Europe

03
Oct
2017
Villa Ludwig – A Great Hotel In Southern Germany

Villa Ludwig – A Great Hotel In Southern Germany

The first time we stayed in Schwangau, we made our home at the Villa Ludwig, a small eighteen room hotel just on the outskirts of town. We were so taken with this little hotel that we booked an even longer visit here on our second trip.

Vilage of Schwangau

Tourists can take over the village of Schwangau at times, spilling into the streets. Locals seem to take it in stride. Photo by Bonnie Fink.

Schwangau is a small town along the southern border of Germany, within a literal stone’s throw of the border with Austria. In fact, when driving around just randomly looking over the country side, much of our sightseeing was in Austria. Of course, with the European Union fully entrenched here, it’s hard for us outsiders to actually know when we leave one country and enter another. The signs denoting the event are not much different than driving from one state to another in the US. If anything, they’re usually smaller and less significant.

The hotel is modern. It was first in operation in 2012. The main lobby or reception area serves as a dining room where breakfast and an afternoon snack are provided. There is underground parking, and there’s reasonably good internet.

Neuschwanstien Castle

Here’s a view of Neuschwanstien Castle as seen from Villa Ludwig. Many of the rooms have a castle view from the balcony. Photo by Donald Fink.

The hotel has a great view of Neuschwanstien Castle. This is the famous castle designed and built by Mad King Ludwig II. King Ludwig grew up in the village’s other castle, Hohenschwangau, which was built by his father, Maximillian II of Bavaria.

The Disney fans in the crowd will know that Walt Disney’s inspiration for Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom came in part from the Neuschwanstien Castle here in Schwangau. You can certainly see the resemblance when comparing the two. It seems that the parts of Neuschwanstien that were most attractive and over the top were re-created with gusto in Cinderella’s Castle. We haven’t visited the castles on this trip, preferring instead to concentrate on other activities in the surrounding area, but we wrote about the castles of Schwangau on our first visit here.

Walking to town from Villa Ludwig takes about five minutes. This is good. There’s lots of parking in town, but it’s so busy with tourists that having a free parking spot underground at the hotel is a real treat. We have been able to access all parts of town and the castles on foot, saving the car for our adventures into the alps of Austria, located just behind the castles.

Pricing

This hotel is not a youth hostel. You won’t find it in a book about how to get around Europe on $15.00 a day. In fact, it’s the most expensive hotel we’ve stayed in this trip. But is it worth it? For us, it’s been worth every penny. The price included internet, breakfast, parking, snacks in the afternoon, free bicycle “rental”, and free concierge service.

If you’re planning any activities in town that require a ticket, don’t pass up the concierge service at the hotel. They can arrange everything with absolutely no trouble for you. The one day we walked by a ticket center in town, the line for castle tours was out the door and wound around the street; not our idea of the best use of your time.

The bottom line is, sure this hotel was more expensive than others we’ve found, but the value was certainly there. In fact, when it comes to value, the prices at Villa Ludwig were similar to prices at other hotels in Schwangau, so it might be argued that with the amenities they offer, it’s actually a bit better value than other establishments.

Everyone at the hotel seems to speak good English, including the folks that service the breakfast in the morning. We didn’t speak to the house keeping people, but they probably speak English too.

Chalet

Villa Ludwig Chalet

The ordinary rooms at Villa Ludwig are good, but if you need a little more room, or more privacy, there’s always the Chalet in the back. This is new for this year and should be popular with guests traveling with large families. Photo by Donald Fink.

There’s a separate building that just recently opened in the back of the hotel called the Chalet. This building houses only two suites, each with multiple bedrooms in different configurations. This Chalet is for groups, families, or folks wanting a very special place to stay while in Schwangau. They have kitchens and separate living rooms apart from the bedrooms. They’re complete apartments, appointed in a tastefull and thoughtful way that lets you know that you’re in a place where kings once lived.

The Chalet is not for everyone, but can be something to think about if you’re visiting with a small group or family.

Rooms

Junior Suite ”Parsifal” at Villa Ludwig

View of the Junior Suite ”Parsifal” at Villa Ludwig. There was plenty of room, lots of electrical outlets, and good WiFi. Photo by Donald Fink.

Our room was a more or less common room with a single king size bed, done in the European style. This means that the bed was made with two separate quilts. There were plenty of plugs around for our electronics and the WiFi signal was strong in the room. There was a fully equipped mini bar which we partially unloaded to make room for a carton of milk. There was also a kettle and a coffee machine.

We also had a view of Neuschwanstien Castle by stepping out on th balcony and looking left. Other rooms had better views but they were more expensive suites. Some rooms have no view of the castle. You need to specifically ask for a Castle view when you make your reservations.

Services

The staff has a concierge service and will take care of reservations for Castle tours, or just about any other kind of excursion you could want. Their German is probably better than yours, so it’s not a bad idea to let them help if you’re the least bit uncomfortable about this kind of thing. Also, if the reservations you’re trying to make are in any way complicated, it would be a good idea to let them help since their language skills—meaning their ability to translate into English—are all excellent. We didn’t use their service since we didn’t do any organized tours this time around, but we did consult about other things to do since they’re locals and know the area.

Tiefgarage at Villa Ludwig

The underground Garage at Villa Ludwig. This guest parking area has nineteen spaces. There are eighteen rooms in the hotel. Looks like they’ve got it covered. Photo by Donald Fink.

