Burg Eltz is a 12th century castle, which is more of a fortified residence than a military stronghold. The castle being split into the residences of the three main lineages of the von Eltz family. These being Eltz of the Golden Lion, Eltz of the Silver Lion and Eltz of the Buffalo Horns, the names coming from the respective coats of arms. Despite the residential nature of the castle, it was capable of withstanding a siege, in the 14th century, for two years before finally surrendering. Although built on top of a hill, to make any attack a very hazardous affair, it still lay low in the valley. This enabled the besiegers to build a fortification higher up, which could rain a catapult bombardment down upon it. My more distant views of the castle are taken from the road near to this fortification and show an 'end on' view, with the main bulk of the castle extending back from this section. I don't have any side views as I didn't have time to get to a suitable position, other PBasers have them though so a quick search will find some, if you are a keen castle fan.

As I was on an organised tour trip, my time was restricted and didn't allow time for waiting for good light. We arrived mid morning and the mists were still in the valley, giving a lot of aerial haze and a pure white sky. The sun did break through just as we were due to leave and I managed to get a few shots with a bit of reasonable sky, however most of my shots had a horrible white sky. I have added a plain blue colour to the sky of these shots, as a temporary fix (until I have time to practice adding a proper sky - I have limited experience with digital dabbling!). I have also had to tweak the contrast and colour saturation to lift the castle from the haze. A couple of the shots still have the white sky as they were going to be a bit more complicated to convert.

I also took a few shots on film, using 17mm & 24mm lenses to show the interior courtyard more fully - my digital only widens to the equivalent of a 35mm so cannot cope with enclosed spaces as well as I would like. My computer is ignoring the USB ports at the moment, once I have sorted that out I will scan the slides and add them to the gallery.

All comments are welcome and much appreciated, I find the feedback both interesting and useful. Thanks.