2020-06-17

Visiting Eltz during lockdown: Disappointing, but understandable

For a while, it looked like the (currently continually easing) coronavirus lockdown measures would keep us from our annual trip to the Castle Eltz. Luckily, a few weeks ago, the Castle reopened for tourists and we could go on what would be my tenth time there. But, there were some catches.

Every year, we: pack lunch and daypacks, drive down to the Ringelsteiner Mühle park the car, eat a sandwich at the beginning of the 2.5km hike to the castle, take the tour, hike back down, have a snack at the midwaypoint and then finish with a small meal at the Mühle before driving home. This year, I wasn’t sure if it would happen or when due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

How’d they do it?
It’s easy to control the visitors that enter a castle, which is essentially built to control who is allowed to enter and when. Although many of the measures they are taking made our visit a lot less enjoyable than it usually is, I understand why they are necessary. There are signs everywhere (and on their website), explaining in three languages what the measures are.

Upon arriving, you have to wait in line (we waited for over an hour, even though we were there at a time that was supposedly “off-peak”, according to the website…), get your ticket and take a roundabout route to the start of the tour. That’s OK, though, since you get to see parts of the battlements you don’t normally get to see (pic below). Once there, you have to wait again in the courtyard until you can take the tour. That’s all fine. My only problem was, that the tour is only about 20 minutes, when it is normally 30. They had to cut out a bunch of rooms because they are too small to keep people far enough apart from each other. It still costs the same amount (which is fine, considering that they will have fewer visitors and still need to cover their expenses), but it was disappointing. And we didn’t have time to visit the armory/treasure room because there would have been another wait…

In short, if you are going to go: Make sure you have a lot of time.

From repelling invaders to controlling tourists
I know and love visiting this castle. I have been 10 times now and one fact that really stayed with me is the one quality that truly protected it and its inhabitants from any and all attackers: The capacity of the family to adapt throughout the 1000+ years it has stood there.

Yes, in some places the walls are well over a meter thick and solid rock. Yes, it is well-positioned on top of a rock in the middle of a valley. And yes, it was always able to draw able-bodied defenders from the surrounding areas. And yes, the Eltz family was a bunch of battle-hardened knights when it mattered (one of them died in battle in the middle ages when he was in his 70s). But the real reason the castle was never taken is that the Eltz family were also brilliant politicians and diplomats. They always made the right alliances to ensure their holdings would endure and grow. Slowly, over centuries.

They adapted. They changed with the times and they innovated.

Another fact that stays with me after every tour: they even had flushing toilets in the middle ages thanks to rooftop cisterns that stored rainwater that helped keep the denizens healthy.