There are nineteen parking spaces under the hotel, plus a staff parking area outside to take care of staff and service vehicles. Since there are eighteen rooms, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll have a place to park if you bring a car.

Breakfast is daily. They serve American style bacon and scrambled eggs. You may think it’s unusual to mention this, but after a couple of months in Europe, we get excited when we see something besides hard boiled eggs and cold sandwich meat for breakfast. And of course, there are the usual pastries, jams and jellies. And if you actually like hard boiled eggs and cold sandwich meats for breakfast, they have those too.

We prefer walking, but we already mentioned that the hotel provides free bicycles and helmets if you prefer to move around the village and surrounding area that way. They can suggest some routes to see the countryside too.

The internet is free here, which is a change from our stay two years ago. Latency times were in the 20-30 millisecond range and downloads were as fast as 15 megabits, but when afternoon comes around and everyone is on the internet, it slows down quite a bit. We suspect that if we cared to look into it, we would find that the internet service is probably dictated by what’s available in this small town. We could complain to the hotel, and they could complain to the internet provider, but it probably wouldn’t get any better any time soon. It’s just how things are in a small town.

Truthfully, the internet is good enough to check email and do some casual browsing in the evenings. At all other times, it’s good for streaming, skyping, or whatever high bandwidth activity you have in mind. You just have to pick you’re times carefully if you’re going to do something that requires a lot of bandwidth. We’re just spoiled.

We would be hard pressed to say that Villa Ludwig is our absolute favorite hotel of this trip simply because we’ve stayed in so many great places. We wrote about Stumberger’s in Cochem and Weinhaus Uhle in Schwerin earlier, and if we visit those areas again, we’ll certainly use them. But when we come to the southern part of the country, and we certainly will, Villa Ludwig will be our first choice. We’ve stayed here twice now in two years, and haven’t been disappointed yet.

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Europe, Hotels, Travel, 1 comment
25
Sep
2017
Weinhaus Uhle – A Four Star Hotel in the German Town of Schwerin

Weinhaus Uhle – A Four Star Hotel in the German Town of Schwerin

There are many places to visit in Germany, and many of them are quite popular. One town in the northeast that’s not yet recognized as one of Germany’s best is Schwerin. We learned about this little taste of the real Germany on a Baltic Cruise a few years ago. Our ship, the Norwegian Star, docked in Warnemünde and we made a bus ride down to Schwerin to see the Schwerin Castle.

After that excursion, we made up our minds to come back one day, and this was the year for that trip. While in Schwerin, we stayed in a hotel called the Weinhaus Uhle. The nearly new eighteen room four start hotel is located almost in the very center of town, literally 30 seconds walk from the town square. It’s in a building that was once a wine wholesaler.

Wine Shop and Bistro

Wine Shop and Bistro at Wienhaus Uhle. Photo by Donald Fink.

The story goes that in 1751, a wine merchant by the name of Johann Uhl founded a wine retail company. He was officially recognized by Duke Christian Ludwig as a Frey-Wien-Schenker, or, Free Wine Merchant. That title enabled him to store and sell wine, brandy, and beer inside the city walls of Schwerin and around the immediate countryside. Over the years, the business grew as it was passed down from one generation to the next, and at one point, the family name changed from Uhl to Uhle.

The wine business survived the great depression as well as World War II, but was unable to thrive after the war in the Communist run GDR (German Democratic Republic). It was nationalized and operated by the government until 1991, when it was handed back to the family after re-unification.

Today, Weinhaus Uhle is a four star hotel rather than a wine warehouse. It’s operated by Dirk and Annika Frymark of Schwerin. They’ve done a remarkable job in restoring the property to its original period look while maintaining a comfortable and modern hotel, restaurant, and wine bar for their guests.

Guest Room at Wienhaus Uhle

Double room deluxe with Balcony at Weinhaus Uhle. Photo by Donald Fink.

We were on the second floor with a balcony that looked into a common area shared by local apartments, so it was quiet. We didn’t get to enjoy the balcony much this trip because it rained much of the time we were there, but the balcony was there just the same.

The room was large. Actually, it was very large by European standards. The bathroom was modern and functional with a large shower complete with a rain head. There was fast internet on the property and plenty of electrical outlets. We point this out because the building is old, dating back to at least 1763. The interior walls were at least a foot thick. Still, the Frymarks had taken the time to have the building properly wired with electricity, cable for television, and WiFi throughout. There was even an elevator that ran from the top floor to the underground parking garage.

Details in the Dining Room

Incredible ceiling and details in the Dining Room at Weinhaus Uhle. Photo by Donald Fink.

Breakfast was served in the main restaurant each morning. It was buffet style with scrambled eggs, American bacon, and all the rest for a typical European breakfast bar, including the meats, cheeses, and hard boiled eggs plus several kinds of rolls and jellies.

The price for staying here was modest considering the quality. Parking was additional, but that seems to be normal in Europe. Breakfast was at an extra cost too, which again, seems to be normal for European hotel accommodations. Internet was free, which seems to be trending towards the normal here in Germany. Two years ago, internet worth using was at an extra price.

Parking here was kind of strange. This is both a good thing and an inconvenience. It was inconvenient because the streets were restricted to pedestrian traffic after 10:00 am. You could drive to the entrance of the hotel, but a hotel staff member needed to go with you to lower some barriers in order for you to get around to the parking garage. From strictly a parking point of view, this was a minor annoyance.

