When Bill and I were searching for housing, one town’s name that came up was Eltville.  Eltville is a beautiful place, right on the Rhein River.  I really wanted to find something there, or in someplace similar.  Sadly, it just didn’t pan out for us.  We only live about 19 kilometers away, as the crow flies; so today, we decided to pay a visit.  I will admit, today’s trip was a bit rushed and unplanned… we got there kind of late in the afternoon– so late, that we ran into the pause issue at lunchtime.  Still, I got a little taste of Eltville and decided we have to go back soon.

Initially, Bill was reluctant to go to Eltville, since he thought that was where Eltz Castle is.  Eltz Castle is probably a two hour drive from our town.  I do want to go there and plan to visit, but Eltville is nowhere near Eltz Castle.

To be honest, all I knew… and still know… about Eltville is that it’s on the Rhine and there’s a beautiful burg there known as the Electoral Castle.  We got some nice views of it, but didn’t tour it today.  Today was all about getting away from the house for a few hours and having a change of scenery.

Here are a few photos from today’s trip.

The first clue of how cute Eltville is…

And a nice looking cafe, although my mind was on lunch, not cakes.

 

Locks of love… but not nearly as many as in Cologne or Regensburg.

The Electoral Castle.

The lovely Rhine/Rhein, where many people were enjoying the nice weather today.

Another shot of the castle.  Someday, we will explore it further… perhaps on a day when we don’t sleep in, as we did today.

 

They have day cruises, too, although I didn’t see any running today.

Pretty rose garden.  It costs nothing to visit.

It was around this time that I was distracted by the need to pee.  Unfortunately, it was just after 2:00pm, which is when a lot of restaurants take a “pause” before dinner.  We did find a place for me to use the ladies room, but they were only offering beverages.  So we had some wine by the Rhein.

We stopped by this eatery, which offers food, but not when we were there.  I noticed they, and another local restaurant, had signs stating that their toilets aren’t public.  At this restaurant, you could pay a euro to pee if you weren’t a guest.  At the other, it read that there was a public toilet 40 meters away.  

It offered a nice chance to take pictures of the Rhein.

Sebastian’s Tower…  (in German, but Google Chrome works wonders)

I guess this is a real problem in such a pretty town.

Another sign… this one seemed to be for the city.  

After a drink on the Rhein, we ended up at the Weinpump, which we noticed on the way into town.  This restaurant takes pauses on every day except Sundays and holidays.  We were grateful they were able to take care of us today.

The back entrance to the restaurant.  We first saw the front entrance, which didn’t give away how nice the Bier/Wein garten is.

Don’t be fooled by how unassuming the front door is.  They have a great garden!

Cute mural outside.  Note the landmarks!

Bar area outside.

And the hours… very convenient for Sunday.

I liked how the reserved signs were all in English.  In fact, our waiter spoke perfect English, even if his colleagues didn’t.

I had the trout with potatoes and a salad, as well as a glass of Riesling.  I loved how they cleaned the fish.  I found just two bones in the fish– they had removed everything.  The fish was very fresh and tasty, served with perfectly cooked boiled potatoes and a green salad.

Bill had cold roast beef with green sauce and fried potatoes.  I think I might have liked his dish better than mine, although mine was certainly great.  He washed his lunch down with sparkling water.

An older couple sat near us and, it was clear, they came from money.  They were very well dressed and groomed and I noticed them staring at us/giving us a bit of the stink eye.  It might have been because we were Americans, although not obviously so.  The waiter switched to English when he heard me ask for “Forelle” (trout).  He apologized for not spotting us as Americans sooner, but Ikind of take that as a compliment.

The older couple did wish us Auf Wiedersehen when they left.  We were probably weirder than most Americans, because we aren’t as loud.  Years of living in Europe have taught us not to be so conspicuous.

One thing that did happen during out visit was that one of the toilets in the ladies room was backed up.  I didn’t have a chance to tell the waiter when I first noticed it, but I noticed several other ladies visiting and not saying anything.  So when our waiter came to collect our money– different guy, whose English wasn’t as good– I mentioned the toilet in the ladies room as Bill gave him a generous tip.  The guy thanked me and immediately went back to check on it.  Something tells me they’ve had problems with that toilet before.

Total damage for lunch was about 40 euros.  I had a second glass of wine– a nice dry red.  We will definitely have to visit Eltville again on a day when we haven’t slept in.  It’s really a delightful town, and not far at all from where we live.