Cruising the RHINE

You can take a river cruise along the Rhine River, picking where you want to get on and off. We had time for the 1 hour cruise portion recommended by our guide guru - we got on at St. Goer and off at Bacharach. You might remember that I said it is a 10 minute drive or train ride from one city to the other - going upstream on the cruise boat takes an hour :) If you ride the entire cruise from Koblenz to Mainz, it takes 5.5 hours downstream or 8 hours upstream. We liked our little cruise so much that we agreed we would like to take the entire cruise the next time we are here. It was simply relaxing and very pleasant.


While waiting for our cruise liner, I watched one of the ferries run back and forth across the river. There are very few bridges across the Rhine, but there are ferry crossings now and then. It is only 1.5 Euro to take the ferry across the river. And it only took 10 minutes for the ferry to go across.



















This is the river cruiser that we rode. We sat on that top front deck. (Not the very top - the top of the second level.)










Here's Don getting ready to enjoy our cruise.












There is traffic on the Rhine.












Thus, a river traffic sign.













Burg Katz











Clicking on this picture will allow you to see the Loreley Statue. Legend tells of a river siren who caused many a ship to wreck upon this stretch of the river. It was really due to the reefs. But that's how legends go.








The Loreley is actually this steep cliff at the narrowest and
deepest point of the Rhine.











The Loreley












Along side the Loreley.
















Rocky reefs called the Seven Maidens - another legend.











The Loreley on the left, Oberwesel on the right.












Oberwesel was a Celtic town in 400 BC. It has amazing remains of the Roman wall and medieval towers.










Oberwesel's old church and Schonburg Castle. We never actually stopped in Oberwesel, so I would like to do that next time.











Gutenfels Castle is now a hotel.

















I found the hillside terracing fascinating.















Pfalz Castle is one of two castles in the middle of the river. It is shaped like a ship. It survived a 6 week siege in 1504.
























That is Gutenfels in the background.





























A tent city along the bank. A lot of Germans love to camp or RV.











Every train tunnel along the river - and there are a lot of them - had a different tower. I loved it.














As I said, we got off in Bacharach and then left the Rhine Valley for Rothenburg ob der Tauber via Heidelberg. I loved the Rhine Valley. Only 5 days into our trip and it turns out that we have seen what will prove to be the best preserved castle and the best castle ruin.

RHEINFELS

Rheinfels sits above the little town of St. Goer. Rheinfels was absolutely huge in its day and is the best ruined castle around. There were groups of children all over the place - looked like school field trips. There were men dressed in medieval outfits working with the kids on shooting crossbows and sword fighting and they were having a blast.





We took the 'nature' walk to the castle ruins. We didn't actually climb that tower on the left - the path went to the right after climbing this first flight of stairs. We walked along the old wall fortification for awhile.



























There is a nice hotel just outside the ruins and this is the entrance to the courtyard area there.




















































































This is part of a network of tunnels around the castle. They would blow them up when invaders were close and take a lot of them out that way.










A flight of stairs that we did NOT walk down - too scary!
















A group of girls from France were taking turns in the stocks and let us take a picture.











The road into St. Goer passes along the outer walls of Rheinfels.

ST. GOER & a little more BACHARACH

St. Goer is only 10 minutes up the road from Bacharach by car or train. They are similar in size, but St. Goer has even more of a touristy feel to it.


St. Goer's old church.











Looking down on St. Goer and the Rhine from Rheinfels.











Rheinfels from St. Goer. The sign on the left that says 'Eis' is an ice cream shop. Don couldn't seem to get enough of the Eis and so we frequented these shops often. This picture is first thing in the morning, before all the tables and tourists were out.







If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can more easily see that the sign says, "Made in Germany." I thought it was kind of funny. (And maybe a statement of the times when EVERYTHING is made in China.)














You will notice that 'Cuckoo Clock Center' is in English. Gee, I wonder who they are marketing to? And I loved the big Cuckoo Clock hanging in front.








Across the Rhine from St. Goer is a little town called St. Goerhausen.












Burg Katz sits above St. Goerhausen.