The reason for the vehicle restrictions was because this hotel is right downtown in the historic park of old town, almost in the town square. For us, it was worth a minor inconvenience with the parking situation in order to be so close to everything. As we mentioned earlier, the town square was only 30 seconds walk away. The Schwerin Castle, and Lake Schwerin itself, was no more than about two minutes walking time from the hotel. There was a more modern area complete with a small shopping mall, a Subway, and a McDonald’s that was less than five minutes walking from the hotel.

Market Square Schwerin

The colorful Market Square is a great place to start your adventure in Schwerin. It was literally 30 seconds walk from the front door at Wienhaus Uhle. Photo by Donald Fink.

They say location is everything, and in the case of Weinhaus Uhle, it was an important draw. But it didn’t hurt that this hotel had everything else in its favor. Modern, clean, service oriented, and comfortable. If we ever return to Schwerin—and we probably will—this will automatically be our first choice in hotels in the area.

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Europe, Hotels, Travel, 0 comments
20
Sep
2017
Schwerin

Schwerin

There’s a small German town in northeastern Germany called Schwerin. It’s about two hours north of Berlin and about an hour and a half east of Hamburg. We would of course like to pretend that we’re world travelers and that we simply knew about this little town all along, but we stumbled upon it mostly by accident a few years ago when we were on a Baltic Sea Cruise. We were on the Norwegian Star. Great Ship, and the Baltic Sea cruise was worth repeating.

The ship stopped in at Warnemünde and we wanted to see the Schwerin Castle. The Castle was rich with history and the walking tour was fun, including the time we were able to spend on the grounds outside the castle without a tour guides supervision. But what impressed us most was the time we spent in town, just wandering around, having coffee, and other tourist activities. We decided then to come back some day and spend more time.

Weinhaus Uhle

Entrance to Weinhas Uhle. Parking is available underground. Photo by Donald Fink,

On this latest road trip of Germany, we arrived in Schwerin on a Thursday. Our GPS took us to the front door of the hotel, but from there we needed a little help in getting around the block to the parking garage. The city center is oriented towards pedestrian traffic and barriers go up in many of the streets every morning at around 10:00 am, leaving just enough time for morning deliveries. The rest of the day in Old Town Schwerin belongs to foot traffic while people walk about and enjoy the town.

Fruit and Vegetables in Schwein

The farmers market also had a large assortment of fruit and vegetable for sale. Photo by Bonnie Fink.

And Schwerin was not just about tourism, although that seems to be a big part of its activities. During our stay, there was a street festival that took place, in spite of the rain and wind. On Sunday, there was a stage erected in the town square, and local kids, bands, and other local talents performed for their friends and neighbors. This was not the polished professional performances that would be brought in for tourists, but rather, it seemed like the locals entertaining themselves and families. On another day, the town square transformed into a farmer’s market with vendors selling breads, veggies, fruit, meats, and hand made goods. Again, this kind of activity seemed more appropriate for the local crowd and was fun for us to be part of it.

In spite of all the attention to local activities, we didn’t get the impression that the locals were trying to exclude tourists from their activities. It just seemed like they had additional things for the locals to do beyond the usual tourist attractions. There was a sense of community among the locals we saw attending these more locally oriented activities.

In the midst of all the local activities, it seemed that every other business in the old town area where we stayed was a coffee shop, restaurant, ice cream shop, or jewelry store, along with a mix of other tourist smart industries. There were several of those tourist trams to take people around town. You know the ones. They look like trains, complete with a tractor that looks like a locomotive, with a driver that speaks something similar to English.

Schwerin spent time in east Germany, as part of the German Democratic Republic, so it’s tourist industry as we know it has only been underway since 1990, when East and West Germany were reunited.

Golden Dome of Schwerin

The Golden Dome of Schwerin Castle dates between 1847 to 1857. Photo by Bonnie Fink.

The principal draw to the town is the famous Schwerin Castle, which was built in its current version between 1847 and 1857 by the Grand Duke of Mechlenburg-Schwerin, Frederich Franz II. There were several other buildings and fortresses built on the island where the Castle now stands, the earliest one dating back to as early as 942.

In 1990, after re-unification, Schwerin Castle was made the home of the State Parliament for the newly re-instituted German State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. This designation has helped to ensure that the castle is maintained in good repair and is open to the public. Parliament viewing is available when they’re in session, but there are also tours of the living quarters of the earlier Duke of Mechlengurg. There’s a museum as well as two restaurants on the property too. It’s probably not an all-day adventure to see this interesting building and its grounds, but you can certainly spend several hours enjoying all it has to offer.

Schwerin Cathedral

Schwerin Cathedral is the oldest surviving building in Schwerin. The original cathedral was built in the 1100’s and soon became too small. The present building was started in 1270 and added to over the centurys. Photo by Donald Fink.

We mentioned that tourism didn’t really get started in Schwerin until German Re-unification in 1990, but that’s not quite true. The Schwerin Cathedral, located near the Old Town center, was responsible for a great many pilgrimages throughout the centuries.

The original Church was built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony around the time he conquered the area in 1160. The church was always a pilgrim’s church, dedicated to St. Mary and St. Joseph, but in 1222 a local ruler returned from Jerusalem with a drop of Christ’s blood. The church almost instantly became too small to handle the increase in pilgrims, and a new church was built. By 1270, the church had continued to grow and construction of the present cathedral began, doubling its size.

There were no stone quarries near Schwerin so the decision was made to build the church from bricks. This church is one of the first and still one of the largest structures in northern Germany to use the architectural style known as Brick Gothic, or Backsteingotik.

