Catching reflections on the Moselle & visiting Burg Cochem – Rhine & Moselle valley, Part 9

This post is the continuation of a long delayed series documenting our travels in the Rhine & Moselle valley of Germany in the European summer of 2024. We were now in Cochem where we had spent the first evening walking up to the castle and wandering around the Old town ( First impressions of Cochem – Rhine and Moselle Valley, Part 7 ). Our second day based in Cochem was almost entirely devoted to a day trip to the most beautifully set castle in Europe – The Burg Eltz ( The Hike to Burg Eltz after a morning walk around Cochem- Rhine & Moselle valley part 8 ).

We had yet to visit the interiors  of the Castle that overlooked the town. Not wanting to leave Cochem without visiting the castle we had decided to visit the Castle on our last morning before leaving Cochem.

I woke up early & refreshed that day inspite of having walked over 18km on the previous day on our hike to Eltz Castle. So I decided to take a morning walk on my own before the better half got ready and see if I could photograph the town from the other side of the river. With that in mind I set off from our hotel Am Markt and enjoyed my usual morning walk through an empty old town.

The empty Markt square in Cochem early in the morning

I reached the river bank and almost immediately got distracted by a flock of Egyptian geese nonchalantly walking on the river side. I changed lenses and took a few photos of these fearless geese before moving on and crossed the Skagerak bridge and was immediately pleased by my decision to do so.

A common wood pigeon on the banks of the Moselle

One of the fearless Egyptian geese in Cochem

The Moselle was a slow flowing river unlike the Rhine, which roared through the towns and villages it passed through. Reflections on the Rhine were impossible due to the rapid flow of the river. The relatively still water of the Moselle meant that I enjoyed the next half an hour on the river bank enjoying the sun rise over the town of Cochem and capturing reflections of the town and obviously the castle above on the water of the river meandering below it. As with most such places early in the morning I only had a fellow photographer and a handful of locals on their morning walk.

The photos don’t do justice to the beauty of the town but I was certainly glad that I didn’t get lazy and made it out here early in the morning. After toying around with compositions and taking far too many photos I was finally satisfied with what I had managed to capture.

Cochem from the other side of the Moselle

The Skagerrak bridge across the river in Cochem

This location was suggested by a local to take photos with the best possible reflections

Happy with the photos after half an hour of toying around with composition and settings

Happy me after a peaceful morning watching the sun rise over Cochem

I changed lenses again to the 300mm to capture the golden light falling on the Castle as the sun rose in the sky.  I walked back to the hotel clicking photos of the St Martins church steeple and whatever else struck my fancy with the 300mm on the camera.

The golden light after dawn lights up Burg Cochem

The St Martin Church steeple from the other side of the river

A common sparrow wonders what I am doing!!

Beautiful floral arrangements on the lampposts on the Skagerak Bridge

The St Martin Steeple from right under it

I returned to the hotel and the better half was ready and set to venture out. So we went down and had our breakfast which was delicious and freshly prepared like the previous day. We always eat a heavy breakfast to prepare for a full day of sightseeing ahead and It was no different here.

Enjoying our breakfast at the Hotel Am Markt in Cochem

After finishing our breakfast we checked out of our room and left our luggage in the luggage storage at the hotel and set out for our planned visit to the Castle. It’s only possible to visit the castle on guided tours that are 45 minutes long and in German and English at set times.

At the still empty Markt square in Cochem

We walked up to the castle by the same quick route that we had used on our first evening here because we wanted to take the first possible English tour to the castle interiors. We reached the castle courtyard to find that the ticket window opened just 10 minutes before the castle itself. It isn’t difficult to kill time at such a beautiful place and we took photos of the courtyard and the river flowing below. Luckily there weren’t many people there waiting so I wasn’t worried about not getting the first tour in.

Enjoying the castle courtyard before the Castle opens

Watching the Moselle flow below through the town from the Castle courtyard

Using the niches in the walls to shoot photos rather than weapons

Waiting at the castle gates waiting for the tour to begin

Soon it was time to start our tour of the castle and we followed our guide who explained to us about the history of the castle and its passage through different hands over time. Cochem Castle in some form has existed at this spot since 1000 AD. However the original castle was destroyed by the French Troops in the late 1600s. It lay in ruin since then till the 1800s when it was acquired by a rich businessman from Berlin who reconstructed it sparing no expenses and made it his private home. It was then taken from that family forcibly by the Nazis in 1942 who turned it into a training school for lawyers.  Since 1978 it is owned by the town of Cochem itself which looks after the maintenance and upkeep of the castle.

