Hi Hive Friends,

how are you today at Christmas ? To all who celebrate Christmas, I wish you a Merry Christmas and to those who don't, of course, a wonderful time until the New Year. I'm really looking forward to tonight.
Some time ago I visited a friend in Koblenz. There she showed me the city and its most amazing places and sights, which I would like to present to you today and in my next posts. From Cologne main station, where I left, it takes a little longer than an hour by regional train.

The most beautiful sight in Koblenz for me I would like to present to you today: Eltz Castle. Eltz Castle is a hilltop castle from the 12th cent. It is one of the most famous castles in Germany.

The hilltop castle Eltz

Do you also think that this castle in a snowy landscape would be THE Christmas castle? ;)

A high castle is a castle built on a natural hill, so a mountain or similar. You can see its great location on the pictures. In general, a distinction is made between high-altitude castles and lowland castles. These are then also called lowland castles.
Eltz Castle is located 129 meters above sea level in the valley of the Elz, a left tributary of the Moselle, in the district of the municipality of Wierschem in Rhineland-Palatinate.

A knight's castle on a 70 meter high rock

I was very fascinated by the architecture of Eltz Castle. It is also what makes the castle so special. And of course hire great location. Eltz Castle has residential towers that are eight to 35 meters high. In addition, there are oriels, roofs, half-timbering (these are red and I found particularly beautiful) and spires.
Eltz Castle looks like something out of a picture book and corresponds through and through to a knight's castle as you would imagine.

The castle is located, as you can see very well on the first picture, in the middle of nature. Really in the middle of nature. It is somewhat hidden in a side valley of the Moselle. And there but not to be overlooked on a rock that is a whole 70 meters high. I wondered the whole time we were walking to the castle how it could be possible to build a castle on such a high rock. On three sides of the castle flows the Elzbach. When I used to imagine a medieval castle in stories about knights, this one came very close to my imagination.

The castle itself has a height of 40 meters. Partly, however, the foundations of the castle set very deep, so that one can basically assume a total height of 90 meters - from the level of the stream to the top of the roof.

The reason for the construction of the castle and a small round tour

The castle was once built to guarantee the trade routes Moselle-Maifeld-Eifel. Celtic and Roman constructions can still be found here and there. At the beginning of the 14th century, counter-castles made competition to Eltz Castle, so that the castle lost its location advantage.

The inner courtyard of the castle I had actually imagined a little larger, but I find that the castle generally looks relatively small from the outside. However, the courtyard of the castle is a real historical treasure. 500 years of Eltzer building history can be found here, from 1150 to 1650. Here you can learn a lot about the coexistence of three Eltzer family tribes. And that really in a very small space. What I found very great was that we could really visit almost everything during the guided tour. The interiors of the castle are all differently designed and still fully equipped.
If you switch off the people next to you and just let the rooms take effect on you, it's not that hard to imagine medieval life here.
Especially the knights' hall was very impressive. It is the most important room in the castle. Here, the massive ceiling is particularly striking. Armor and jester's heads are placed here.The jester heads stand for the freedom of speech. The fool of the Middle Ages was allowed to say anything. Despite this, he did not have to fear any negative consequences.

It is almost unbelievable that the castle has remained undestroyed. I thought to myself during the tour that it is most likely due to its location. Attackers, if they really want to get close to the castle, have only the possibility to use the bridge to the castle.

Where the name "Eltz" comes from

The family that has owned the castle for 800 years is also called Eltz. The family and the castle were named after the Elzbach, which flows around the castle on three sides. The name Elzbach probably derives from the Old High German "Els" or "Else". This was the name given to the black alder tree typical of river courses.

And this is how you get to the castle: If you want to travel by car, you can drive to the parking lot Burg Eltz. From the parking lot to Eltz Castle
on foot it takes about a quarter of an hour, 1.3 km up. On the asphalt road for the shuttle bus (800 m) it takes about 10 minutes.

I hope you enjoyed the Eltz Castle. Maybe I have given you a little inspiration, if you ever visit Koblenz. The castle is really worth a visit:). It reminded me a little of Hogwarts, but of course in mini. Feel free to write me your feedback in the comments. See you next time!