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Saturday, 8 August. We had left the Rhine and entered the Mosel
River during the night. We woke up in Cochem, but not to another sunny day.
Instead it was completely cold, overcast and raining. The highlight of Cochem
is the Reichsburg (Imperial Castle), perched on a hill dominating both
the town and the Mosel. Begun in the 11th century, it was destroyed by the
French in 1689. A Berlin business man bought the ruins in 1868 and spent a
fortune "rebuilding" it. However, no effort was made to replicate the original
castle.
Each of the three groups from the Rhapsody would have to visit the castle
separately, and we drew lots to determine the order. Our yellow group was
second, which suited us fine, giving us time for a leisurely breakfast and still
enough time to see the town after visiting the castle. The rain tapered off,
too. We left at 9:20 in a mixed group of vans, since the narrow, winding roads
couldn't accommodate a bus. We had several nice views (except for the weather)
of the castle as we ascended. (Same on the return trip.)
The castle was beautiful inside and out, and very interesting if not
authentic. The tour lasted an hour, ending about 10:20. At that point we had
to wait outside for the vans to return. Soon it started raining harder again,
and we took shelter where we could. After half an hour the vans finally came
and took us back down to Cochem. After a brief orientation, the group split up
and we were on our own.
The town was really charming. The rain stopped and the sky brightened. We wandered through the main square, then down a side street that led to an old city gate. Just next to the gate was the Alte Thorschenke Hotel (1332), claimed to be the oldest building in Cochem. We then wound our way to the road along the river.
This was especially picturesque with its old
buildings framed between the castle and the Mosel. We had to cross the river
to get to our ship, and the view from the bridge was outstanding.
We had lunch at 1:00 and the ship sailed while we were eating. By now the sun was finally breaking through and the weather was actually getting warm. We spent the afternoon reading, relaxing, and enjoying the scenery along the river. The Mosel is much narrower than the Rhine and much more winding. The distance from Koblenz (on the Rhine) to Trier is only about 60 miles as the crow flies. But if the crow swims the Mosel, the distance is more than twice as far. Many of the curves are more than 180 degrees, and they come one after the other. This is great for growing grapes. The banks are nothing but hills, mostly covered by vineyards. Charming villages and small town, seldom as much as a mile apart, line the river at the foot of the hills. It's an idyllic setting. Dinner was at 7:00 as usual, and the evening was uneventful, except that the ship arrived at Bernkastel about 10:00, too late for us to go out. Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
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