Cruising the Rhine

We started the day with a train trip to Bacharach via Mainz.Bacharach is a picturesque old wine town whose streets are still encircled by the remains of its old city walls.We arrived early (8.20am) and enjoyed having the streets to ourselves as we did a very interesting Rick Steve's Walk. We were interested to see the high-water marks for the various times the Rhine has flooded the town. Reclamation work  was done in 1910 and the town is now further from the river than it used to be but floods still occur regularly.

We saw several of the towers along the city walls, many half-timbered houses (including the 14th century Altes Haus) and the ruins of a church high above the town.

Our Rhine cruise was taken in two parts, the first being the beautiful stretch of river between Bacharach and St Goar. We boarded a KD boat and sat next to the rail on the front deck in a perfect position to catch all the sights, including the Pfalz Castle (now a privately owned hotel), the town of Oberwesel with its Schonburg Castle (also a hotel), the dangerous rocks known as 'the Seven Maidens', and the Lorely, a big slate rock which towers over the narrowest and deepest point of the Rhine, supposedly the home of a fair maiden who lures men to their deaths with her singing.

The Loreley

The Pfalz

We left the boat at St Goar with the intention of climbing above the town to the ruins of Rheinfels Castle, the largest castle ruin on the Middle Rhine, but it quickly became clear that we were not going to be able to do that in the time we had before our train to Braubach. Instead we had an early lunch in a cafe before catching the train.

Rheinfels Castle ruins

At Braubach we climbed up a steep hillside to the Marksburg Castle, which towers over the town and is the only hill fortress which has survived destruction on the Rhine. We were very proud of ourselves when we reached the hilltop although unfortunately we did not have time to take the fifty minute guided tour which was the only way to view the castle. Instead we sat on the terrace above the town and ate an icecream!

We made it to the top!

Proof that we made it up - the view as we turned to walk back down.

The second part of our Rhine cruise was from Braubach to Boppard, an hour of wonderful views and pleasant conversation with Dieter and Erica Hohn, whom we met in the queue for the boat. Erica's brother and his wife provided a bottle of crisp white wine and the time went very quickly.

Statue in Boppard

From Boppard we took the train back to Mainz and then another to Wiesbaden, arriving home around 7pm.

It was a very full day but something we have always wanted to do. When we set off on the boat in the morning we could hardly believe we were actually 'cruising down the Rhine' at last!