Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [449]
Towering above steep vineyards, the city-owned Reichsburg ( 255; www.reichsburg-cochem.de; adult/6-17yr €4.50/2.50; 9am-5pm mid-Mar–Oct, 10am or 11am-2pm or 3pm Nov-early Jan) – everyone’s idealised version of a turreted medieval castle – is actually a neo-Gothic pastiche built in 1877, making it a full 78 years older than Disneyland (the 11th-century original fell victim to frenzied Frenchmen in 1689). It can be seen on a 40-minute guided tour (printed translation available in 12 languages). The walk up from town takes about 15 minutes.
Return to beginning of chapter
AROUND COCHEM
Beilstein
pop 150
On the right bank of the Moselle about 12km upriver from Cochem, Beilstein (www.beilstein-mosel.de, in German) is a pint-sized village right out of the world of fairy tales. Little more than a cluster of houses surrounded by steep vineyards, its romantic, half-timbered townscape is enhanced by the ruined Burg Metternich, a hilltop castle reached via a staircase. During the Middle Ages, the Zehnthauskeller was used to store wine delivered as a tithe; it now houses a romantically dark, vaulted wine tavern. Also worth a look is the Judenfriedhof (Jewish cemetery).
Return to beginning of chapter
Burg Eltz
Victor Hugo thought this fairy-tale castle, hidden away in the forest above the left bank of the Moselle, was ‘tall, terrific, strange and dark’. Indeed, 850-year-old Burg Eltz ( 02672-950 500; www.burg-eltz.de; tour adult/student/family €8/5.50/24; 9.30am-5.30pm Apr-Oct), owned by the same family for more than 30 generations, has a forbidding exterior, softened by turrets crowning it like candles on a birthday cake. The treasury features a rich collection of jewellery, porcelain and weapons.
By car, you can reach Burg Eltz – which has never been destroyed – via the village of Münstermaifeld; the castle is 800m from the car park (shuttle bus €1.50). Trains link Koblenz and Cochem with Moselkern (also reachable by boat), where a 35-minute trail to the castle begins at the Ringelsteiner Mühle car park.
Return to beginning of chapter
HUNSRÜCK MOUNTAINS
* * *
IDAR-OBERSTEIN
06781 / pop 31,600
Agate mining in Idar-Oberstein goes back to at least 1454, but the industry really took off in the 1830s after local adventurers left for South America (especially Brazil), where they harvested raw precious stones (Edelsteine) and sent them back home – as ships’ ballast – to be processed. The local mines have long since been exhausted, but Idar-Oberstein has remained a major gem-cutting and jewellery-manufacturing centre. If crystals really do have mysterious powers, though, you’d expect that a town with so many – on display and for sale – would look a lot better than this one does.
Return to beginning of chapter
Orientation & Information
Idar-Oberstein is an unwieldy town, stretching for about 20km along the Idarbach creek and the Nahe River, which once powered scores of stone-cutting mills. Linking Idar (in the northwest) with the Bahnhof and, a few blocks northeast, the pedestrianised heart of old Oberstein (around the Marktplatz) is the 6km long Hauptstrasse (B422), numbered from 1 up to about 500; for a couple of kilometres it’s paralleled by the one-way Mainzerstrasse.
The tourist office ( 563 90; www.idar-oberstein.de, in German; Hauptstrasse 419, Oberstein; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat, Sun & holidays mid-Mar–Oct, 9am-5pm Mon-Fri Nov–mid-Mar) is near Oberstein’s Marktplatz.
Return to beginning of chapter
Sights & Activities
A high point of any visit to Idar-Oberstein is the Deutsches Edelsteinmuseum ( 900 980; www.edelsteinmuseum.de; Hauptstrasse 118, Idar; adult/under 14yr €4.20/1.60; 9.30am-5.30pm May-Oct, 10am-5pm Nov-Apr, closed Mon Nov-Jan), Europe’s largest museum of precious stones and gems. Among its eye-popping, jaw-dropping examples of the stone carver’s art: two incredibly lifelike stone toads, some unbelievably fine agate cameos, natural