The Steeple, or Tower of the church is 117.5 meters (over 385 feet) tall. Inside is a massive pipe organ. Too bad we didn’t hear it play. Our understanding is that you can hear the organ in the summer months, on Mondays, at 2:30 pm. Okay, good to know.

We enjoyed our time in Schwerin. We didn’t see nearly as many castles as we had on our list because simply walking out the door and enjoying the town seemed to get in the way. That should tell you something about the town because we really like visiting castles.

When we visited Schwerin for the first time in 2015, we posted about the day trip here.

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Europe, Travel, 1 comment
12
Sep
2017
Düsseldorf at a Glance

Düsseldorf at a Glance

Düsseldorf is one of the larger cities in Germany. Located in the western portion of the country, it’s the capital of the German Republic State of North Rhine-Westphalia, which borders Belgium and The Netherlands on Germany’s western boundary. Since 1949, Düsseldorf has been considered the fashion capital of Germany, which explains all the seriously high fashion clothing stores we saw when walking through the ultra-modern downtown districts, looking for coffee. There are a little over 500,000 people living in the city limits, with about 100,000 of them transplants from other than Germany, but mostly from around the European Union.

Outdoor Cafes, AltStadt, Dusseldirf

In the Altstadt, old town, there are many outdoor cafes along the Rhine River. Photo by Donald Fink.

There’s a vibrant Old Town along the Rhine River, where we spent some time wandering the shops and cafes. We found a great American style steak house called Block Steak House. It turns out that they’re a relatively large chain of restaurants with locations throughout Europe. 

There was one Starbucks in town that we found. The Starbucks app lists one in Old Town, but it turns out that it’s closed, permanently. Interesting that the Starbucks app lists it as an open restaurant, but Google Maps lists it as closed.. Hmm. Still, we found another one that was open in a shopping mall in the Konigsallee fashion district, near the park, and less than a mile’s walk from our hotel.

Melia Dusseldorf

Melia Düsseldorf is a very modern hotel, conviently located about 15 minute’s walking time to the Konigsallee shopping area or a 15 minute walk to Altstadt, Old Town, through the Hofgarten, Park. Photo by Bonnie Fink.

While in Düsseldorf, we stayed in a Melia Hotel. Melia is a European hotel chain that we’ve used before with good results. We use them for the same reasons we use Holiday Inn Express in the States. We get loyalty points, which leads to free nights and therefore reduced overall costs, and we also have an expectation of quality. At Melia in Dusseldorf, we found a relatively modern building with clean, large rooms. There was good internet in the rooms that was included with the price of the room. The restaurant served buffet style breakfast that was not automatically included in the room price, but available for a nominal fee. They also served dinner, but we didn’t sample evening meals, preferring instead to find our meals outside in one of the many close-by restaurants. Parking was an additional €25.00 per day. We would normally be annoyed at the parking price, but having just left New York City where the price to park (assuming you could live through a car ride to the hotel) was a staggering $70.00 per night! It made Dusseldorf seem like a bargain.

From our hotel, all destinations led through the Hofgarten, the oldest park in Germany. The first portions of the Hofgarten were built in the 18th century. We transited the Hofgarten on our way to the Old Town, and on our way to Starbucks in the Konigsallee Shopping Area. In each case, the walk was just under a mile, and we only made it through a tiny portion of the park. In terms of beauty, the Hofgarten isn’t Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, nor is it Central Park in New York City, but it does have its appeal. If we lived in Düsseldorf, we would no doubt spend a lot of time relaxing there.

This is the very popular Konigsallee shopping area . Photo by Bonnie Fink.

Speaking of the Konigsallee, it’s a major upscale shopping district in the heart of Düsseldorf. It features world renowned clothing, jewelry, and just about every other fine shopping store you could want. It was a place where, if we needed a new pair of cuff links, we would certainly be able to find them, but we might have to think about the purchase awhile before committing the money. Of course, on this trip, we didn’t feel the need for new cuff links, so we just went to Starbucks.

We had a good few days in Düsseldorf. If we needed to go there again for some reason, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. We enjoyed it like we enjoy pretty much any big, busy city. We found the people to be polite and friendly. They seemed to be used to tourists and our language challenges. Actually, most people we encountered spoke English. It was just kind of surprising that most of the people we interacted with were not native German speakers, but imports themselves.

Can we recommend Düsseldorf for other travelers? Sure, we used it as a base for travel to other locations in the immediate area. Düsseldorf is in the middle of some interesting historic places, and getting in and out of town was generally easy. Traffic was not as challenging as you might expect for a reasonably large city. Of course, at just over half a million people, it really isn’t that big. We aren’t big city people by our nature, but we found it easy to navigate, safe, and comfortable.

On our way to a laundry mat, we happened to walk through an area that seemed to be just a local neighborhood, just for locals. It was filled with shops, cafes, grocery stores and so on. We were as comfortable in that area as we were in the more touristy areas.

Our plan for now is to not return to Düsseldorf in the near future. We visited, enjoyed this city, and now it’s time to move on.

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Europe, Travel, 0 comments
11
Sep
2017
Cochem – The German Vacation Spot Along the Moselle River

Cochem – The German Vacation Spot Along the Moselle River

There’s a little town called Cochem along the Moselle River, about 20 miles upstream from where the Moselle empties into the Rhine. It’s a German vacation spot, where locals come to camp, play on the river, enjoy some of the local wines, or just hang out in this quaint little town, enjoying the food and shopping.

