Imagine waking up here, gazing out of the
window from one of your many towers and surveying the surrounding forest
in the morning sunshine. Life in a fairytale castle surely
that's everyone's dream?! But is it really as good as it sounds? Today I'm at Burg Eltz castle
to find out what it s REALLY like! This castle has been inhabited
by the same family for over 800 years. So they seem like the best people to ask. The Eltz family have managed to keep the castle
in their hands over the last 8 centuries through careful diplomacy and smart marriages. The castle even used to be featured
on the 500 Deutsche Mark bill. And the castle has become a particulary famous Instagram hotspot in recent years as well.
With over 100K posts, Instagram has helped the castle reach younger
and more international tourists. It's a 15 minute walk through the forest
to get to the castle. Hidden away in this wooded valley,
it's several miles away from the closest town. You would definitely have
your own peace and quiet here. I mean, wow! Come on! That really
does look like something out of a fairytale, right? Burg Eltz was designed more
for looks than defense – it's more of a grand home than a
medieval fortress. It's a really nice walk here
through the woods. But it might be a little bit inconvenient
living in a castle that was tucked away in the middle of nowhere. I mean, what if you wanted to order
takeout in the middle of the night? Although I guess if you lived in a castle
you would probably have a private chef. We'll find out if that's really true later on. I've finally made it – what an entrance! Well, at first glance it certainly seems
quite impressive, doesn't it? Burg Eltz was built in the prime of medieval
castle construction between the 11th and 13th century. Deliberated near the Moselle River, historically one of the most important
trade routes in Germany. Nowadays, whilst its obviously beautiful, I
think living here could come with its challenges! The seclusion that protected it in the past
might make modern life here more remote than most of us are used to. And these stone walls
must be expensive to heat in the winter! Okay, now I want to see if other
people could imagine living here and what it would be like. Really nice, I would say,
to be in the middle of the forest somewhere like this, this huge...
would be really nice to live in this kind of place. During the day – yes. At night... At night I cannot imagine
how it would be like. It would be awesome – with these
really beautiful views around the area it could be really, really beautiful.
Having to clean it would be quite difficult. But I guess if I have the money to live in
a castle, I could have the money to have some people to help us. What do you think what would it be like to
actually live here? Would you want to? Oh, yeah, 100 percent.
There would be no doubt. I I wouldn't like the tourists though. Sorry. It's quite a medieval castle. It would probably be quite difficult to heat, especially with
the upcoming oil crisis. Na, I'd be all right with that. I like the
cold. So a couple of extra layers of clothing would be grand, maybe, you know, an
old sheepskin or something like that. Time to see what it looks like on the inside.
I want to find out what life here would have been like during medieval times, but also
what it's like to live here today. So of course, we don't have any access into
the private quarters of the family that lives here right now. But the man who resides over
the whole castle or the Lord of the manor, I guess you could call him, has agreed to
give me a private tour of the rest of the castle. Count Jakob von and zu Eltz took over the castle ownership from his father in 2018.
He has another home in the area, but regularly spends time here at Burg Eltz
where he grew up. When was the last time you actually spent
the night here? Is that something that you do often? Yeah. Yeah, I do it quite regularly. So the last time I spent the night here
was about a week ago. And is it something that you consider a luxury
being inside this castle? I know a lot of people would wonder what it's like for you.
- It's certainly special. I wouldn't necessarily call it luxury. We do have all
the modern amenities, but it's still a castle. And castles were never really luxurious. They
were purpose built. So it's not as luxurious as maybe some would hope,
but it does certainly feel special. This castle certainly has a certain atmosphere,
of course. Is that something that you still experience? Especially once people
have left in the evenings and it gets quiet and you're in nature it
has a very, very special atmosphere. And there's also a kind of a sense
of belonging here. For some reasons
I just feel totally at home. Well, perhaps you can show me
around more of your home? I would absolutely love to.
- Thank you. So one of my favorite features
in this room is this alcove. You had a problem because
this is one of the lower floors and you wanted to do many things here. Amongst them also
pray and read mass. But there was a law back then which stated that you weren't allowed
to place yourself above God, and that also meant you weren't allowed to live above a
house of God. So the only way to do that was to build an alcove which had its own roof,
and above the roof was only the sky. And so you could still use the floor above whilst
being able to read mass here. And so you actually kept the law in letter,
if not necessarily in spirit. So the bed is actually a lot larger than it
looks. It's about 1,80 meters wide and 2,10 meters long. And the reason for that is
because the whole family would sleep in there. So it would be both the parents
as well as the children. Wow.
