I think if I had to pinpoint my favorite part of the vacation this might be it.
here is why:
1. Lots of time in the car with t singing songs together
2. GORGEOUS scenery
3. Random stops in towns we cant pronounce
4. castle after castle after castle after castle after castle
5. surrounded by nature for hours upon hours
6. getting lost and getting lost again
7. winding roads in the middle of the German country side
8. history everywhere
9. wine vineyards on the mountainsides
10. good chats with tom
I don't think a trip to Germany would be complete with out driving the Rhine. Before arriving at our final destination for the evening we took a detour and stopped at Eltz Castle on the Mosel River, it was a short hike in and when we got to the castle I was blown away...like how cool is it that we are in the middle of the forest in Germany standing next to some huge ancient castle?!?!?! I just couldn't even handle myself...
| starting the hike |
| amazing scenery |
| You turn the corner after a 20 minute hike...and BAM |
A while back I got this crazy idea to stay in a castle, I googled it, and to my surprise I found a castle in Oberwesel that was partially restored into a vacation getaway. Staying here is in my top five travel experiences.
Schönburg Castle was first mentioned in history between the years 911 and 1166. From the 12th century, the Dukes of Schönburg ruled over the town of Oberwesel and had also the right to levy customs on the Rhine river.
We drove up this extremely long winding road and arrived at the most amazing castle. We drove over a legit wooden (looked about ready to break) bridge and parked our car. A golf car picked us up and drove us up a brick road to check in. Upon check in we were given a vintage map of the castle and a card with handwritten information about our room, an employee met us at the front and walked us up to our room. In our room we had welcome sherry waiting for us and local beers, we sat our stuff down, poured some drinks, and sat on our patio overlooking the Rhine. It felt like a movie.
We were given a key to the "secret garden," we walked around the grounds and spent the afternoon exploring.
| looking out on the town of Oberwesel |
| the rhine behind us |
| looking out from our back door onto the patio |
| our precious car that was a champ |
OK DINNER was unreal. You eat in the castle dining room with all the other guests, you have your own individual table but everyone is in the same room. Since we are vegetarian they customized a special menu just for us, "tomato basil salad, mushroom cappuccino, fried tofu steaks with asian market vegetables, and homemade ice-cream." After dinner we made our way to the library that had a real wood fire burning, we spent a few hours in there chatting and sipping wine.
The next day we checked out (after drinking the best cappuccinos of our lives), got back on the road and made our way to MUNICH!