Kings Journal: Fairy-tale reality

I visited two famous castles in one of Germanys most popular tourist destinations: The Mosel Valley.
The "Mosel" flows through the state of "Rhineland-Palatinate" located south west of the country, sharing borders with Luxembourg, Belgium and France.
I marked a "X" on the map for the castles and added a map of the "Mosel" showing her "wavy" valley. The "Mosel" is female and her spring is in France. 

The first castle, the "Reichsburg Cochem" is located in Cochem a beautiful town at the river with many sights and traditional architecture.
The whole valley is filled with gorgeous towns and villages and nearly each one has at least one castle.
Cochem is one of the bigger towns and a popular tourist destination with many restaurants and cafes offering local vine and fine German cakes.
I walked down a single alley with 5 cafes right next to each other and all were offering delicious cakes, not to mention the many ice cream parlors in the town.

Everything framed by lovely buildings. For example at the market place.

The pink house is the town hall and the house with the bells plays different songs at certain hours. The belfry is part of the church and it is also a gate - so the street goes right through it.
The most streets are pedestrian zones, that means no cars allowed and you can enjoy the relaxed atmosphere.

From the market square I head to the castle following steep cozy streets up the mountain. The sight was worth it. Just look at these pictures.
Vineyards, roofs, towers, mountains, trees... There was also a big haystack like in Assassin´ s Creed!
And by a single turn around myself I could see the city and the castle.

The Reichsburg is a reconstrucion from the late 19th century, when Germany became united for the first time. A rich merchant bought the ruin and transformed it into a living fairy-tale castle. Each room is determined to reflect a style of history: A Renaissance dining-room, gothic hallways, a baroque great hall with neo-gothic furniture. Many parts of the ceiling are also decorated with brindes and "wisdoms" about life.
Dining-Room
Hallway
Great Hall
Taking pictures is allowed inside the castle, but it was super crowded so I did not take any during the guided tour. And you can only enter the castle with a guided tour to avoid, that tourists touch everything.
Except for a special lamp in one hallway you are allowed to touch. If you touch a red spot with your trigger finger at the stomach of that fable-creature-woman-lamp you have to close your eyes and make a wish. Do not tell anyone and it becomes true. I made a wish, of course.
But I won´ t tell.
And look, someone build the castle in minecraft, too.

Castle Eltz
Just 15 minutes from Cochem, located behind some mountains is Burg Eltz. The castle is over 700 hundred years old, still property of the founders noble family and it is known for being one of the most beautiful castles in the world.
The place truly is magical - at least if you come here very early in the morning or late afternoon / evening, because otherwise it is totally stuffed with tourists and not very charming.
The castle once belonged to a noble who had three sons, who debated about their heir and to avoid a big conflict they split the castle into three noble houses. Each son founded a new family branch and built a house for his family - inside the castle. The result is, that the castle looks like a collection of many buildings like a town pushed together on a small mountain. A unique structure.

The inner courtyard hints the houses, while seen from the outside, the castle looks like a massive tower with tiny towers.

You can only enter the castle with a guided tour and taking pictures inside  is not allowed. So here are some internet pics showing some rooms:
Bedroom
Flag room
Dining-room
The castle also has a treasure vault showing some precious jewelry, relics and stuff nobles collected. By buying a regular ticket you are also allowed to enter the vault. My favourite object was a painting of a coat of arms hold by two lions who had boners. Yes boners. And the fable bird whatever also had a boner. Every animal had a boner. What a great piece of art.

Right next to the castle is a river and some parts are flat so you can enter it. Especially at a hot day - and it was super hot - this is a welcoming refreshment. I went into the water, exposing my pale skin. xD
It was much fun to walk through the river, because some stones were slippery, others sharp and at some parts grew fluffy gras.
There was bright sunlight, cool water and just aside the nice castle.

I visited castle Eltz five or six times before, but it still remains a beautiful sight.

Unfortunately I had bad guides in both castles. The one in Cochem totally lacked motivation and the one in castle Eltz loved to hear himself talking without telling much content. Pity.

But I recommend both castles. Especially if you want to see fairy-tale Germany and places that resist time.
Schloss Bürresheim is also located not far from there.

I always enjoy visiting the Mosel Valley and the surrounding mountains, because it is part of the region, where I am born and I guess I take inspiration from. I do not live there anymore, but it feels like home, whenever I am able to spend a short time there.