promenade along the rhine river in eltville.one of my most favourite towns in the closer vicinity of wiesbaden is eltville - the biggest town in the rheingau region - only about 11 kilometers away. i make sure that i visit this little city at least once a year, roaming through its marvellous tiny alleys that are dotted with the cute tinder-frame houses, paying the castle and its gorgeous rose garden some attention and sometimes even venturing out of the city core to other parts of the town, its outer districts being also highly recommendable. the most famous attraction being eberbach abbey. but you shouldn't miss out on exploring the little villages surrounding eltville either - they, too have charming town structures, not to talk about the beautiful nature they are embedded in.
every time i visit eltville i am enchanted with it again and again, often finding new details or areas that i have previously overlooked. i have often pondered over the dream of moving there, too, it's just such a quaint little town with high livability, but of course that also means that it's quite expensive. well, a girl can dream, isn't that so?
and while i do that, i will just keep visiting and appreciate the fact that the town is not out of my reach should i ever get a huge craving for a visit ❤ these pictures were made while my parents still were on visit in february 2020 - they, too, love it and express their desire to make our way there often when they are visiting me.
closing in on the most beautiful waterfront of eltville. the platz von montrichard is a square that offers quite some beautiful architecture, beginning with the eltzer hof - a gentry's court - continuing with a few neo-renaissance villas that were built for local champagne producers and at the very last, forming the crown of the square, the castle. 
the sycamore trees on the square are really characteristic, too, i couldn't imagine it without them. on the left corner you can see a little bit of the villa bernhard müller - built for one of the many grandchildren of local champagne legend matheus müller.
the only remnant of the formerly 4 medieval city gates is the martinstor, which is part of the aforementioned eltzer hof. i don't know if the martin's gate is really that old, but it is said that it existed since at least the 1330ies. the eltzer hof was administrated by the counts of eltz - an age-old nobility family. they bought the property in 1629, though the court already existed earlier. the gate was incorporated in 1753.
this square never fails to impress me, the whole appearance is such a lovely one! villa georg müller ( with the integrated haus rose on the left ) is one of those town mansions that make you want to be rich and be able to afford such lush accommodations. it was built in a neo-renaissance style in 1888 by jean fürstchen ( again - seemed to have been the house architect for the müller family ). georg müller was another grandchild of matheus müller, the dude that built eltville's most famoust champagne producing manufactory MM. the whole family was heavily involved in the business and helped shape eltville's cityscape with erecting gorgeous architecture as you can still witness now.
the castle's tower elevates this place even further and i love the little rheinhalle building on the right - it houses the restaurant anleger 511 now, but was formerly a shipping agency with integrated restoration hall. it was built upon a site where once stood a loading crane.
the house rose, by the way, dates back to 1480, but its appearance now comes from a reconstruction in 1739, which turned it into a guesthouse that even johann wolfgang von goethe frequented on his many trips to the region.
a beautiful detail above the entrance of house rose!
nearing the castle grounds. actually, the only intact building that still exists of the initial castle is the tower, the rest of it is just ruins now, but well-preserved ones. the castle was heavily damaged during the 30 years war and never really rebuilt to its former glory, except for the tower. the history of the castle dates back to 1330 when construction first began to erect a representational building for the archbishop of mainz, baldwin of luxembourg. from that time on it mostly was in possession of the church, but these days it's a tourist magnet, especially because of its garden situated within the walls, which presents lots of roses that remind you of the city's rose-growing history. there are roses growing here that were specifically named and dedicated to the town, two of them being 'beautiful eltville' & 'city of eltville'. other than heaps of roses, which will bloom mostly in june, you can also find other plants and flowers inside the garden all year round.
a gorgeous almost 300 year old wine press resided ( until recently ) next to the main entrance to the garden. until recently? yes, it was decided to restore the ancient wine press and relocate it to a different square in town, as the city installed some very necessary public bathrooms on the spot that the press was standing on for decades. i haven't been back to eltville recently, so these news were quite interesting to me, in addition to learning that the city wants to beautify the whole square in front of the castle. i think i'll miss the press on its former standpoint a bit, but also looking forward to meeting it again on the gutenbergplatz in the east entrance of the city.
close-up of the dragon heads embellishing the wine press.
daffodils flowering right next to the wine press 💛 and the roses started to grow shoots, too! because of the mild climate along the rhine, roses generally tend to bloom early here, many starting in may, most of them in june.
entering the castle grounds. this is the former moat, now turned into the castle garden. it expands around a corner in the back, supposed to protect the castle from possible attacks from the city side. on the left side, on an elevated plateau, is what is called the 'amtsgarten' ( bailiff's garden ) - it can be reached via a parapet walk. on the right side a tall wall indicates a dungeon, providing even more protection. situated on top of the dungeon is the actual inner bailey of the castle - it had at least 4 buildings, the still existing tower and a restored east wing, and the now ruinous palas and west wing...
