Viking's Grand European River Cruise: Koblenz & Middle Rhine, Germany

Viking River Cruise, Day 4:  Koblenz & Middle Rhine, Germany (Facebook collage)

(click any collage to enlarge)

SOOOOOOO, Ladies and gentlemen!  By this time in our cruise, that became a familiar refrain as Alex, our Program Director, kept us apprised of each day's comings and goings.

This day, Day 4, was  a full day of castles and lots of goodies in between as we continued the long stretch across Germany from Cologne the previous day.

Prior to arriving in Koblenz for our morning excursion, I "collected" architecture from the sun deck.

As you know by now, I eat this stuff up.

To be honest, I'm surprised we didn't see more of this industrialization.

It was few and far between.

We docked in Koblenz at 8:30 a.m. in front of Kaiser Wilhelm I on his mighty steed,

and left the ship by 9:30 for our excursion to the Marksburg Castle.

We walked in Koblenz all of about 15 minutes!  What you see is what you get.

We hopped on buses immediately, climbing the hill to the best-preserved castle on the Rhine.

In its 800 years, it was never attacked during countless wars because of its strategic location.

 Before starting our tour, we had time to get the lay of the land.

What a vantage point for anyone needing protection from marauders!

 Now....follow the leader....

 We even have cannons like this in Gorinchem, NL, where we live.  (sigh)

 Fine dining, anyone?

 How about fine frescoes!

I know someone who would give an arm and a leg for this weaving apparatus!

 Yes, they even had an inside toilet (that hung outside the wall with appropriate pipes).

Music, game and spinning alcoves, plus separate bedrooms...

what more could you possibly need on top of a fortress!

Unless it was armor...or a chastity belt?

Our tour guide carried the key to the castle with her the entire tour...

and then locked us out once we were done.

Mercedes, top right, was our Viking guide on the bus back down to the boat.

We fell in love with her...so adorable.

Instead of going back to Koblenz, from whence we had started,

we drove to Braubach, 10 km southeast, at the foot of the castle's hill, 

where we got our best view looking back up...

and to where our ship had sailed while we were gone.

Again, what you see is what you get.

By now it was time for lunch, with a Taste of Germany specialties....

When in Germany, eat and drink as the Germans do.

We even enjoyed the "Sound of the Rhineland" musicians.

With tummies full, and time to go brush our teeth, it was now time to hit the top deck to see the stretch of castles on the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, declared a UNESCO site in 2002.  This was one of the most-anticipated moments of the entire cruise for me.

Even before getting to the castles, I was awed by so many of the houses!

And churches!  You know me and spires.

All seen from the river, of course.

And as a bit of trivia...we found out that Hitler purposely made train-tunnel entrances look like castles

so no one would bomb them.  It was a gentleman's agreement to NOT bomb castles during war.

BTW, we were listening to the running commentary from Alex, our Program Director,

while trying to stay warm and not goof off too much.  Lucky for us, it was sunny!

Another BTW, this is also wine country with vineyards dotting the hills everywhere.

And yes, that's the Lorelei maiden (middle-left) who tried to woo us to our doom.

SOOOOO, Ladies and gentlemen.  Saving the best to the last...

here are some of the finest examples of castles, palaces and fortresses along the Middle Rhine!

(We even have a booklet with all their names!)

My favorite of them all?  The Pfalzgrafenstein toll castle on the Falkenau island!

It so happened a bunch of school kids were there while we passed by.

We all waved hello and good-bye....

...as I do now to Day 4 of our river cruise!  Moving right along....

Viking's Grand European River Cruise: Abridged

WE DID IT!  And for those of you who didn't see this on my Facebook page, here's the short version of our incredible 15-day river cruise in one swell foop:

Day 1: Amsterdam, Netherlands. 

The only thing we wanted to do today (besides find our longship, which is the middle one of the 3 above) was to walk to the Python Bridge from 2001, which we hadn't yet seen. It was a two-hour walk total and was a good way to start our cruise. So far so good. :)

[Amsterdam is in our backyard, which is why we didn't do anything else our first day.]

Day 2: Kinderdijk, Netherlands. 

We sailed through the night from Amsterdam to Kinderdijk where we just spent the morning. Before we lose our internet connection [which never happened!], while sailing the rest of the day and night to Cologne, here's a taste of Holland. Kinderdijk is just half an hour's drive from where we live in the Netherlands and is a UNESCO site...even on a grey winter's day.

