We took advantage of the extended Easter weekend by visiting our Canadian friends and adventuring out on a couple of day trips. Germany is still in lockdown with overnight travel banned for hotels and Airbnb’s, so our options were limited. Luckily, the weather held out, and we were able to see a few more sights before our departure at the end of the month.
We spent Saturday driving through the Mosel Valley (one of our favorite areas of Germany) and strolling through the town of Cochem. We’ve had this little town on our list for a while and were happy we finally made it! We snapped some photos of the market square and St. Martin fountain, which was decorated with the traditional German Easter décor of eggs hanging from the garland (or trees and bushes in most cases). We wandered through the cobblestone streets and found our way to a lookout with a fantastic view of the valley and Cochem Castle.
We continued our walk through the vineyards, up to the castle. Unfortunately, the castle was closed, but we still admired the massive structure, entry gate, and views from the castle walls. We made our way back down to the Altstadt and continued to wander through the town, stopping at one of the many wine shops for some local wine. We left with three bottles and enjoyed our own tasting later that evening. The Riesling Feinherb and Riesling Hochgewächs Trocken were the winners! The straight-up Riesling was way too sweet for our “elite” tastebuds.
On Sunday, we made our way to Burg Satzvey, a picturesque castle with a moat! We love visiting castles (me more than Jeff), but it's even better when they look like they're straight out of a fairytale! We figured the castle would be closed (and we were right), but it was still worth the stop!
We continued on, driving through the countryside and Eifel National Park ending in the whimsical town of Monschau. We have been to several adorable towns at this point in our European travels, but we never tire of them. They're all fairly similar, but each one has something new to offer, and in Monschau’s case, it was the picturesque river running through the town in between the half-timbered houses. The watermill sitting between an old brick building and half-timbered house was a special treat along with the Belgian chocolate shops intertwined with the German bakeries, and of course, the castle ruins overlooking the city. It was adorable!
In Germany, both Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays, and most stores, including grocery stores, are closed over the weekend. With that, we weren’t sure what would be open in Monschau on Easter Sunday, but we were pleasantly surprised by a few shops that decided to open for the holiday.
For lunch, we stopped at a little stand selling brats and waffles and enjoyed a day dog, currywurst and pommes (aka French fries), then continued on our stroll through the charming town. We peeked our heads in a couple of shops and later found a bakery selling a "Monschau special," which turned out to be a pastry filled with homemade whipped cream. It reminded us of a cannoli and was delicious!
As our time in Monschau came to an end, we snapped a few more photos, then set off back to Wesel for the night. We spent the evenings like little kids at a sleepover, staying up too late and having too much fun playing games with our friends and being pampered by our “private chef”.
Thanks Patrick and Meghan! :D
It was a simple weekend, but a wonderful adventure!
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