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Bavaria and Middle RhineBavaria and Middle Rhine
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Bavaria and Middle Rhine

august - september 2022
Et 22-dagers eventyr av Wolpertinger Wanderings Les mer

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  • Tyskland
  • Østerrike
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Par, Fottur
  • 8,9kreiste miles
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  • ReisendeBavaria and Middle Rhine

    Rüdesheim am Rhein

    16. september 2022, Tyskland ⋅ ☀️ 55 °F

    Today was the big day on the Rhine, when we were going to take our boat trip through the Rhine Gorge and look at the castles. As it was the off season, they weren't running as frequently, so we had to time it right. We took the train up to Koblenz, then down the east side of the Rhine to Rüdesheim.

    Rüdesheim is a pretty little town. It was a Celtic settlement, a Roman bridgehead, a Frankish town, and pretty much existed here making wine and shipping things down the Rhine for centuries. These days, it's known for its wine, Asbach brandy, a privately run international Christmas market, and as the jumping off place for visiting the Benedictine abbey of Saint Hildegard (as in Hildegard von Bingen, which is right across the river), and the Niederwald Denkmal, a monument of a triumphant Germania looking over the Rhine, marking the Unification of Germany in 1871.

    We didn't visit any of those places today. Instead, we were going to buy our tickets, and take a boat ride up the Rhine. Except when we got there, the boat had been cancelled. Okay, well, thankfully, there was another company doing the trip, though a bit later. We bought tickets from them, and had a nice conversation about the Grateful Dead with the man who sold them to us.

    Now we had some time on our hands, so we decided to walk around the town. It's very pretty, as I mentioned. Half timbered buildings, narrow alleys, grapevines everywhere. Lots of shops, places to stay, places to eat. Lots of tourists. LOTS. It's a regular stop for the river cruise ships and tour busses, where they load the passengers into the tram and take them up to the toy cabinet/ museum.

    We almost got run over by one of said trams, wandering around. We went down the Drosselgasse, the main street of wine shops and restaurants. Then we walked around a bit above the town in the rows of grapevines.

    We decided to head back, since we didn't want to miss our boat. The sights from the river were the main reason we came up this way, and the ticket was only valid for that sailing. I definitely didn't want to pay for it twice, because it wasn't cheap.    Les mer

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  • ReisendeBavaria and Middle Rhine

    The Rhine Gorge I

    16. september 2022, Tyskland ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F

    Oh great, I'm sure everyone is thinking, another gorge! Another boat ride! Such fun.

    And it was fun, despite the no pole dancing sign on the top deck.

    The weather was looking iffy, lots of dark clouds gathering, but we were going to take this boat ride. Nothing was going to stop us from seeing the UNESCO World Heritage area: Middle Rhine Gorge. Not the weather. Not pirates. Not the large group of German co-workers who were maybe here on some team-building exercise.

    We got on the boat, and went to the top, outside, open deck. It wasn't a long trip, distance wise, maybe twenty miles. We were only doing the castle heavy part of the area. It would take about two hours, as the boat criss crossed the Rhine on its journey from Rüdesheim to Sankt Goar.

    So why, you might ask, are there so many castles crammed into this twenty mile stretch of river? One word: TAXES. All right, there are probably other reasons, but the mighty (and not so mighty) lords of the region needed money, and one of the ways they got it was by collecting tolls on cargo moving up and down the Rhine. Sometimes, they did this legally, with approval of overlords, the Emperor, or whoever. Sometimes, not so much.

    There are a lot of romantic stories of rival castles/families (the Cat and Mouse castles), brigands, pirates, and all of that. You can even, if you're so inclined, download a guide and listen to a description of what all the castles are called, what interesting things happened at various kilometer markings. Usually, I'd go for all of this in a big way, but I was tired, and just wanted to look at things. I know, huge loss.

    So part I, I think it goes just passed Assmannshausen.    Les mer

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  • ReisendeBavaria and Middle Rhine

    Rhine Gorge II: The Gorge Strikes Back

    16. september 2022, Tyskland ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F

    No, it didn't really, I was just thinking of punchy titles, and instead of going with something historical or literary, I went with a rip off of a cheap space-ship thing.

    More castles and towns. Good thing no one is collecting tolls anymore, because there are a LOT of these places. The pictures here, aren't even half of them. The seventh picture is from a town called Bacharach. It's a youth hostel, but it was full when we looked into booking there. Maybe another time.Les mer

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  • ReisendeBavaria and Middle Rhine

    Rhine Gorge III: The Return of the Gorge

    16. september 2022, Tyskland ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    This title could work for either great literature or the space movie.

    More castles, including the famous one in the middle, Pflatzgrafenstein. As you noticed, a lot of these castles are actually just ruins, though a few are privately owned, or hotels.Les mer

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  • ReisendeBavaria and Middle Rhine

    Sankt Goar

    16. september 2022, Tyskland ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    A few last pictures of the Rhine Gorge, and then Sankt Goar.

    From the boat: the Lorelei, a narrow passage around a bend where boats would often wreck. This led to stories of sketchy lady fae luring sailors to their deaths. If we come back, maybe we'll hike it.

    As for Sankt Goar, there was a settlement here when the Romans arrived. People remained after they withdrew. The town got its name after a monk named Goar settled there to minister to the locals and the transient boatmen along the Rhine. After his death, his grave became a site of pilgrimage.

    The town passed through the same power struggles many of these towns did. At one point, it was the focal point of a family struggle between brothers who inherited different parts of the Landgravate of Hesse. One besieged the other, with the help of the Holy Roman Emperor, leading to the sack of the town by Spanish troops. In the late 1700s it was over run by French Jacobins, and then Napoleonic forces. It finally went to Prussia in 1815. Yes, the Hohenzollerns again.