[My blog header is from Kinderdijk and is another of our favorite backyard sites.]

  After Kinderdijk this morning we've been on the Waal river all day, sailing towards Cologne, Germany. We even sailed past our city, Gorinchem. Besides an obligatory fire drill, we played sjoelen (table shuffleboard). Astrid grew up on it and came in second, losing by one point. As she says, "More Dutch you cannot get!"

[click any collage to enlarge]

Day 3: Cologne, Germany. 

We've been in this one spot all day in gloriously SUNNY weather. The Dom/Cathedral is the main draw, but so is the St. Martin Church and the white Alte Abbey across the Rhine river. The Hohenzollern Bridge that crosses the Rhine has love padlocks the entire length (we're guessing over a million). Yes, we're in heaven!

 [We were at their Christmas markets this past December, for those who remember.]

Day 4: Koblenz and Middle Rhine, Germany. 

Today was a day of castles. First, this morning we took a tour through the Marksburg Castle, which is Germany's oldest castle that was never conquered or destroyed or damaged in its 800 years (top left image). In the afternoon we sat on the top deck in the sun, looking at some of the 29 castles on a 16-mile stretch of the Middle Rhine. Heaven!

 Day 5: Miltenberg, Germany. 

We're passing through 60+ locks on this cruise and today was the first day of watching several of them. We could reach out and touch the lock walls, that's how close we were.  Our excursion today was in a little medieval town, Miltenberg, with half-timbered, gabled houses. It was like a fairytale.

 Day 6: Rothenburg and Würzburg, Germany. 

We're on the Main River now, still sailing through lock after lock. Today we visited the best-preserved medieval town in Germany (Rothenburg), followed by Würzburg where we visited the Bishops' Residenz/Palace. As Astrid says, we're short of eyes!

 Day 7: Bamberg, Germany. 

We're on the canal between the Main and Danube rivers right now. It was a gloriously sunny day today but freezing cold! Bamberg is known for its rauchbier/smoked beer. :)

 Day 8: Nuremberg, Germany. 

This is Bavaria's 2nd largest city and is sister to Atlanta [where I lived 25 years]! No wonder I love this place, with its medieval old town and castle. We're still sailing the canal between the Main and Danube rivers.

 Day 9: Regensburg, Germany. 

We're on the Danube River now and this is its oldest city, among the best-preserved medieval towns in Europe. And because it's Sunday, we spent much of the afternoon inside many of its churches. South Germany is very Roman Catholic!

 Day 10: Passau, Germany. 

Before sailing into Austria tonight, we stopped this morning in this border town at the confluence of the 3 rivers, Inn, Ilz and the Danube. St. Steven's Cathedral, built in 1688, boasts the largest pipe organ outside of the USA. It's still bitter cold with off and on sun, but no rain! We even saw some snowflakes this afternoon.

Day 11: Melk and Krems/Stein, Austria. 

We woke up to snow today and then watched it snow all day. This morning we stopped in Melk to see the 900-year-old abbey. After lunch we sailed along the Wachau Valley and then stopped in Stein, next door to Krems, where we spent time walking through the little town. Snow and more snow, all day. 

We were like little kids!

 Day 12: Vienna, Austria. 

 It's impossible to synthesize this day into one collage, but here it is regardless. What can I say! You'd need to spend days here to "get" it. Just glad we could taste it.

 Day 13: Bratislava, Slovakia. 

We were here only for the morning but fell totally in love with this capital city, with a chance to visit the castle as well as the main square of the old town. Don't you love how they can take a joke!

Day 14: Budapest, Hungary. 

Today is our last full day of our river cruise. Lots of rain. Tomorrow we disembark and then stay another 4 days on our own to explore this incredible city, rain or shine. It really has been the trip of a lifetime for us both! Thanks to all of you who have been following it with us.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

We did indeed stay another 4 days in Budapest on our own to see the sights!  We flew back home to the Netherlands yesterday afternoon and are now getting back into the saddle.  Astrid is back at work while I start weeding through all the photos to make more complete posts.  Stay tuned!

 In the meantime, talk about "short of eyes," my favorite Dutch expression!

That's what my short post at Vision and Verb was about this past Monday.