Every town on a river in Germany ought to have a castle. It's good for setting a mood.
Cochem follows that rule closely with its Cochem Castle - also known as the Imperial Castle. A castle has on this spot more or less since the 11th century. Then France's Louis XIV ordered his troops to demolish the place ... probably because he could.
The ruins sat around for more than 170 years. Then in 1868, Louis Ravine decided he wanted his own castle. So he rebuilt the place to be a summer home. Louis died before it was finished, but his son finished the job.
It's been argued that the reconstruction hurts the authenticity of the place, but I can't say that bothered me. Sure looked like a castle, with a nice job of making the 40-minute tour worthwhile. I took several photos of the place during a visit, although you'd have to see most of them to get the idea. For our purposes, a video works well.
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