Oct. 31, 2012
We arrived very early this morning in Koblenz at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle Rivers. Extensive Allied bombing during World War II, destroyed much of Koblenz's Old City. There are some new buildings, but most were reconstructed to look as they did before the war. We did a brief 45-minute walking tour of the city before returning to the ship a leisurely cruise down the Rhine River most of the afternoon.
The Rhine is about 825 miles long, but it is the 40 or so miles of the Middle Rhine Valley that most people recognize as the Castle Road. The narrow gorge is absolutely beautiful this time of year with the leaves on the trees turning. There are fortresses, quaint villages, remote chapels, and vineyard after vineyard on hillsides to add the perfect finishing touches to the Rhine's landscapes. This region of the Rhine has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and rightfully so.
The river's most famous legend is the 430-foot high cliff, the Lorelei, which legend has it, often caued ships to founder in the trecherous currents at this point where the Rhine narrows drastically. The story goes that a beautiful sorceress cast herself into the river here rather than accepting her sentence of confinement to a nunnery. She was known to be spotted sitting on this rock combing her long hair and singing, luring sailors on the ships in the river to their destruction.
Late this afternoon, we arrived in Rudesheim, one of Germany;s most famous wine towns. As the wine connoisseur, Charlie, has said so many times, the white wines of this area, the Rieslings, are wonderful; the reds are like paint-thinner. We took a small tourist train from the ship up into the town and had a delightful visit at the Museum of Mechanical Musical Instruments. Rudesheim is also known for is Christmas Market each year, and of course, we had to visit their big Christmas shop to get another ornament for our international Christmas tree. We sampled coffee with a local brandy to warm us as we headed back to the ship.
This was a very busy, yet relaxing day just watching the world go by as we sailed down the Rhine to Rudesheim.
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