Transitioning Down the Rhine

This morning we are pulling into a sunny Koblenz Germany in the central Rhine. The Rhine River Cruise transition has begun. This is the beginning of the castle region of the Rhine and we have already seen one while eating breakfast. The one that’s overlooks Koblenz is Ehrenbreitstein Fortress (Festung Ehrenbreitstein), perched high above the Rhine and Moselle confluence in Koblenz. It sits on a plateau overlooking the “Deutsches Eck”. It’s one of the largest surviving fortresses in Europe, a fortification that has stood on the site since Roman times, but the current structure dates mainly from the early 1800s, built by Prussia after Napoleon destroyed the earlier fortress. We will see about 30 castles today, and the other one most nearby is Marksburg Castle that sits above the town of Braubach on the Rhine. It’s famous for being the only Rhine castle that was never destroyed or damaged, so it’s the most intact medieval example on the river. Unlike most Rhine castles, it survived wars and sieges intact, so it shows genuine medieval architecture rather than 19th-century restoration. Construction began around the 1100s, with major additions through the 13th–15th centuries. It is perched on a conical hill above Braubach, a small town between Koblenz and Boppard. It’s the headquarters of the German Castles Association (Deutsche Burgenvereinigung).

Koblenz is one of Germany’s oldest cities, its name actually comes from the Latin confluentes (“the meeting of waters”). It was founded around 8 BC as a Roman military post under Emperor Augustus, guarding the river junction. During Medieval times it became an important trading town in the Holy Roman Empire, later falling under the control of the Archbishop-Electors of Trier, who used it as a residenceThe tip of land where the two rivers meet became a symbolic site…it hosts a massive equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I, erected in 1897 to celebrate German unification (destroyed in WWII, rebuilt in 1993). Back at the bus, we are parked next to Koblenz Palace,(Kurfürstliches Schloss, or Electoral Palace), which is an 18th-century palace on the Rhine bank in Koblenz, built in 1777–1793, as the residence of Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, the last Archbishop-Elector of Trier, one of the last major palaces built before the French Revolution swept away the old order. It has a neoclassical design by French architect Michel d’Ixnard. After the Electorate of Trier was dissolved (Napoleon’s forces occupied the region in the 1790s), the palace passed through various hands including the Napoleonic administration, then Prussian royal use in the 19th century. Kaiser Wilhelm I lived here as a young prince. It was badly damaged by Allied bombing in 1944 so only the outer walls survived. It was restored after the war, though not always faithfully to the original interiors. Today it houses German government offices, and is specifically the headquarters of the German military, as it has existed for the past 70 years. Given the gradual retreat of the U.S. from NATO, I predict the coming years may see Koblenz grow as the German state beefs up its military.

Our next stop, where we will have lunch, is Rüdesheim am Rhein, a small wine town on the Rhine in Hesse, right at the western end of the Rhine Gorge (Mittelrhein). It’s a very popular stop on Rhine river cruises and fills a critical gap-filling need of Viking’s to give us the sense that they are taking good care of us as they transition us to the Viking Einar in Kehl. Rüdesheim sits at the heart of the Rheingau wine region, known especially for Riesling. It has a narrow, lively lane packed with wine taverns, live music, and tourists called Drosselgasse, which is the town’s most famous spot and where Viking set us up for a typical German lunch. We had a great German cover band that played everything from Roll Out the Barrel to Elvis. It was lots of fun and made all the passing non-Viking tourists jealous that they were not part of the party.

There is a massive monument up on the hill above town, built in the 1870s-80s to commemorate German unification and its reachable by cable car (Seilbahn), with sweeping views over the Rhine, but given that we’ve already done one cable car up to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, we will forego that ride. This is where we would have viewed the Loreley rock right before leaving town, and the bus gave us a glimpse of that. This is where I should add that I am beginning to think that this bus trip through the Rhine Gorge was actually a better outcome for us than having had the cruise continue from Koblenz through to Strasburg. The reason I feel that way is that number one the bus was extremely comfortable and a great way to see all of the castles as we went along and also because we had a tour guide that spoke over the bus speaker system, and gave us the kind of local color that you get when you do a walking tour except we had the pleasure of doing that on the bus and in a very comfortable setting and that I feel with something that we wouldn’t have gotten as well on the ship. Maybe I’m making too much lemonade out of the lemons but so far it tastes more like lemonade than lemons to me.

We’ll be getting on the bus in about a half an hour for the 2 1/2 hour drive south to Strasburg and that will be the real test about how this bus portion of this transfer pans out. Right now I’m sitting by the side of the Rhine while Kim shops and I get to sit in the shade looking at the lovely river and several castles within view in either direction thinking that this is a wonderful part of the world and that there is truly nothing wrong with coming down the Rhine Gorge on a nice bus.

We will arrive in Kehl, across the river from Strasbourg at about 6:30, and then settle into our identical room (same number, same fittings) as Viking will have placed our tagged bags in the room waiting for us. I’m actually very excited to be going to Baden-Baden tomorrow as our own DIY add-on with our extra day. My worry that this low-water broken play would cost us seeing the Rhine Gorge and its castles has been asssuged. I’m guessing that Baden-Baden will be more fun than a day in Speyer, so maybe we come out ahead on the whole transition down the Rhine.

P.S. I’m breaking with policy and attaching a collage of the castles we’ve seen so far.