    Our objective was Rheinfels Castle, mostly ruin, part hotel. We walked around the town a bit and ate some lunch first. I have to say, besides the really bad döner in Mittenwald, this was the worst food we had. Wine was good though.

    We'd be coming back to Sankt Goar for the Rhine in Flames festival tomorrow night, though it's apparently going to be much reduced from what it used to be.    Les mer

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  • ReisendeBavaria and Middle Rhine

    Rheinfels Castle

    16. september 2022, Tyskland ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    We made it up to the castle. Construction on Rheinfels began in 1245, but Count Diether V of Katzenelnbogen. When his line died out, it passed to the control of the Landgraves of Hesse, along with the town below. It was the biggest castle along this portion of the Rhine, covering five times the area it does currently. At its height, it housed up to 600 people in peacetime, during times of war and siege, up to 4500. As with all castles, it was self contained with religious structures, brewery, bakery, apothecary, livestock, water access, et cetera. In short, everything needed to survive a siege.

    In the 1800s, after the Napoleonic wars and the redrawing of Europe (thank you Chancellor Metternich), it went to the... you guessed it, the Hohenzollerns and the Kingdom of Prussia. After World War I, it reverted to the town, The loophole was it could never be used for profit, and when they rented part of it out to be made into a hotel, the Hohenzollern heir (yeah, they're still kicking around), Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, sued to get it back. He wanted it, he said, to be used for the good of the community. Though he had no real standing, the city settled with him, promising to use the grounds and money made from it to help disadvantaged youth working with his wife's, Princess Kira, foundation.

    Today, there's a small fee to get in and wander around, and visit the small museum in the former chapel. It's very impressive, as all of these fortifications have been. I think I'm more of a castle person, even if they're just ruins, than a palace person. But then again, give me my little house with indoor plumbing, running water, electricity, and central heating any day.    Les mer

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  • ReisendeBavaria and Middle Rhine

    Traumschleife Elfenlay

    17. september 2022, Tyskland ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F

    Hiking time. Not the famed Rheinweg, which runs down the Rhine, but one of the other touted trails in the area: the Traumschleife Elfenlay. In English, something like the Dream Loop Elvenlay/ Elvenlayer. So maybe we'd see some elves, who knows?

    It was a nice trail. Some elevation. Somehow I missed the photo op of Bopparder Hamm-- the bend in the river-- and the place where it's supposed to look like four lakes. I think it's because we wandered off the official trail and ended up somewhere else.    Les mer

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  • ReisendeBavaria and Middle Rhine

    Dream Loop part two

    17. september 2022, Tyskland ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    We finished up the loop, if we were ever really on it the entire time. I know we passed a few of the things we were supposed to, the hut, the viaduct. Grapes. Lots of them on the way up.

    When we came back down, I was tired. We went back into Boppard, and had a nice lunch. Stuffed schnitzel this time, mine with spinach and cheese, and the owner made sure to ask me in a mixture of German and English, "spinat, you know? Spinat in schnitzel." And I said, in kind of German, "Ja, ich kenne Spinat. Spinach." And that satisfied her. It was good, spinach and cheese. Herr Hai got some Italianish version of pork schnitzel. Good wine, beautiful view.

    But then the weather changed. It got really windy. Windy enough that the tables were blowing over. This didn't bode well for our evening plans, returning to Sankt Goar for the Rhine in Flames festival.    Les mer

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  • ReisendeBavaria and Middle Rhine

    The Rhine in Flames

    17. september 2022, Tyskland ⋅ ⛅ 52 °F

    We lucked out with our timing here. The Rhine in Flames festival just happened to be taking place in Sankt Goar, a few towns down the train line, when we planned to be in the area. Rhine in Flames takes place over the course of the spring-autumn in four different locations along the Rhine. The main draw is the fireworks and boat parade, but there's also food, live music, and et cetera.

    Herr Hai picked the fireworks pictures, except the last one. I decided on that. Back to my earlier Patton reference, that one looked like someone taking a pot shot at the castle on the hill.

    It was a bit smaller than I anticipated in terms of vendors, food, wine sellers (we are in a wine region, after all), but some of this might be due to just coming back after Covid. It was a good time despite being small, and then the rain. And it rained. Hard.

    We got back from our hike, and I was cold and tired, so we took a nap. It turned out to be a much longer nap than I planned, and Herr Hai didn't wake me up. So we didn't go back to Sankt Goar and wander around or do anything else I had planned after lunch.

    By the we got off the train, drizzling. By the time we got to the river, pouring. We ran into another American couple and talked for a while. They were retired army (her, officer, formerly stationed in Germany) who ran a small winery wherever they came from, and had come mainly for the wine. They were headed off the next day for Oktoberfest.

    We went to get some food, and found the band. Yay. German traditional music. See short clip below, the entire four minutes on you tube whenever i get it up there. We walked around some more, but because we were late getting out, which turned out to be a good thing, we didn't have to wait for long for the festivities to begin.

    There were boats out on the Rhine, some private, some belonging to the various companies that ferry tourists up and down to look at the castles. There were the ferries used as public transit (the only way to cross the Rhine between Koblenz and maybe as far down as Mainz, as there are no bridges, unless you want to do a Patton and build one yourself). Everything was decorated, and at some point they started sailing around. Looked nice.

    Then came the fireworks. They were long. Loud. The blasts reverberated off the stone hills. Well done, too. No gimmicky projections or music, just pure light and noise. Okay, some Wagner might have been in order, Mahler, I don't know, something brash and German. Great job all around. It started really pouring at the end, and with a lot of other people, we booked it back to the train.

    End of festival. Good thing too because again, I was totally wiped out. I'm like in the "Berenstain Bears: Too Much Vacation".    Les mer

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