Starting our tour of the Cochem Castle

We were first shown the exteriors of the castle which is dominated by the tower with a 300 square feet mural of St Christopher carrying Christ on his shoulder. This was restored in 1960 after it was damaged in the WW II.

The mural of St Christopher on the tower of Cochem Castle

After that we started our interior tour which shows us a handful of tastefully decorated rooms in the castle that have the furniture and wall murals from the restoration. Most of the other rooms in the castle are empty ( Obviously so since the owners took most of their stuff when the Nazis evicted them!). Unlike Burg Eltz we were allowed to take photos here since this is a castle owned by the town and not a privately owned castle.

We listened to the guide explain about the items on display before waiting for the group to move on so that we could take photos of the rooms which were decked up from ceiling to floor.

Walking up a carpeted staircase to start our tour of Burg Cochem

The town has certainly done a great job of keeping these rooms in great state as the first room we saw was a spectacular dining hall complete with cutlery to show the lifestyle led by the owners in the 1800s.

The group visiting the castle with us

A beautifully decorated dining hall with great decor from the wooden ceiling to the floor after the group has moved on

We then came to a smaller room with a beautifully painted gothic arched ceiling and a fireplace decorated with what I recognised at Delft tiles from the Netherlands ( My Grandfather had a piece decorating his place and I always liked the stark blue and white colour)

The painted gothic arched ceiling

The fireplace with the painted blue and white Delft tiles

The better half poses after the group has left the room

The decorated furnace which actually heats up the fireplace in the next room

We then reached a passage which was decorated with what was described as a mermaid lamp which is supposed to keep evil out of the castle. (I guess it didn’t work in 1942!) It was the strangest mermaid sculpture I have seen !

The narrow passage to the other side of the castle has windows overlooking the main entrance

The mermaid lamp which is supposed to keep evil out of the castle

We then reached a hunters room which had the usual antlers  and stags heads mounted. What dominated the room was a huge boar’s head that was bigger than the biggest stag there. That boar must have been enormous!

The hunters room with the usual trophies and an enormous boar’s head on the left

The last room that was on the tour was the largest one called a knight’s hall. It had a high intricately designed arched ceiling, huge wooden pillars and a table with yet another strangely posed statue on it – I called it the renaissance breakdancer! We took photos and lingered for some time in the room before it was time to exit the castle.

The renaissance breakdancer!

The magnificent knight’s hall at the Cochem Castle

Lingering for some time in the knights hall

Before we exited the building we were taken to a balcony which had a view over the other side of town. It must have been a great place for the owners to sit and enjoy the view with a cup of tea / coffee in hand. While this reconstruction is said to be not accurate to the original castle it was certainly tastefully done.

The view of the Moselle on the other side

The beautiful balcony at the Cochem Castle

We then exited the building to an inner courtyard where a kind co tourist clicked a photo of us at the castle.

Getting our photo clicked with the Cochem Castle

We then said goodbye to our guide who had made the castle visit interesting and entertaining and took some more photos in the courtyard before saying goodbye to Burg Cochem.

Our guide at the Cochem Castle

Taking some more photos of the Cochem Castle courtyard before saying goodbye

We then returned to our hotel to pick up our luggage and head to the Cochem railway station where we would take the train to Koblenz and change trains to head back to the Rhine valley and the town of Oberwesel which was our next base. Cochem and the Moselle valley had proved to be a delightful place not overwhelmed with tourists and we had thoroughly enjoyed our short stay here.

In Oberwesel we had booked our first ever castle stay at the Schonburg Castle. It was a splurge that is not usually our style, but a castle stay in this beautiful corner of Germany dotted with picturesque castles was something I couldn’t resist.

Whether it would live up to expectations or be worth the price we paid for it is topic for another post.

Some other time, some other day(Hopefully soon!)

Till then

Tschau!

Happy us saying goodbye to the Moselle Valley!