JodockWorldTravel

May 11, 2024

After touring Marksburg Castle we met up with our boat in Koblenz and spent the afternoon cruising down the 40-mile stretch of river between there and Bingen. Lush forests, vineyards dating back to the Roman Empire and nearly two dozen castles dotting the hillside join forces to provide a feast for the eyes. If you look closely in a couple of the pictures you can see someone working the fields. The little red dot in the second photo (zoomed in on in the third picture below) is someone riding a tilling machine of some kind up and down the rows. Amazing that it doesn’t fall off that hill!

Can you imagine the strength it takes to stand and do this manual work?

All of the vineyards in these photos are grown vertically, but some are horizontal. Grapes grown horizontally produce sweeter wines. Grapes grown vertically, like these, produce groups higher in acidity. We cannot tell you why!

The white castle in the photo to the left of the second line above served as a toll station. The rulers in the area laid a chain across the water there and the only way to get through was to pay a toll. Folks were very resourceful!

We apologize for the quality of some of the pictures. Internet in Germany is not as good as it is in the U.S., and when you’re trying to access it from a boat it can be even less reliable. Add to that we’re in a foreign country and the security setting on our devices doesn’t always like the server information it’s getting, and you can understand the challenges we face trying to download and edit photos from the camera.

Because this entire area is considered a UNESCO World Heritage site they are not allowed to make any structural changes that would alter its appearance in any way. This applies not only to the homes and buildings you see along the way, but to the municipalities themselves. They aren’t allowed to build any bridges, so to get from one side of the river to the other you have to take a ferry.

Some interesting things we learned along the way…

Back in the day the river would freeze solid enough for people to cross. At one point in time Germany owned one side of the river and France claimed the other. Two hundred eighty thousand troops crossed the frozen river to take the land from Prussia.

We also learned where the term “bistro” supposedly comes from. We’re told that after a battle along the Rhine a Russian leader asked for a meal and said he wanted it “bistro,” meaning “quick.” A bistro became a place you could get a quick meal!