Rhine Getaway Viking River Cruise
Day 7: Saturday, November 06, 2021 - Koblenz, Germany
The day's statistics:
- Weather: low 50s, mostly sunny
- Steps: 10,793 Linda; 10,837 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 25
At some point on this day, our journey will, sadly, be half over already.
Easy math: noon would be the half way point.
A little more math: we left at 1:00 PM on Sunday, and returned at 6:00 PM the following Friday, so 3:30 PM would
be the half way point.
Even more math: there were five time zones traversed going over to Europe, and six coming back. So whatever time
you feel like would be half way.
Regardless of how you factor it, again: some time today will be half way.
Right around breakfast, we landed in Braubach, Germany.
Today's breakfast was one of the rare variations. Linda actually DIDN'T have egg benedict, but rather had a bagel
with some prosciutto, cheese, and watermelon.
While I said I wasn't going to show every breakfast, this was one of the slight varieties I had.
Here are a couple shots from breakfast.
In the first image (the one across the river), there are three white stones visible. Those are 1/10th kilometer
markers. The close-up stone with the "+" on it is a half-kilometer marker.
After breakfast, we took a bus to Koblenz.
We had a short walk of about 500 yards - I mean meters - to the bus, and we saw these sights.
This morning's guide was Myra, and there were 15 in our group.
We boarded the bus, and were underway for a ten minute ride.
The bus arrived just in front of a church, and we got off.
Here is an approximation of our walk.
- Dark green line is the walk from the bus, to the monument, then the clock, and then the church, with a technical break.
- Medium green line is the walk from the church to the Jesuit Square.
- Light green line is the walk during free-time walk around and Jesuit Square.
- Light pink line is the walk from the Jesuit Square back to the bus, with a stop by the history totem.
Where we got off the bus.
Across the Rhine river was the Fortress of Ehrenbreitstein (there was an optional excursion to visit the fortress).
"In season", there is a cable car that runs between this side of the river and the fotress.
Some ruins.
The monument erected in honor of William I, first German Emperor, in appreciation for his role in the unification
of Germany, back in the 1897.
One image has Myra, our guide in the blue jacket, in the foreground to help show the enormity of the monument,
and another has our group in the foreground.
A plaza, surrounded by flags, at the confluence of the Moselle (from the left / West) and Rhine rivers, facing
North. I couldn't quite get close enough to the point to get a good shot before the group starting to move on.
The Moselle river.
Across the river was a campground. But what is most interesting are those barrels behind the row of campers.
They are actually little sleeping units that can be rented.
Looking back at the confluence, with the monument through the tree to the right, and a US flag in the foreground,
as a gesture of solidarity with the US in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attack.
We continued down the path along the Moselle, before heading into town.
Every half hour, the eye rolling clock of Johan Lutter, a 16th century robber, sticks its tongue out to mock the
residents of Koblenz.
Moving on, more sights.
This is an interesting street, with limited access for local residents. Notice the pylon in the middle with
the red lights. That is their version of the traffic gate - residents enter a code and the pylon goes down.
And.... moving on.
We eventually made our way to The Church of Our Lady [Mary].
And we went inside.
This was in the ground in front of the church. It represents the bond between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
Our guide, Myra, who speaks 4 or 5 languages, outside the church telling us about her family in D.C., in
Manhattan, and in Huntington on Long Island.
We finished up at the church and moved on.
We passed a store that had a section of ruins in the back of it.
More sights.
This is called Jesuit Square. There is a church in the corner.
The manhole cover has a boy on it, it was spotted before getting to the church (though there was more than one).
Off the Jesuit Square, and through the tunnel and to the right in the image above, is this fountain.
The story goes that he is a "Shangers". These are children of the unmarried. They were shunned and spat upon. Over
time, there became more and more.
In the last shot, the second line of the text on the plate is in English.
The fountain is opposite this entryway.
Off the square...
We had about 45 minutes of free time. We first stopped at a shop to pick up our shot glass, and post card.
We had some coffee, with Diana, at a cafe that was off the square. (It was just a cup of coffee... so no picture.)
At this point, we started walking toward the bus. Down the street, way up high on a building was this.
Further down the street was another plaza where they were starting to set up for Christmas. In the center of the
plaza is the "history totem" (normally I would have written it up, but... why bother?!!?).
Adjacent to the plaza.
Back on the bus and on our way back to the ship. First, a stitch of the Palace.
And other sites.
There are some ports where passengers have the option to stay ashore if they choose. Depending on what excursions
they may or may not be taking, this can be possible.
On a day like today, however, it isn't. Because we were casting off at noon, lunch ashore wasn't an option as
we had to be back onboard since the ship would be getting underway.
Today's lunch menu.
Linda had the Maradona salad from the market fare, and Steve had the pico chicken bowl.
Linda had red pepper soup, Cuban sandwich, and melon ice cream for dessert.
Steve had red pepper soup, BBQ baby back ribs (we traded our fries with each other), chocolate brownie with ice cream for dessert.
It was a long span between Koblenz and the next city, Speyer.
We would be underway for pretty much a 24 hour period - the afternoon of one day, and the morning of the next.
Compared to a "big cruise ship", this is when a lot of time could be spent in a casino, or at a theater, or
whatever else may be available to passengers.
For us, there were still some things to see along the way, such as quaint little river-side towns, and some castles.
Afterall, one shore is over there, and the right over there [on the other side].
There will also be a tea time and drink demonstration later in the afternoon too.
Most of these are taken through windows on a moving ship, so there will probably be some imperfections and or
reflections here and there.