We discovered this town on our first trip to Germany a few years ago when we were visiting castles, and the local castle, called the Reichsberg Castle, found its way onto our sights. We showed up in this town on a weekend that happened to be a German holiday, and even though we never learned the meaning of the holiday (it seems that everyone would give us a slightly different meaning when we asked), we did learn that the Germans know how to party.

There were literally thousands of German bikers in town on that first trip, along with river cruise ships, and daytime sightseeing ships docked along the river. There were jet skis, kayaks, and yachts cruising up and down the river, and the occasional river-going cargo ship was passing by. Bicycles are a big form of transportation in Europe, and Germans brought their own while the local bicycle rental businesses were doing a brisk business too.

You may find that we use the term Moselle when we’re talking about the River that runs past Cochem, when other folks will say Mosel. Our reasoning is simply that Google Maps calls it Moselle. In France, it’s generally agreed that it’s called the Moselle River. Once it crosses the border into Germany, many locals call it Mosel. Certainly, the wine region is called the Mosel Wine Region and it’s Mosel Wine, not Moselle Wine, that comes from this area. Still, when you’re looking things up on the map, you wouldn’t want to be confused.

This Town Goes Back

We would normally talk about the “old town” when speaking about the touristy parts of any destination in Europe because that’s usually what interests us, but in Cochem, it’s all Old Town. It has its earliest mention in official documents as far back as 886 AD. It was granted “Town Rights” in 1332, presumably by Archbishop Baldwin, who was the Electktor of Trier Territory. The town remained under Trier rule until the French occupation in the 18th Century. From there, it moved forward. There was some damage in World War II with one bombing raid in September of 1942, but most of the town was left standing, and the Castle of course, was not the target.

What to Do In Cochem

Shopping

The first thing we noticed when entering the “tourist” parts of Cochem was the large number of shops. Unlike the usual cafes, bars, and restaurants that you’ll see in a tourist environment, there were also many boutiques and general stores of all kinds. Our first thought was, “we’re never going to get things home if we bought them here,” but the point that this is a German hot spot, catering to local Germans, is underscored. The German tourists can make their purchases, then simply take them to the car and transport them home, again emphasizing the point that this is a German tourist spot.

Wine Grapes in the Moesl Valley

Wine grapes seem to be the popular crop to row in the Mosel Valley, just upstream of the Rhine River near Cochem. Photo by Bonnie Fink.

Wine

The valley along the Moselle River is a major wine producing area. It seems that every square foot of area capable of agricultural use is engaged in growing wine grapes. We’re not proficient in all the types of wine grapes, but we saw many different varieties during our wanderings through the valley.

The week we arrived at Cochem was the conclusion of their annual Food and Wine Festival. Not to worry, other villages were preparing for their annual Wine events too, and our guess is that pretty much every little village along the Moselle River will be doing a Food and Wine festival of some kind before winter.

Restaurants

There are too many restaurants to count in Cochem. It seems that we would pick one each day more or less at random, and the experience never went bad for us. Language was an issue in most cases, with some servers able to speak a little English, others not so much. It seems like the younger folks were remembering some of their basic English they learned in school, but not much more than that. Still, with our few words of German, a high school course in English on the part of the server, and a trusty Google Translator App to work out the menu, we didn’t go hungry.

Restaurants in Cochem, Gernamy

One of the many unique restaurants in Cochem, Germany. This establishment seemed to be carved out of a cave in the side of the hill. Photo by Bonnie Fink.

Our favorite café turned out to be a place called Gaststatte Noss. It’s located on the main street of Cochem, about midway through town. We stopped in over the course of several days. Sometimes we’d have coffee, sometimes coffee and dessert, and on one occasion we had a full meal. Everything was perfect for us, and the atmosphere was exactly what we were looking for in a small German village. There was outside seating, inside booths, and our favorite table was actually inside, but inside a glass door that opened to the outside in good weather and closed when it was raining. It was the best for all weather for us. Oh, and the restaurant had free bathrooms for customers. We mention this like it’s unusual in Europe, because it is. We’ll definitely visit again next time we’re in town.

Travelling Around the Area

With so much to offer in this region of the Moselle River, you need a way to get around. For us, we have a leased car, so getting around is as easy as it is any other time. We’re in our comfort zone. The only issue for us is parking once we get to a new village. Most villages we found had either street parking or organized parking lots. For us, arriving at most destinations before noon, parking was not an issue, but we found that parking in some of the busier places like Cochem became a challenge after lunch. Of course, in Cochem, we typically walked from our hotel with the car safely parked there.

The entire region along the Moselle River is connected by a walking and bicycle path on both sides of the river. We saw that many folks used bicycles to move from village to village. Most were locals bringing their own bikes, but we also found a bike rental business on the main street just on the edge of Cochem. Were we into bicycling, this would have made for a pleasant way to travel from the various villages, and parking is less of an issue with this mode of travel.

Bicycle and Walking Path

Bicycles and pedestrians have a separate walking path along the Moselle River in cochem. The pavement on the right is for bicycles while the paving bricks are for walkers. In most places, there is no railing separating the two, You’re on your honor to stay clear of the bicycles. Photo by Donald Fink.