- Well, it was in order to preserve the heat. That's why you have the curtains. And that's
also why it's built up. Because you wanted to catch the rising heat. That's why back
then, people usually climbed into bed. And today we usually fall into bed. The theme painted across
the the bedroom walls is a playful one – it's full of phallic
and fertility symbols. So this is what you could imagine a living
room of a wealthy family in medieval ages to have looked like. One of the most visually
attractive things are the two tapestries that are hanging here. Tapestries evolved in the
14th century or even earlier. Because you would put cloth up in order to make the room
warmer and more comfortable. The walls are up to one and 1,5 meters thick. So obviously
they were very cool. The artists had heard stories of fabled plants and animals from
people who had gone traveling around the world but had never actually seen them themselves.
So the animals and plants you see here, you'll see some aspects that seem familiar, but overall
they are not how the animals look in real life. True, the faces are a little bit warped somehow.
- Yeah. Light was really expensive. You only had candles,
and so you built these in order to use the sunlight for as long as possible for working.
Because you couldn't afford to light candles all the time. I mean, there's also something quite idyllic about looking out at that beautiful view and
sitting at the window, isn't there? It is. I think back then people might not
necessarily have had the time to spend idling and looking out. Life. Life in medieval ages
is very, very tough. And there was very little time to just idyllically look out
and reflect on life. And enjoy the view. So this is one of about
40 fireplaces in the castle. With about 80 rooms it means every
second room had a fireplace, which was an extraordinary luxury at the time.
- I can imagine. And they all had iron or cast iron backs,
which heated up. And once they were hot, you could pick them up with certain tongs and
bring them to next room, which didn't have a fireplace, and that would give off the heat.
- It's very innovative. It is. So a castle like this probably requires quite
a lot of upkeep, am I right? Oh, it certainly does. We are
constantly renovating, repairing. There's always something that needs
to be done all the time. It takes a lot of energy and also a lot of finances, which is
why we're so grateful for our guests. Because without them, none of this would be possible. Of course, it must be quite an expensive task.
So are you very reliant on tourists? We are absolutely reliant. Without tourists, it would be impossible to upkeep this place.
We are very fortunate to also get help from the government and and the county, both financial
help as well as help with the knowledge and the people who really know the stuff and
help us in every way they can. But it would be financially impossible to upkeep the castle
without our guests. So this is one of my favorite pieces as well,
because it's a big wooden chopping block. It's not actually stoneified. It's just the
blood and the grease and the, you know, grime from centuries. But the wonderful thing about
it is: this house was finished in 1311 and this is the first floor. So it's the lowest
room as well. And we measured it and the chopping block fits neither through the window nor
through the door. So it must have been here when they finished this room.
- Wow. So this is probably one of the oldest pieces in the castle.
- Absolutely. Very nice. I mean, kitchens are something that everyone can also relate to, even though this doesn't
look like anyone's modern day kitchen. I assume this isn't where your meals
are cooked when you live here? No, no, it's not. It's not. It's actually
one of 3 kitchens, though. And this is from a different line of the Eltz family. So our
kitchen is somewhere else and it's now been modernized, but it's not that dissimilar.
I mean, you have an oven, it's a bread oven. You have a heating place. You have a
table where you can sit down and enjoy a meal. You have a place where you can wash your dishes
afterwards. You have a chopping block. You even have a fridge.
- Well, hats off to German technology. But what's it like then for you when you're
staying here? I mean, do you have dozens of staff waiting on you?
Do you cook your own meals? I absolutely cook my own meals. And I actually
have absolutely no staff looking after me here. No, those days are very long gone.
I live a very modern life and I don't have any staff looking after me.
- I guess for many people it would feel unusual living in a castle. But your life, day to
day, even if you spend it here, probably looks much the same as other people's. Is that right?
- Well, absolutely. It's especially now that you have home office because I work here.
So, you know, I get out my laptop in the mornings and I drink my coffee that I made myself in
my kitchen and in my coffee machine and, you know, answer my emails. And so, yeah, no,
it's I think most people would recognize it as being very similar to their own lives.
I'm just very, very fortunate that the surroundings are very beautiful. Well thank you so much for meeting me.
- You're welcome. It was lovely to chat to you and hear about your
story. I've really enjoyed hearing your story. It was great meeting you, thank you so much.
- Thank you! Well, there you have it. Life in a medieval castle. It has a certain flair, right? Maybe
it's not quite the fairytale lifestyle that you might expect. And sure, it would be cold
in the winter, but wouldn't it all be worth it just to have this whole place and the whole
surrounding area all to yourself?
