Rhine Gorge and Mainz

 Our cruise is along the Rhine River which is 764 miles along and is one of the busiest rivers in Europe. It starts in the Swiss Alps and empties into the North Sea and passes through six countries…

We are doing the section from Cologne in Germany to Strasbourg in France.

As we cruised down the river we passed a lot of traffic…

Today we passed through the section of the river called the Rhine Gorge which is a UNESCO Heritage River and located in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. It is quite narrow with high cliffs on both sides…

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As there are many bends in the river there are black navigation signs to let the captains know what’s around the bend…

Lots of little villages…

This section of the river has lots of castles with most of them being partially destroyed over the centuries with various wars. It was interesting to hear that throughout the ages one side of the river belonged to the French and the other side belonged to Germany.

And again many vineyards…

And old towers that were used as toll booths where people using the river had to pay to continue on…

Our stop today was at the city of Mainz which is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It has a population of about 223,000 inhabitants and is Germany’s 35th largest city.

As usual our ship docked close to town where we are met by a guide and walk along the river to town. We have been blessed with wonderful fall weather and always a pleasant walk…

It is a mix of old and new architecture with all new buildings having to display a piece of modern art which I enjoy seeing…

Also very modern buildings that have an old facade…

Here is the facade of the same building to blend old and new…

Some scenes from a very busy Old Town…

Lots of good food…

Mainz Cathedral or St. Martin's Cathedral is located near the historical centre and is a 1000-year-old Roman Catholic cathedral.

Here is our guide explaining the history of the church, the interior is rather dark…

Another church, St. Stephen’s is special because of the stain glass windows by Marc Chagall… 

Chagall was a Jew who escaped to the United States and became a well renowned artist. He started the project while he was in his 90s and viewed it as a way to reconcile his feelings toward the German people.

He used a lot of blues in his works….

Mainz is also the home of Johannes Gutenberg who is credited with inventing the printing press in 1448. It has been called one of the most important inventions in the history of humankind…one of the first books he printed was the Gutenberg bible.

His statue stands outside the church…

There is so much ancient history here but a more recent event has turned the city of Mainz into a very rich one. Before Covid it was a city drowning in debt but as a result of the early vaccines being developed by Bio Tech/ Pfizer in Mainz they have received billions in taxes from the profits of the company. An interesting fact! 

As with most of our days we enjoy the walking tours offered by the cruise and then set out to explore on our own and it often leads to us sitting and watching the people go by…

On our stroll back to the boat we came across two musicians playing the alphorn, a very traditional musical instrument…

The end of another nice day on the Rhine…

Koblenz and Boppard, Germany

After a few days in Frankfurt it was time to find our way to the boat for our river cruise on the mighty Rhine river. The boat was supposed to be docked in Cologne which would have been an easy train ride, but at the last minute it got moved to the small town of Wessling. This meant a long day of travel and not quite sure where we were going! 

We started with the fast train going over 260km an hour…

Then two trams, two buses and one taxi later we arrived at the dock and boarded our ship…the Geoffrey Chaucer.

The ship is 135 metres long with 88 cabins and 44 crew and at full capacity welcomes 176 passengers. We were immediately impressed with the facilities including our room…

We left dock at 2am and sailed down the river to our first stop in a small city called Koblenz where the Moselle River meets up with the Rhine. 

An old bridge on the Moselle River, no bridges are allowed on this section of the Rhine…

 

Koblenz was founded by the Roman’s in 55BC and over the centuries was captured by the Franks, conquered by the French and fortified by the Prussians.

We did a short walking tour to give us an overview…

Here is our guide standing outside the Modern Art Museum which is quite the contrast to the old buildings throughout the town. This thumb sculpture is by the French artist Cesar and is one of many he has casted and displayed around the world. 

It was a brilliant fall day as we explored picturesque Koblenz…

Sailing into Koblenz the first thing you see is a huge monument on the banks of the two rivers…

It is a statue of Emperor Wilhelmin 1 and symbolizes his part in the unification of Germany after three wars. It is 37 meters high and quite impressive. Next to it is a section of the Berlin Wall which came down in November, 1990 which further unified Germany.

We walked through sections of the Old Town as well, lots of squares and wonderful architecture…

This building contains the town’s clock with the face of a 16th century robber who just before being executed mocked the good citizens of Koblen.  So when the clock strikes the hour his eyes roll and he sticks out his tongue to this day…

Koblenz is a big Carnival town so it has many funny sculptures around town including this one which if you are not careful will get you wet by spitting at you when you are not expecting it! 

Outside City Hall we came across a small wedding party so the street musician played them a tune as they danced and celebrated…I love these little glimpses of everyday life! 

Lots of pretty squares and places to eat…

Another interesting fact is the amount of flooding from the rivers  the town has experienced in recent years, here are markers that show the heights it reached. You can see the river to the left. Our guide told us there is no insurance to buy and it has been a disaster for many residents…

Standing 118 metres above the Rhine is Ehrenbreitstein Fortress which is the second largest remaining fortress in Europe. The original was built in 1000 but this one was built by the Prussians in 1800s. It is reached by a cable car and offers great views of the rivers and town…

The views from above…here you can see where Mother Moselle and Father Rhine meet…

Back to the boat for lunch and onward to our next stop which was Boppard, a small German town of approximately 7500 people. About the food..delicious and plentiful…

Some scenes along the river…

Lots of castles along the river…

Many cruise ships…

And church spires…

Our next stop Boppard is a UNESCO Heritage Site and is known as the “Pearl of the Rhine”. It is a very attractive village located on one of the river’s most impressive and sweeping bends which is covered in vineyards as this area is a big producer of wine, especially Reisling.

Here you can see the vineyards on the hillsides, the grapes have been harvested and the vines are now golden. 

There is a long history of winemaking in this area and at one time there were over 100 wine making families, while today there are only 7 left. Younger generations are not interested in the type of work needed to tend to the vineyards on the steep hills.

Boppard was once ruled by the Romans and was a fortified town…sections of the walls are still quite visible…

When the Romans left the townspeople moved into the fort and as can be seen they built their houses attached to the walls of the fort as can be seen in this picture. These houses are hundreds of years old.

There are different styles of houses around the town depending on who was occupying the town at the time…

Since Boppard was a fortified town there are many entrances to the city, their purpose being to collect tolls for those who want to enter.

There was a lovely town square…

With a Romanesque church of St. Severus on one side…the church was built in the 12th/13th century over Roman baths.

Beautiful stained glass windows…

Since this is a large wine producing area our last stop as a group was at a wine tavern run by a family that has been in the wine business for over 300 years. Great way to end the day in Boppard! 

Back to the ship for a quiet evening with more wine…