There’s an etiquette involved when it comes to sharing a walking path with bicycles in Cochem. Much of the walking trail is divided into one area that’s paved with black top, and another side that’s paved with concrete pavers. The paver side is for people walking while the smoother black-topped area is for bicycles. It’s best to stick to your side of the trail. Some of those bicycle folks are fast, and the can get up on you very quickly. Pay attention!

River boats are a big item along the Moselle River. Everything goes up and down the river from Viking Cruise Lines to local sunset cruises. Cochem has a couple of small docks with cruises that usually last most of a day, making several stops in other villages before returning to Cochem in the afternoon or evening. We didn’t do a river cruise, but the way the local boats seem to work is they publish a schedule of when they’ll dock at a particular village along their route, then again along their route on the return trip back to Cochem. This means that you can choose to stay with the boat as it makes its way up and down the river, maybe catching some brief shopping at each stop, or you can get off for a longer stay at one village. Maybe have lunch or dinner at one village along the way, then catch the river boat on its return leg to Cochem. Kind of like a hop-on, hop-off bus, except along the river, and worth looking into. Of course, cruise lines like Viking will work all that out for you as well. We know people who have used the Viking Lines in particular and have reported a great experience.

One day cruise operator we saw in Cochem was KD Day Cruises. We can’t recommend them, or not recommend them since we didn’t cruise, but we saw their boats operating from the town. Actually, according to their web site, they have operations all over the area including up and down the Rhine River.

The Castle

You can’t come to Cochem without seeing the Castle. This one is called Schloss Rheichsburg. It sits prominently on the hill directly behind the town of Cochem. There are two ways to get up to the castle: you can walk as we did or you can catch a shuttle bus from the Town Square. We walked, not because we feel the need to punish ourselves, but because we didn’t know about the shuttle until we were already at the top of the hill and we saw a bus go by. Fine!

Tours inside the Reichsburg Castle are guided, meaning that you can’t just wander the halls. But there was plenty of time to stop and take it all in and take photos. The tour guides offered several different languages with their tours too. On a previous visit, we discovered a lighting fixture in the castle that’s supposedly a mermaid, and according to the tour guide, touching the mermaid would bring about good luck. At the time our house in New Mexico had an offer pending. It was the only credible offer we had seen in seven years on this property, so you can imagine that we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make contact with the lucky-mermaid-lighting-fixture-thing. And of course, the house closed shortly after and we went about our merry lives. Hooray for the lucky Mermaid!

Where to stay

We stayed at the Stumberger Hotel located just outside the village along the Moselle River. We’ve made two trips to Cochem and stayed there both times and couldn’t be happier. If we return to Cochem—and we certainly will—we’ll stay there again. We feel so strongly in our recommendation about Stumbergers Hotel that we posted a separate article about it here. It reads a bit like a commercial advertisement, but it was just a great place to stay.

There are indeed dozens, if not hundreds of hotels located in and around the Cochem area, and most of them would probably be good choices. We’ve only stayed at Stumberger’s so we can’t recommend the others, but we’re sure you can do your own homework if you plan a visit to Cochem.

One possible reason for staying somewhere else is that Stumberger’s is on the very edge of town. It takes a bit of a walk to get into the city center. We happen to enjoy walking, so it worked as an advantage for us. You may not feel the same and prefer a room in the center where your favorite café is right outside your door. It’s certainly possible in Cochem.

Our overall impression of Cochem is that it is a great place to come and play. It’s also primarily a place where Germans come. We’re not usually all that interested in where the “locals” hang out, but in the case of Germany, it seems appropriate. The Germans, for the most part, seem to like the same things we do. Good food, good drink, recreational opportunities all around. What’s to go wrong? And in Cochem, we found all that and more. After two visits, we’re sure it will be on our list in future visits too. Cochem has become our German home town.

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Europe, Travel, 4 comments
09
Sep
2017
Stumberger’s Hotel in Cochem, Germany

Stumberger’s Hotel in Cochem, Germany

Not long ago, we happened through Cochem, Germany on our summer’s trip through what we consider to be the heart of Europe. Our purpose when coming to Germany is to view castles, and just take some time to look over the pristine countryside. Cochem is on the Moselle River, about 20 miles from the Rhine River. It’s in southwest Germany, not far from France and Belgium. Aside from the famous Reichsburg Castle, this is a major wine producing region, and a popular German holiday spot. You’ll find a few English speakers in this town, but not many since most of the vacationers here are locals.

When staying in Cochem, we like a small, independent hotel just on the edge of town called Stumberger’s Hotel, no doubt named after the Stumbergers who own and operate this establishment. It seems to be just Mr. Stumberger and his wife, along with a small handful of staff that makes this establishment run.

The hotel consists of a few rooms, a restaurant, and a beer garden. The beer garden isn’t always open, but also serves fast food along with ales when it is. On one of our first trips, the beer garden was open because there was an unusually large number of bikers in town on that particular weekend, and it was popular among them.

The restaurant might be unique to Cochem because it’s a Mexican themed establishment. We were surprised to see this in Germany, and had to try it out. Surprisingly, it was pretty authentic. The main dishes were spot on while the Mexican Rice seemed a little different than our usual Tex-Mex expectations. And the refried beans weren’t enough, compared to the usual portions in a Mexican restaurant in the States. But the overall experience was pretty close, and way better than we were expecting. After all, Germany is a long way from Mexico, and being original Californians who lived in New Mexico for several years after retiring, we have pretty high expectations when it comes to our Mexican cuisine.

View From Balcony at Stumberger's Hotel

We enjoyed the view sitting on our balcony at Stumberger’s Hotel. Photo by Donald Fink.

