Kövenig

📌 We picked up a car in Dusseldorf and headed along the Rhine, one of Europe's large rivers dotted with quaint towns, wineries and castles, so many castles!

📌 We visited Schloss Drachenburg which was one of the most beautiful castles we saw with the fancy interiors and lovely views over the water. Being German castles some of them had been involved with the Nazis and thus had sustained damage and repairs over the 100s of years. We also visited Koblenz where the Rhine and Mosel river divide which turned out to be significant as this was where the east and west Germany border ran. We ended our day on the Mosel river where we stayed at a German woman's guesthouse which felt very local and comfortable.

📌 The second day started with a run followed by a drive back to the Rhine where we headed further south, we visited cochem castle, a very grand castle overlooking the river which had beautiful gardens and many towers. We then drove along the beautiful valley past many wineries to Burg Eltz. A castle that has been owned by the same family for 35 generations since the middle ages, it was not as extravagant inside but the presence of it amongst the forest was very cool. We finished the day in Rudesheim, another beautiful Rhine town, where we had some more local wine and German food. The Rhine is beautiful, the Mosel is quieter and more quaint, both are high recommendations of ours, as it's picturesque and characteristic fairytale Europe.Read more