Monday, 17/07/2023 (II): Weingut Hieronimi

Weinkeller Hieronimi - the building façade

It was our last day in Cochem and we still hadn’t had the chance to visit any of their wine bars. The shame!

I had bookmarked a few in my early research, but their strange timetables and ours didn’t quite seem to align.

However, after our kaffee und kuchen, we felt energised and determined to walk to this winery on the other side of the Mosel, crossing its imposing bridge, even if we weren’t quite sure of what to expect. Would it be open? Had it been open? Will it be open?

You can imagine what happened next: the place that websites and maps point you to was, in fact, shut.

But there was a sign inviting us to go round the corner and see… And when we went down the steps, we found a nice looking garden, but with a shut gate as well. Ahh! We would not be able to “take our shoes off and sip wine in the garden while the sun sets” as the owner of our hotel had described.

Although… we saw some people drinking wine under a canopy next door. It seemed to be part of the same wine bar, so we tentatively walked into the dark, cool space, and enquired: would it be possible to try out some wines?

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Sunday, 16/07/2023: Burg Eltz

Burg Eltz framed by trees

This was the day in which we would visit Burg Eltz, one of the two magnificent-looking castles we were looking forward to see during the trip.

But this was in a different town and there were various ways to go from Cochem.

At the end, we chose to go to Moselkern by train and then hike the ~5km to the castle, since the weather was looking nice and we were sure if we didn’t do that we would regret it forever.

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Friday, 14/07/2023: Luxembourg sightseeing, then train to Cochem

Mosel and the terraced vineyards, from the train

After walking past it the night before, we visited the Bock itself after breakfast.

It packs a punch; if you like crypts, cannons, views, staircases built in stone and secret passages that lead you down a tall spiral staircase, through a long corridor, up another tall spiral staircase and to an alternative escape route out of the fortress, you should visit too. Well worth the price of admission!

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