... which can be found behind the these thick dungeon walls.
it might not look like a lot was growing during our visit, but a closer look at the flower beds will convince you otherwise.
everywhere were signs of spring, flowers and buds opening up and announcing warmer and colourful days!
bodnant viburnum blooming and spreading its beguiling fragrance.
japanese camellia finds perfect conditions to grow inside the castle's walls, thanks to the aforementioned climate conditions.
this particular cultivar is called 'the czar'. i am completely fascinated by the long yellow stemens!
such beautiful blossoms 😍
primrose corner 🌼 i like that there are so many varieties of primrose hybrids, they can have all kinds of colours, like these blue, purple & red ones! most common of course are the yellow, white and pink ones, though.
growing in the moss that was growing on the walls 😍
one sole periwinkle. but don't fret, more were coming up ( can you see the tiny buds? ). did you know that periwinkles are actually cultural relicts? this plant can survive over centuries, so whenever a human brought these plants with them to a new village or a new settlement, they would take root and thrive, and even if the place would later be given up or abandoned, the blooming of the periwinkle could still indicate that you might be standing on former cultivated grounds. they also were used to embellish gravesites, and when you're out and about stumbling upon a strange place you wouldn't expect periwinkles at, it might be a clue that at this spot, maybe someone buried their loved one.
beautiful foliage of a rhododendron bush!
laurestine has officially conquered my heart with its dense blossom cymes.
ancient walls and blooming plants - is there anything more satisfying than this aesthetic? i don't think so.
tiny little button buds 😍
this cutie is one of the most fascinating plants in existence - the black hellebore. it's a gorgeous plant with beautiful blossoms ( that eventually transform to sepals forming follicles ), but it's also one of the most toxic plants there is! though it was used in antique times as a medicine, if you didn't measure it carefully it could send you to death in no time. today the hellebore is not used anymore, because its toxicity outweighs all kinds of possible healing properties.
a look from the bailiff's garden plateau towards the river rhine. i don't know what the purpose of this cute little hut was back in the day, but i absolutely adore it! it's probably used as a garden shed now to tend to the castle grounds. in the back there's the former shipping agency now restaurant anleger 511.
moss forming a fluffy carpet on old balustrades.
it looks so soft and cozy! wish i was a little elven fairy and could have a little nap in it 😙
snowdrops & phedimus - snow white and blood red 😍
the amtsgarten and the castle in the background. here you can see very well the still intact east wing and what is left of the west wing and the dungon in front of it. the rose beds were still triste - as it should be common in the month of march ;)
we left the castle grounds and entered the inner city. the church on the left is st. peter & paul. it is eltville's oldest church, dating back to 1350 ( though it is said that there had been an older church on this site prior to that date ). as it would later start to rain, we would seek refuge inside the church, so stay tuned for some inside shots later!
the building in the front was my main focus that day, its modern build giving clues to maybe a 1960ies/1970ies construction? it is the parish center for st. peter & paul.
loved this concrete/glass wall/window especially! with creations like this i am always super interested in what it looks like from within a place, betting on colourful lightplay!
in the narrow streets of eltville you'll encounter cute little timber frame houses all the time, which is definitely what makes this town so adorable and charming! the year's construction date in the gable of the house on the right says 1365, which is simply mind-blowing to me. it's also a very sweet little house that i would absolutely love to inhabit 😅
a tenement that once had been a barn and wine press house ( maybe from around the 16th century? ).
more timber frame goodness. it's sheer impossible to track historic details for some of these houses, unless they had belonged to a very wealthy family or were built for an important purpose. but enjoying just the look of it already is enough for me ❤
this ancient building called stockheimer hof was under construction during our visit, it is part of a bigger vineyard property 'langwerther hof'. the stockheimer hof was built around 1550 and was used as a manor house. until very recently ( 2018 ), the property was owned by the family of langwerth simmern, but they decided to relocate up north to lower saxony and continue their path of growing wine and working in agriculture from there after 500 years of operating in the rheingau region. the property was sold to a construction company who is planning to keep the place open for the public, but also create space for residential areas. i think it is about time to revisit eltville and see what has happened on the plot for the past couple of years, maybe they have started to build the residentials already? i hope that they will integrate the new constructions well into the already existing historic building fabric.
an absolute gem is this house - the gensfleisch house. it belonged to the very influential mainz family gensfleisch ( said to be goldsmiths working for the bishop in mainz ) - and the most famous sprout of the clan was one johannes gutenberg, the first european that invented a moveable type-printing press and with it started the printing revolution in europe! eltville is very proud to have been one of the places mister gutenberg was active in. his mother had connections and an estate here - likely this building - and so it is possible that he grew up in eltville and later on in his life, often visited his brother when he visited the town. it is said that he was inspired to create his invention after closely examining how the wine presses all over town worked.