We requested a “castle view” for our room at Stumbergers Hotel. There are only ten rooms, but three of them have a large balcony with a stunning view of the Reichsburg Castle, nestled on top of the hill overlooking the riverfront town of Cochem. What you’ll see from a Castle View room is the River Moselle across the road, the town of Cochem to the left with the castle on the hill above. The river is active most of the day with river tour boats, river cruise boats, bulk transport ships, and pleasure boats ranging from yachts to kayaks. It makes for quite a show from the balcony in the afternoons after a day of trudging through your favorite castle of the day.

Normally, we prefer to stay in chain hotels when we travel for a number of reasons. The main reason is that we like the consistency they offer. We know what to expect when we book a room. There’s a level of excellence that we enjoy when staying at a familiar place, and we’re rarely disappointed. Stumberger’s Hotel is an exception to this rule. We’ve stayed there twice now, so we do in fact have an expectation, but the first time was a shot in the dark that paid off for us. Truthfully, we do stay at independent hotels quite a bit even though our goal is to stay somewhere that’s better known. Sometimes it pays off, as is the case with Stumbergers, and sometimes it doesn’t.

What You Can Expect

At Stumbergers, you’ll get a clean, comfortable room. It’s not the biggest room we’ve stayed in, but it’s big enough.

Internet is included, and quite good. We were at about 6Mb/s up and down with small latency times.

Parking is free. And there’s enough of it.

Breakfast is included, and quite good. It’s a typical European kind of hotel breakfast, which is not quite what we’re used to in the US, but everything was there. The one notable difference for us was that eggs were cooked to order rather than having to dig through a bowl of old scrambled eggs, hoping to find that sweet spot where they weren’t too runny or too dry. Mr. Stumberger brings your eggs freshly cooked to your table, as well as your orange juice and coffee.

The restaurant is good. Truthfully, we ate there only one night on this trip. We had various enchiladas that were authentic to our idea of Mexican cuisine. There are also various German inspired dishes on the menu, but the menu was primarily Mexican.

The Beer Garden was not open this trip. We were at a somewhat slower time, and it probably didn’t pay to have it open. Keep in mind that most of the time it’s Mr. and Mrs. Stumberger running this operation. They can’t be everywhere at once.

What’s Wrong at Stumberger’s

About the only thing we can find fault in at Stumberger’s is the fact that there are no elevators. To stay here, you’ll need to walk up at least one flight of stairs. Having only ten rooms, there simply isn’t space for an elevator. This was not a problem for us, but for a person with severe mobility problems, negotiating the stairs could be a challenge. Getting your bags up to the room wasn’t really a problem for us, but again, for a mobility challenged person, this could be an issue. We wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Stumberger was willing to help with the bags if necessary. He seemed to be interested in making us comfortable.

Keep in mind that the lack of an elevator is not uncommon in small hotels, and especially small hotels in Europe. We didn’t find it a hindrance, but we felt compelled to mention it in the interest of full disclosure.

In The Future

We’ll come to Cochem again. It’s one of those kind of places where it takes many trips to see all there is to offer. When we do come back, we’ll definitely make Stumberger’s Hotel our home base. It’s got everything we need, and Mr. Stumberger made us feel right at home.

Even though we write this review of this hotel like it’s a paid advertisement, we were not paid or even approached by the Stumbergers to comment in any way. We’re doing this simply because we think it’s one of those hidden treasures you occasionally find on a trip that helps to make your vacation a pleasant experience. We’ve been here twice and the experience has been the same each time, so we know it’s not just a fluke. This little hotel in this little German vacation spot is the real deal.

 

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Europe, Hotels, Travel, 1 comment
05
Sep
2017
Schloss Burg – Fortress, Castle, Museum

Schloss Burg – Fortress, Castle, Museum

Today we made our way from our hotel in Düsseldorf to the small town of Solingen, where we spent some time at the Schloss Burg, or the Burg Castle. This building dates back to the Middle Ages—to 1130—when it was constructed as the Neuenberge Fortress. It wouldn’t be referred to as a Castle until somewhere in the 14th or 15th Centuries, after its strategic importance as a fortress had declined.

Originally, Neuenberge Fortress was built by the Counts of Berg as a family seat, and as the name implies, a strategic fortress to repel aggressors. There was a wall around the buildings and even a moat at the entrance. The moat wasn’t filled with crocodiles as we all grew up seeing in our Saturday cartoons, but rather, it contained thorny bushes. Presumably there was a gate that could be raised when needed.

On our visit, we found an elegant but small castle. The main buildings have been converted into a museum, describing life in the late Middle Ages. There were items of everyday life, including cooking utensils, tools for wood working and metal fabrication, and of course, weapons and armor all around.

You can use this Google Map to find the location of Schloss Burg in Germany. Click on the View Larger Map link to see a new page with a larger map.

We particularly enjoyed the visit because it was self-guided. For us, trying to take pictures, we could move at our own pace. And of course, all the plaques and descriptions were in German, so we needed a little extra time to work out their meanings.

After our tour, we stepped outside the castle walls and immediately found a small outdoor restaurant. After some brief negotiating with the mostly German speaking server, we settled on coffee and a dish of ice cream, which is pretty much what we were after.

We probably spent about two hours touring the Castle. Altogether, it used up about half a day of our time including travel both ways from Dusseldorf. That’s about what we thought it would take. Of course, in addition to visiting the Castle, we got to see some fantastic German countryside, and made a couple of runs down the Autobahn. In our diesel powered Renault Dacia. Six speed manual and all.

