Trip to Germany: Erden and our rental house

Back in Edinburgh we found ourselves in a apartment-style hotel that included two bedrooms.  It was a totally lovely setup for our family, and we hoped to find something similar in the Frankfurt area in Germany.

However, we struck out when it came to apartment-meets-hotel-rooms. 

Enter VRBO, a website we've used to great success a number of times in the past.  If you haven't tried it for a vacation, you really should.  As the name stands for "Vacation Rentals By Owner" it's clear how it works.  You search for where you want to go, check out a variety of properties, and then work out the specifics with the property owners.  I quickly found a few in the Mosel River valley, made some inquiries, and booked us a place within two days.  While the per-night room charge was slightly more than our hoped-for hotel room rate, we were able to rent a two bedroom house with a kitchen for the same general price range.  Not to mention we didn't have to pay those annoying extras like parking and Internet. 

And do you know what?  Staying at the rental house was one of the highlights of our trip.  We're totally using this method again.

Hotel rooms are kind of sterile - that's what you're generally hoping for, anyway.  But this house had personality plus!  It was built in 1661(!) and included all kinds of stairs and low areas and funky little turns.  We appreciated that it felt very authentic - because it was!   


Check out the ceiling beam that was next to the kitchen.  We both had some head bangs on that puppy!


Living room:


Erden, where the house was located, is home to all of 400 people, so we felt like we were really getting a unique and not-so-touristy experience.


The woman that oversaw the property also owned the restaurant just down the street.  Fantastic German food, and totally reasonable.  We enjoyed the fare more than once!


Not only that, she would take our bakery breakfast order each night, and the local bakery would deliver fresh rolls/butter/etc every morning!  LOVE.


Here are some shots of the town, which is located right on the Mosel river.






The whole region is well known for wine, and Erden was no exception.  Vineyards everywhere!  The property owner even left us a bottle of the local vintage in the fridge.  I was more than a little disappointed not to be able to partake.

More to come soon!  In case you're curious, here's Germany, Part 1 (Mainz and the Rhine).