Throughout our travels in the UK and Europe, we have enjoyed some beautiful river-side scenery along the Danube, Seine, Thames to name a few. During the Easter long weekend , we organised to cruise down another of Europe's famous waterways - the Rhine. Initially, Mei wanted to stay in a proper river boat but the package tours were expensive and had itineraries with cities that we had already visited. Instead we built our own travel plans, starting from Frankfurt and travelling to Koblenz (this post), Heidelberg and Marburg (next blog post).Arriving in Frankfurt
Frankfurt is Germany's financial capital and flights from London are cheap and frequent. Frankfurt is also popular as a flight connection hub between Asian countries and Europe. When we flew into the airport, we were in awe with how large it was - with a lengthy hike between our arrival terminal and the train station platform.
The airport was particularly busy due to the Easter long weekend where we noticed traditional trees of dyed eggs and coloured hard-boiled eggs during breakfast.
Koblenz
 |
| The train line hugs the river |
 |
| Popular river hotel boats on the Rhine |
 |
| A map showing the famous sites along the river |
Exploring Koblenz
In the late afternoon we arrived in Koblenz, checking into the Trierer Hof hotel near the old town.
 |
| Trierer Hof hotel sign |
The town was decorated with spring-time flowers and statues.
History Column (Historiensaeule)
At the Josef-Görres Square, the column is a 10 meter artwork that represents the history of Koblenz chronologically from the bottom to the present day at the top. The periods represented include the Roman settlement from the 1st century AD, the middle ages, the Crusades, through to the years of revolution and war in the 17th to 20th century. Koblenz was heavily bombed during World War II and the Altstadt (old town) rebuilt to reflect the original architecture.
Basilica of St. Castor
The Basilica of St. Castor is a prominent site on the riverbank with a garden full of flowers.
 |
| Side view of the Basilica |
 |
| Large flowerbeds in the church yard |
Königsbacher Biergarten
The nearby beer garden was a perfect excuse to find some traditional currywurst and beer for lunch.
 |
| So many sausage dishes to chose |
 |
| Beer, frites and sausages - yum |
KD Rhine Ferry
Along the river bank, we bought tickets to the KD (Koln-Dusseldorfer) Rhine ferry for the following day. The KD Rhine ferry operates a hop-on hop-off service up and down the river. As it was low season, seats were plentiful, but boats are less frequent than in the peak summer months. Our ticket was one-way from Koblenz to the town of Bacharach, continuing the journey back to Frankfurt by regional train.
 |
| Route of the KD Rhine ferry, courtesy of the KD Rhine website |
 |
| Bridge to board the boat |
Deutsches Eck
The German Corner (Deutsches Eck) is the point where the Moselle and Rhine rivers meet, decorated by a large sculpture of the German Emperor William I on horseback and flags of each of the German state.
 |
| Statue of the German Emperor |
 |
| Point where the Rhine and Moselle rivers meet |
Across the Rhine, the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress is connected to Koblenz via a cable car. The fortress has been used as a defensive stronghold during many battles including the Thirty Years War and French Revolution.
 |
| Ehrenbreitstein Fortress |
 |
| View of the promenade from the cable car |
From the top of the fortress, we had great views over the surrounding area.
 |
| View of the Rhine from the fortress |
Playmobil Exhibit
Inside the main building of the fortress, an exhibit celebrating 40 years of the children's toy company Playmobil was on display - including timelines of how the toy represented trends in society and also historical events: dinosaurs, Roman legions, Egyptians. Very interesting and we took a heap of photos. |
| Celebrating 40 years of Playmobil |
 |
| Different toys made by the company |
 |
| Packaging and advertisements from different years |
The life-sized toys
The Romans
 |
| Roman Senate |
 |
| Senator and Centurion |
The Egyptians
 |
| The Romans in Egypt |
The American Wild West and Civil War
Relaxing at a beer hall
Europe - Castles, Vikings and Pirates
Dinner - Alt Coblenz
Dinner was at the Alt Coblenz restaurant in the Old Town, based on a recommendation from our hotel's receptionist. Mei ate the pork chop whilst Olie ate the schnitzel. Highlight of the meal was the Reisling wine - not too dry and very aromatic.
Koblenz at night
 |
| Balduinbrucke (bridge) over the Moselle |
Ferry down the Rhine
The next morning had an overcast sky, so we were slightly hopeful that it would not rain during our cruise. After checking out of the hotel, we arrived at the river dock to board the ferry. Only a small number of passengers joined at Koblenz with more embarking at Boppard. Our table was well positioned near the front left side of the boat.
 |
| Our table on board |
We ordered a bottle of 2013 Rheingau Reisling (white wine) and potato pancakes with smoked salmon whilst we enjoyed the almost 4 hour journey.
Scenery of Castles
The scenery was dotted by castles and townships. The hills along the river bank were not as high as in the fjords in Norway and as the seasons had just changed to Spring, the foliage was only slightly green on the trees. Combined with a grey sky, it wasn't the most picturesque for photos.
The first landmark we spotted, was the castle of Marksburg. Formerly used as a prison, it was never destroyed and is used as the headquarters of the German Castle Association.
 |
| Marksburg Castle |
 |
| The castle sits above the town of Braubach |
Further into the cruise, we passed by the towns of Bad Salzig and St Goar - with many passengers disembarking to explore the area. To take photos and avoid the reflection from the inside lighting, Olie had to constantly walk up to the top deck although it was windy and very cold.
Lorelei Rock
The Lorelei is a famous 120 m high landmark at a bend in the river. It has a strong current and many boat operators are required to use a lot of skill to avoid accidents.
 |
| Lorelei rock |
Bacharach
As the boat docked into Bacharach, the rain started falling and when we disembarked we had to put on our ponchos, looking like red and purple lumps as we explored the cobblestone streets.
Burg Stahleck
We climbed a steep hill up to a castle: Burg Stahleck that had been converted into a youth hostel with great views over the Rhine valley.
Bacharach train station
As it was the Easter long weekend a lot of businesses were closed. We decided to change cities, waiting at the train station for a train that never arrived, but the one after did. Note: take a variety of debit/credit cards/coins on your trip as our prepaid card didn't work at the ticket machine (we had experienced this problem before in France and Spain), so we ended up paying cash. |
| The train station with Burg Stahleck |
Short stop in Mainz
We initially went to Mainz to check out the town. However on arrival at the main station we noticed a high police presence at the front entrance to the station and on the platforms. A high profile football game was on and supporters were making a lot of noise. We boarded the next train to Frankfurt and checked into our accommodation: Hotel Neue Krame located near the 'old town' (a small collection of rebuilt buildings in the traditional style).
Dinner - Leib and Seele
We found a pub style restaurant: Leib and Seele where we drank traditional apple wine (apfelwein) and ate green sauce - a traditional dish in the Frankfurt / Hesse area made of herbs including chervil, parsley, chives and sorrel that went well with schnitzel.
 |
| Frankfurter sausages with potato salad |
 |
| Schnitzel with green sauce |
 |
| Apfelwein |
Next blog post:
Heidelberg and Marburg, Germany
**Connect With Us**
This post was written by: Culture StampsIf you liked this post, please share it with others using the social media buttons below.
To connect with us and see snippets of our Culture Stamp travel adventures:
- Follow Culture Stamps on Twitter
- Follow us on Bloglovin Follow my blog with Bloglovin
- LIKE our Culture Stamps Page on Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment