Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Sunday, 4 June. We got up early and had breakfast in our room so we could be on deck by 07:30 when the ship would be entering the Rhine Gorge. Because the Rhine passes through low mountains in this stretch, it narrows and has steep banks. There are about two dozen castles (or ruins) between Koblenz and Mainz, our destination for the day. Jane and I had taken a cruise through the Gorge (in the opposite direction - from Mainz to Koblenz) in 1971 when we were stationed in Heidelberg. We got on deck just as the ship was approaching Boppard. The weather was cool and windy, and the sky was generally overcast. (Later it would clear some and the sun would even pop through occasionally.) We passed several castles in just a few minutes and from then on were rarely out of sight of one castle or another. The little towns and villages stretched out along the river were probably more picturesque than the castles. The river was very high, though, and much of what was normally the shore was submerged. (We had been warned that parts of our cruise might have to be canceled because of high water.)
We passed the Lorelei, probably the most well-known sight in the Rhine gorge, though certainly not the prettiest. It is basically a huge rock formation that constricts the river to its narrowest width (and therefore its strongest current). At this point (09:00) all the passengers were invited to the ship’s lounge for a Frühshoppen (“morning pint”), consisting of German beer, sausage, and pretzels.
We were back on deck in time for the next attractions, Oberwesel with the ruins of Schönburg Castle and, just across the river, Kaub with the Gutenfels Castle. Also at Kaub is Pfalzgrafenstein (or simply the Pfalz). This tiny castle, situated on a small island in the middle of the river, once served as a toll gate for river traffic. It is probably the most photographed structure in the Rhine Gorge. When we passed it, however, the water was up to the castle walls. There was no island, only a few trees sticking up through the water. The Pfalz itself was mostly covered by a heavy fence to protect it from river debris.
We passed Bacharach, a beautiful little village we had visited by car when we lived in Heidelberg. Soon after, across the river, was Lorch, where our two older sons and I had run a memorable 11 kilometer Volkslauf up to the Nollig Castle ruins and down the other side.
By 11:30 we were getting to the end of the Gorge, and the hills were leveling out. There we passed Rüdesheim, famous wine town we’d be visiting this evening. (We’d been there in 1972 for wine-tasting with our German friends, the Marenbachs. We’d also taken the ferry across the Rhine from Rüdesheim to Bingen in 1961 when we drove up to Germany and France from Italy.) |