The "567" in front of this hotel is the kilometer marker. Add that to the "+" ones, and one can pretty much figure
out exactly where they are without much trouble.
Sort of like using the mile markers on an interstate highway. Except here, you're in a boat
on a river. With tangerine trees...
Some items of slight interest in this shot. The boat is very long. It is carrying cars on the back like some others
we saw. It is on the river in the shadow of the mountains to the right (our ship was traveling south, and the shot
is facing east, with the sun to the west).
The second is just another shot of the back, removing any and all doubt that there are cars on the boat...
We were traversing through a blind turn on the river. Another boat was coming in the other direction. But there is
a lit sign on the point of the turn that shows what, if any, type of ship may be coming in the other direction.
The picture is cropped to help show some perspective of the valley as well.
Like the Danube region, the Rhine region, due to its hilly geography, has a fair amount of stepped agriculture. As far
as the grapes are concerned, this helps the grape vines too because it forces the roots to bury deep, creating
stronger plantings. Shallow roots breed lazy plants, and lower quality grapes.
There were a lot of castles along the Rhine, especially in this region, that are still in use either as a residence, or hotel, or that
are just ruins, or a museum. So many that we were given a map of the castles - with 19 on it - with pictures of them (though some pics
were from the back, using a drone - so it didn't help much), their names, and where they were on the river. Some of the castles are easily
identifiable. Some castles may not be named because I couldn't tell from the angle I got them if that was the one or not, some may have
more than one picture, and either or both may or may not be the right names for the same reason. But I think I got 14 of them.
I'll try to keep these in the order we passed by them.
Since the Rhine was a main passageway for commerce, the castles were built to take advantage of that, as well as - in
some instances - to help protect other areas up or down stream.
Some of the castles are pictured more than once because the angle changed and or more of the castle was revealed and
or the lighting was different and or the zoom was changed and or something else. You get the idea...
Also, I was going back and forth a little on the boat to get shots from both sides. Only problem with that was that the sun was on the
other side and sometimes it was hard to time a good shot, though in one pair of photos, it created a really neat effect.
Lahneck Castle, 13th century, portrays medieval life through portraits in the castle (actually captured during the bus ride
from Koblenz).
Stolzenfels Castle, 13th century, rebuuilt by a Prussian king in the 19th century (actually captured during the bus ride to Koblenz).
Marksburg Castle, with a free-standing tower (actually captured on the walk to the bus prior to the trip to Koblenz).
Sterrenberg Castle, 12th century, shared a defense wall with Liebenstein Castle, also pictured here, and is one of the two "Hostile
Brothers". The Liebenstein Castle is the hightest castle on the Middle Rhine, and its tower now contains a restaurant and hotel.
Rheinfels Castle, 13th century, now a hotel and museum.
Katz Castle, 14th century, damaged by Napolean's forces, and rebuilt in the Victorian era.
Schönburg Castle (?), 10th century, burned by French troops in 1689, was reconstructed, and today is a hotel and restaurant.
Part of Pfalzgragenstein (known as 'the Pfaiz', is a toll station), and Gutenfels Castle. Back in the day, this building was used to hold a chain that spanned the river. Captains HAD
to pay a toll in order to be allowed to pass.
Stahleck Castle, 12th century, repeatedly attacked in 17th century wars, was rebuilt in 1909, and is now a youth hostel.
Heimburg Castle, 13th century, destroyed under Louis XIV, rebuilt in the 19th century.
Sooneck Castle, rebuilt in 1834 by the crown prince of Prussia.
Ehrenfels Castle, 13th century.
Nollig Castle (?), 14th century, technically not a castle but a fortification for the town of Lorch am Rhine.
More sights, and you may notice some castles in the background of some of these too.
Some future, or perhaps past, Olympians?
A ferry.
Lorelei (from upstream a little) and The Lorelei Rock. The rock is a 130 meter tall (pay attention: 400 foot) formation.
According to the myth, the beautiful Lorelei sits on the cliff above the Rhine while combing her golden hair, and luring sailors
with her song, to their deaths on the rocks of the river.
And other sights that were seen interspersed with the other sightings above.
We still had left over wine from lunch. And we grabbed cups of coffee from the coffee station on the way to the
lounge.
In the lounge we had a Rüdesheim coffee making demo, and a tasting.
To make Rüdesheim coffee, place 2 sugar cubes in a coffee cup. Pour brandy over the cubes and light it - let it burn for 1
minute. Stir until all the sugar has melted. Add hot coffee, and top with whipped cream and sprinkle with chocolate shavings.
It wasn't too sweet and it was yummy.
In addition to the coffee, they served little sandwiches and cookies on three tier servers. The last tier had whipped cream and chocolate puddling.
After the coffee tasting, we returned to our room for a little bit. We could have stayed in the lounge, or went out
to the Aquavit terrace, or up on the sun deck. But we didn't.
We were briefly docked in Rüdesheim for some to partake in an optional dinner and beer excursion. We did not
participate in that.
As our ship did last cruise, another ship was docking along side ours. We briefly chatted with the occupants of the
cabin in the other ship.
Some castles, towns, and other sights are in the two major sections above, rather than split them out between before,
during, and after lunch; and before, during, and after tea time.
But eventually, somehow, it was time for dinner already.
We started with our port talk in the lounge, then headed down to the restaurant for dinner.
Tonight's dinner menu.
Linda had the regional specialties of Spundekas, Gekochtes rindfleisch, and the grape hazelnut strudel for dessert.
Steve had the traditional fish soup, herb-crusted ahi tuna steak, and the creme brule for dessert.
Dinner was done. And so were we. Time for bed. Tomorrow is another day.