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Europe, Travel, 0 comments
31
Aug
2017
The Eltz Castle – One Family’s Home For 850 Years

The Eltz Castle – One Family’s Home For 850 Years

Eltz Castle is one of the few castles in Europe that’s never been destroyed, by fire, by war, by anything. We spent some time walking the grounds and touring the interior of this pristine noble home, and came away with an appreciation for how life could have been for the very wealthy in the middle ages.

Early History

It all began in the 12th century, when three branches of the Eltz family jointly built this castle along a trade route between the Moselle River and the Eifel Region. The Eifel Region is an area of mountains in western Germany and eastern Belgium. According to the information we’ve read, the idea of having more than one part of a family jointly owning a castle is simply one of economics. One family by itself could not afford to build, own, or maintain a castle, but by pooling resources, several families could enjoy the status and more importantly, the security of having a large, defensible castle.

The castle has only been attacked one time, between 1331 and 1336. There was a dispute between the leader of an area known as the Trier region of Moselle and the knights of several houses, including Burg Eltz. It seems that these knights had been allowed to wander away from loyalty to the previous Trier Leader, and when Archbishop Baldwin took power, he decided to set things straight.

Siege Castle at Burg Eltz

Ruins of the siege castle that was built by Archbishop Baldwin during the Eltz Feud of 1330. The ruins are approximately 230 meters away from Eltz Castle and uphill, which provided a good strategic position from which to launch a five year attack. Photo by Bonnie Fink.

The Archbishop made a direct assault on Burg Eltz, but failed, so he built a “siege castle,” which was a fortified structure about 230 meters away from Burg Eltz and slightly uphill. The purpose of the siege castle was simply to give soldiers a safe place from which to lay siege to Burg Eltz without being in danger themselves. Archbishop Baldwin pummeled Eltz Castle for several years, using rock filled trebuchets and an early form of cannon.

The purpose of the siege was not to destroy the knights of Eltz, but to bring them under control of the Trier government. After five years of siege, the Eltz knights finally agreed to recognize Archbishop Baldwin and the feud ended.

Where is Burg Eltz

Burg Eltz is located in southwestern Germany near the town of Wierschem. We were staying in Cochem, along the Moselle River when we visited, so it was simply a matter of driving along the river to Moselkern, where we headed inland towards Wiersham. Using a rental car, it wasn’t a problem to find the castle. There was a parking fee, and from the parking lot there were two choices to get to the actual castle site. First, there was a walking path of about 1.3 kilometers (about .8 miles), and there was a shuttle bus. This is a downhill walk to the castle, so it’s easy getting there, and a little more difficult getting back to the car. The shuttle bus was €2.00 each person, each way. We rode the shuttle bus, but had we known that the tickets were only good for one way, we probably would have walked downhill into the castle grounds, and ridden the shuttle back out.

What will you see at Burg Eltz

Castle Eltz Private Chapel

Rooms for worship were often built high above the ground, outside of the main building. The rules requiring a private worship place were complex. One could not live above the chapel, for example, which is probably the reason they were attached outside the main building. Photo by Bonnie Fink.

There are no photographs allowed inside the castle. This is highly annoying to folks like us who are trying to bring stories to folks like you, but we understand. They are probably concerned about flashes damaging artwork, tapestries, and wall paintings. And we know that they can’t simply say, “No flashes” because of the large number of people who won’t read their manuals on their phones and cameras, and have no idea how to turn their flashes off. Plus, it’s their castle. Their rules. So we’ll show you no pictures from inside.

The interior is only open for tours from early April through the first part of November, but the grounds and the interior court are open year-round .

There was a small gift shop where you purchased tickets to take a tour of the interior of the castle. The cost was €10.00 per person, and there were tours in German and English, with French and a few other languages on request.

The castle is divided into three separate family spaces which were used for the three separate branches of the Eltz family. This works to an advantage here because on the tour, we were able to see a complete set of rooms, from the entrance hall, through the living quarters, and finally right down to the kitchen. We did this without infringing on the Eltz family’s private living space, which they still maintain elsewhere in the castle, apart from the spaces set aside for touring.

Many of the walls were hand painted with artwork as was the style in medieval Europe, with tapestries on the walls, carvings and paintings on the bedroom furniture, and so on. There were several examples of various chests, tables, and chairs from earlier times, and apparently these furnishings are pieces that have been in the Eltz family throughout the centuries.

There was a “treasury,” which was a museum that displayed personal family items from jewelry, to tableware, to clothing. There was also a large assortment of weapons, including swords, bows, cross bows, various long guns, pistols, and derringers. This was included in the price of the tour, but was self-guided, so you could take your time in this area.

There were two areas to grab a bite to eat, or have a drink, and there was a set of stairs leading down to the Eltz River. The river area was a treat because it gave a sense of how the forest would have been, and still is, for that matter.

Overall

We think that touring Burg Eltz is worth the time if you happen to be in Germany, and happen to be passing through this area. It’s a relatively small castle in a remote area of the forest near the Moselle River, but considering its long history, and its pristine condition, we think it’s worth it. We’ve seen many castles that were well conditioned and furnished, but it was an extra special treat to know that the furnishings in this castle were actually family possessions, from the original and current family. And that the family has had this home longer than a great many countries have even been in existence was extra special as well.

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Europe, Travel, 0 comments