i absolutely love the wooden arbor balcony which rests on sandstone foundations and rose trees growing up the pillars. such a nice touch!
a view up the ellenbogengasse ( probably my absolute favourite of the many little alleys in oldtown eltville )! please note the house with the brickearth wall ( the one with the orange framed entrance and window openings ). this one is a very peculiar little building - an insular construction on the junction of two streets.
it is a trapeziform timber frame house with a hipped roof from the mid 18th century - and my favourite detail is definitely the brickearth wall that basically forms a teeny-tiny front yard situation. in general this house seems utterly tiny to begin with, which mean this is a super cute candidate on my list of tiny homes i want to live in 😜
the main entrance to the house is actually this side, though! i also really love the choice to colour frame the doors and windows of the lower level of the house!
a look at the junction of ellenbogengasse & kirchgasse ( on the left you can see a part of the langwerther hof - particularly the former bursary office ( from the late 18th century ).
to take photos of st. peter & paul is quite a hard thing to do, there's not enough room around the church to take proper pictures of its entirety.
the appearance of the church was created in late gothic times ( 1350 to 1440, it is not clear by whom, only that the petersstift in mainz was the initiator of the construction ), though there are also elements of the baroque era. the tower's formerly gothic cupola was renewed after a lightning strike in 1683, and now has baroque characteristics, just to name one example - but the tower itself still carries many gothic ornaments. the mount of olives scene right next to the little entrance is from 1520 ( early renaissance ) and is ascribed to an artist called peter schro.
it started to rain heavily at this point, so we decided to seek refuge inside the halls of the church. one last glance of the outside shows the north side of the nave. in the back you can make out the parish center, and a little chapel right in front of it.
you are immediately greeted with a gorgeous baptistry from 1517, another piece of peter schro, who was responsble for many of the extravaganzas of the church ( and is considered one of the most prolific sculptors during the late gothic and early renaissance era ). it shows jesus and the 12 apostles as judges over the world.
the glass window behind the baptistry font was beautiful, too, a perfect contrast to the renaissance font. looking at it now, it also reminds me of contemporary happenings - the colours yellow and blue and the dove of peace wake associations of the russo-ukrainian war, which is currently occupying and scaring the collective mind of the global community, as putin attacked the ukraine in a massive war of aggression a few weeks ago and kicked off a global threat of a third world war with the outcome of possible nuclear extinction. sounds scary? welcome to the 21st century, where people still haven't learned their lessons from previous wars and let people into power that are megalomaniac autocrats who still adhere to toxic conservative beliefs and love power plays of unprecedented scales, threatening life on earth as we know it.
the creator of the window is unknown to me.
when you enter the nave of the church and look back to the organ loft you immediately notice the ancient mural paintings. they are said to date back to the year 1400.
a tiny organ which was used instead of the big one on top of the loft, which was being renovated at the time we visited. it's a beautiful little thing, built in 1969 by detlef kleuker from bielefeld. i loved the rose ornaments on top of the organ!
a golden madonna figurine placed on the staircase to ( possibly? ) the organ loft.
in the nave, looking towards the south wall at some terrific glass windows. you can also see another organ on the left - a swallow's nest organ from 1868/69 ( builder: louis-benoît hooghuys ). i am not entirely sure by whom the exact windows were created, there are several artists that provided work for this church: jean-baptiste bethune, a.f. martin & jupp jost.
i liked this window very much, it felt very modern. maybe jupp jost was the author of it? though it seems his work can only be found on the north wall, not the south. i couldn't find anything about a. f. martin, but he is said to have created the south wall windows in 1905. but that doesn't fit well with this rather contemporary design in my eyes. a mystery!
moved towards the side of where the swallow's nest organ was to get a view of the north wall of the church. i wish i would've taken more images of the windows, but i guess i still have plenty of time to do that whenever i will visit eltville.
one last image of the altar! the glass windows in the back are the oldest windows ( i think ), created by jean-baptiste bethune. another thing i regret a bit is not taking images of the various statuettes strewn about everywhere, there are some really beautiful pieces from centuries ago that have survived the ravages of time. another thing for the next visit, maybe!
and thus ends this little foray into eltville - or alta villa, as it was once called when latin was the official language of big parts of europe. always worth a revisit!
to end this piece, some last cute images of blooming cornelian cherry bushes!
one of my most favourite early bloomers in the season. their little blossoms are so delicate and their sunny yellow is so promising of warmer spring temperatures ❤
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