Münster-Sarmsheim

We discovered when we left Nackenheim this morning that the public holiday today is a religious festival, Corpus Christi. Little altars had appeared in doorways and on front steps overnight. This one was in front of the parish office. Church bells were full on this morning as well. We headed on to Mainz where the Main River joins the Rhine. A rather shabby sign at this point describes the water way from the Main through to the Mediterranean, 2000+ kilometres. I think Jan is pondering the challenge.

Being a public holiday meant that the bike path was crowded, the day was hot and everyone was out for some sun. There were picnickers, riders of all ages, cars trying to find parking spaces, just generally hectic. We were heading for Rudesheim, then crossing the river by ferry to Bingen. Bingen is famous for being the birthplace of Hildegard of Bingen, 11 century philosopher and poet. In Rudesheim we planned to check out some of the sites related to Hildegard before getting the ferry.

However we discovered that a festival of motor bikes, Harley's etc. had taken over Rudesheim. The noise was deafening, there must have been hundreds of bikes there. They're apparently planning to stay for a long weekend. We opted to get the ferry asap.

The bikies had booked out the town so we're in an AirBnB just out of Bingen, a great little spot up the hill a bit. So of course dinner tonight was at the restaurant at the local winery. The specialty of the day puzzled us a bit but the owner talked it up. It turned out to be potatoes and boiled eggs with a special sauce, yoghurt and herbs. Surprisingly good, and the white wine was very nice. Red wine was a bit bland though.

Here's hoping for a quieter day on the river tomorrow and as it's a short day, time to find out more about Hildegard before we leave Bingen.Read more