Meanwhile, back in Bacharach - pictures I missed:

This is one of the city wells from a time when they used an extensive well system. There was a lot of money in the bottom of this one.









We came across this passageway between buildings and Don thought we should explore it.















The passageway led to a little bridge over the stream that runs through Bacharach. Buildings and homes are built right up to and over the stream.

LESSON #1

This is our second car - yes, 2nd car. We learned some things having a rental for the first week. It was nice being able to go where we wanted when we wanted without being dependent on schedules and time tables. It was convenient to have our bags in the back of the car when we moved to a new area and just have to carry them into our new room. It was relaxing as the passenger to be able to recline the seat if you wanted to. BUT, we probably will not rent a car for this time period again, instead opting to rent a car for a day or two at a time. Here's why:
On Saturday, only our second day in country and with the car, we had a flat tire. The newer cars do not come with spare tires. They have an inflater that also injects sealant into the flat tire. Then you are not supposed to drive over 110 kilometers per hour - 70 MPH - on that tire until it is repaired or replaced. (I am imagining at this point that someone out there may be wondering why you would need to drive faster than that.....) So, when we got back to our room, Don called AVIS and they said we would have to have someone from Citrone (the car manufacturer) come out and take care of it. They sent a tow truck just 10-15 minutes later. That guy looked at the tire and said it looked good. Don asked if he was going to replace it. He said no, he didn't have tires to do that. We needed to trade in the car. That little 'tire check' cost 180 Euros. If you know that the exchange rate during our time there was about $1.50 to the Euro, you can do the math. Ouch! So we had to stop in Koln to change cars. This car was missing it's inflater. What are the odds that we would get another flat tire? I don't know, but I wasn't happy and thought they should give us a different car, but.... this is the one we got. They said one of the AVIS offices in Koblenz could give us an inflater - thus the trip to Koblenz. But neither office had one to give us. They told us to just buy an inflater and they would reimburse us. We didn't completely believe THAT statement either. Anyway, we never had another flat tire, but did waste some of our precious time finding an Auto Parts store to buy the thing - we drove for 3 days without one! Someone finally directed us to a store where Don found a one-time use machine that only cost 16 Euro. Anyway, the time and headache - and extra expenses - incurred with the car did not outweigh the convenience. When we returned the car, it sounded like we would NOT be reimbursed for that purchase, so I am glad we found one so cheap. AND, we have disputed the charges - $1,200 - because it should have been more around $500-700. That will take another 2-3 weeks to find out. It looks like they charged us for damage to the car. There was damage that was noted on the contract when we picked the car up. Just more headache.....


Here is another issue with having a car: when you finally figure out how to get around in a foreign country, it is great. And then you come across these signs in Germany (enlarge the picture.) 'Umleitung' means detour and that becomes a most dreaded word when driving in so unfamiliar territory. And we saw these signs in almost every town and city we tried to navigate. It was most humbling, especially in the beginning. Don has a great sense of direction and I am pretty good at reading a map and following directions, but we were absolutely hopeless for the first few days in Germany - beginning in the Frankfurt airport when we were just trying to find the things we needed there. I wanted to blame that on the lack of sleep, but it did not dramatically improve over the next few days. We did finally buy a really good road atlas that helped, but even then we got turned around a few times. Being a fan of The Amazing Race, I had a new appreciation for what those racers face and do! We would have been out of the running the first day if we were on the show! We did improve, but it took longer than I like to remember :)

DEUTSCHE ECK

The Deutsche Eck (German corner) is where the Mosel River joins the Rhine. It is in Koblenz and this is probably the only reason to go to Koblenz. We were dealing with car issues and needed to come to Koblenz. Don also wanted to see this in person after seeing it on TV:)


Yes, I 'made' Don pose like this. The Mosel is on the left, the Rhine is on the right.











I did NOT tell him to pose like this again :) This shows the scale of this monument of Wilhelm the Great. Too bad it was having some renovations done.



























































This is Ehrenbreitstein across the Rhine. It was huge. It has been turned into a youth hostel,






















Don was quite taken with this trailer and so it makes an appearance here.