Mosel Valley, Germany

The Mosel River runs from France, through Luxembourg and then winds its way 195km from Trier to Koblenz in Germany. Our stay at the Triolago motorhome park, just 15 minutes from Trier, proved to be a good choice for visiting the 'mittelmosel/middle mosel' area and sampling the famous white wines.

The river is a working river with long barges moving goods and people around. The barges are so long and narrow that it seems impossible for them to manouvre but they manage it with ease. We sat and watched the boats while sampling some of the local white wines at a Weingut (wine tasting) bar on the waters edge.

A trip on the bike to the pretty town of Bernkastel-Kues took us along the edge of the river, surrounded by steep hillsides covered in vines, and through small, rural villages, all very tidy and well kept. Bernkastel itself, on the eastern bank, was a feast for the eyes with half-timber, stone and slate buildings at every turn along the cobbled streets. In the market square there still exists the iron handcuffs, to which criminals were attached, on the exterior of the Town Hall dating from 1608. The bridge across the Mosel brings you to Kues and the historic St Nikolaus Hospital complex where you can taste from a list of over 160 local wines in the Vinothek. Unfortunately, as we were on the bike, all we could was admire the bottles!Read more