Boppard

There are a lot of towns along this stretch of the Rhine-- another UNESCO Heritage Area--. We chose Boppard because it was central to what we wanted to see. We only had a few days here, and wanted to make the most of it. Not to mention, they had a guest card in return for your tourist tax that gave you free access to busses and even better, local trains.

We got off the train and were greeted by a statue of Engelberg Humperdinkt leading two children by the hands. Not the singer, the German composer who wrote the opera Hansel and Gretel. Our apartment was down a narrow side street, not far from river.

Boppard has been inhabited for a long time. It might have been the site of a Celtic settlement, but we know that the Romans established themselves here after the conquest of Gaul. In 355 while shoring up the west bank of the Rhine against continued attacks by the Germans, a fort was built at the location.

Later, Boppard became a Free Imperial City, until Emperor Heinrich VII gave the town to his brother, Archbishop of Trier, stripping it of its independence and its town privileges. The residents weren't happy about this, and tried in many different ways to subvert the deal, but to no avail. At one point, they had gained back their freedom, but that was short lived as the Elector of Trier claimed the Emperor who reinstated their charter had overstepped his authority, and attacked the town with 12,000 soldiers.

As it stands in a strategically significant position, poor Boppard was fought over, invaded, and occupied in almost every war that occurred in the area including by the Swedes (Thirty Years War) and the French (Nine Years' War, War of the Polish Succession, Jacobin Wars, Napoleonic Wars), and the Americans, who used the town as a bridgehead across the Rhine in World War II.

So we found out apartment, took care of the check in/guest card paperwork, and then went walking. It was a while after lunch at this point, and someone (me) was getting cranky. After that, we found the Roman ruins, the Templar House, Saint Severus church, and enjoyed the scenery.

It's the end of chanterelle season here, so the place we ate on the square had a nice spätzle dish with chanterelle cream sauce on the menu. Her Hai got that, and this time, I got the schnitzel. Since this is a wine growing region (Bopparder Hamm is famous for its wine fields-- vineyards?), we got local wine. Dry Riesling is a thing. It's not all sweet like we're used to in the US.

Boppard looks to be a nice, lived in town. Some of the others along the train line, Bacharach, Oberwesel, not to mention Rudesheim, are more half-timbered and "fairy-tale". We went for the location and free trains over aesthetics, this time.Weiterlesen