe and it was one of our favorite things. It's a small castle, nestled in a the bottom of a valley with a little river. It was built by the Eltz family and they were smart people. They shared the castle (three families lived there and each had a distinct section of the castle). They were great diplomats and managed to avoid almost all conflict and outlasted the only real person to try and take the castle. Not bad for hundreds of years worth of history. My favorite thing about the castle was it's very liveableness. Most castles seem big, cold, and overly ornate. This one made me want to move my furniture in and live. Sweet little rooms with big fireplaces and whitewashed and painted walls. Rain spouts shaped like dragons. Lots of fun twisty staircases. I even loved the kitchen (though I would like a stove and real sink added.) The bathrooms were pretty nice already. Dark wood panneling, very clean, and flushed by rainwater. Not too bad for an ancient castle. Loved it. Unfortunately there are already live in care takers and I don't think Dell would like the commute to the base. Henry also found some of the rooms (or at least the armour in them) scary.

Walking to the castle

A closer view

The lane