Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Wednesday, 12 August. The ship passed from the Mosel back into the Rhine during the night. We arrived at Boppard about 8:15. We were still enjoying a leisurely breakfast since we were not going on the optional tour to Marksburg Castle at 8:30. (We had taken it in 2006.) The weather was pleasant and only partly cloudy.
We went
on the walking tour of Boppard at 9:00, walking along the Rhine, past the
Carmelite Church and on to St. Severus Church (12-13th century) and the
Marktplatz. We had visited many of the towns on this stretch of the
Rhine, where the river flows through the Hunsruck Mountains, but this was our
first time in Boppard. It's a very picturesque little town with narrow
streets, half-timbered houses, and flowerboxes in nearly every window. It had
once been a Roman fort, and some of the walls and Roman ruins remain.
The walking tour was over about 10:30. Jane and I then explored the town on
our own, walking along the waterfront and down some of the narrow streets. We
saw the Boppard Castle (aka the Elector's Castle or Kurfurstliche
Burg), built about 1340 by the Archbishop/Elector of Trier during his
occupation of the area. It has since lost its moat and otherwise been greatly
modified. We visited the Carmelite Church, originally started in 1262, but
rebuilt in 1730 after a fire.
As we returned to the ship, we noticed a chairlift on
the hill to the west of town and decided to check it out. It was a
good half mile walk to the base of the lift, and the ride up took
another half hour. Once at the top, we followed a wide path until we
came to a beer garden called Gideon's Corner. From here there
was a wonderful panorama of Boppard and the sharp bend in the Rhine below us.
We shared a beer as we drank in the view. Fortunately, lunch on the ship was
not until 1:30, and we got back with a few minutes to spare.
After lunch I walked back to explore a bit more, visiting St. Severus Church and wandering down more of the little streets. The ship sailed for Speyer at 3:30, and we spent most of the afternoon on deck enjoying the scenery and the many old castles along the river. We'd sailed through the Rhine Gorge twice before, in 1971 and in 2006, so we didn't take as many pictures as we otherwise would have. We passed the Lorelei about 5:00 and were pretty much out of the mountainous stretch an hour later. It was good to see the Pfalzgrafenstein standing firmly on its little island. The last time we'd seen it, the river completely covered the island and the lower part of the castle.
Dinner at 7:00 was followed by a mime/pantomime show in the lounge. It featured our Tour Director who had been a professional mime for several years. Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
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