http://smragan.com/tag/ocd/ Koblenz is a town that sits at the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine Rivers. It is here that the River Queen bears right and heads up the Moselle, a river full of bends and twists.
Agdzhabedy This lovely plump bathing beauty greeted us as we pulled into the dock at Koblenz
After breakfast, we boarded a bus to tour Alken and Thurant Castle. We drove along the Moselle’s river bank, past a couple of small towns, past terraced vineyards, to the Thurant Castle. We all got a thrill when the bus driver made a left turn at such a sharp angle that we thought he was turning onto a cattle path! We climbed a hill with a fabulous view over the town and river to the castle itself.
Built as a fortress between 1198 and 1206, and expanded between 1246-48. It was divided into two halves by a wall, each with a keep or tower, by the two feuding archbishops of Cologne and Trier. The castle fell into disrepair and was acquired by the Allmers family in 1911. Since 1973, the castle has been jointly owned by the Allmers and Wulf families. The castle consists of caretaker’s quarters (a post and beam building), a Steingarten (garden carved out the rock and stone walls), the Trier Tower (20 metres high, which now serves as water storage), the Manor House (destroyed in WWII but rebuilt by Irmgard Wulf-Allmers in 1962), a guest house (rented by the week very reasonably), a chapel with its ceiling painted blue and decorated with stars containing a stained glass window of St Michael, a rose garden with some still blooming that has been in place since Medieval times, a wine cellar with winemaking equipment from the 19th century, the Cologne Tower complete with a dungeon and torture equipment, and the Hunters Quarters fitted out with game trophies, armor, etc.
Our hosts at the castle served us a glass of white wine and this knockwurst
Before we descended into town, our hosts at the castle provided us a glass of white wine and a knockwurst. The descent to town was steep, through the woods, through the vineyards to the quaint town of Alken and its Church of St Michael, with its ossuary of bones from the 1400’s when the cemetery became overcrowded. We boarded the bus and headed back to the River Queen in Koblenz.
Grapes on the vine as we descended into Alken from Thurant Castle
through the woods on our way to the vineyard below the castle
Germany is beter known for its white wines from grapes like these that we saw descending from the castle
After a light lunch aboard the River Queen, we strolled through Koblenz to find the Deutsches Eck (German corner where the rivers meet with its monument to Kaiser Wilhelm I), sneaked a peak at the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress across the river, watched the funicular cross the river. We found St Kastor’s Basilica, a market, and pretty little squares (despite the fact that 90% of Koblenz was destroyed during WWII). We also discovered a few fountains scattered about town, town hall and Jesuits’ Square with its Jesuit Church. Koblenz celebrated its 2000th birthday in 1992, originally a Roman settlement named Castrum ad Confluentes. The town’s power and influence grew in the Middle Ages due its location and its ability to control trade on both rivers. Europe’s largest fortress, Ehrenbreitstein, was built in the 12th century.
gallery of Koblenz photos (see above)
Back to the River Queen for cocktail hour and dinner. After dinner, we listened to music by Florina and Tony in the lounge and at 10 PM we were casting off. The dock/pier in Koblenz is near a residential area and the town council passed a regulation that went into effect that boats must move away from dock by 10 PM or shut off their engines and connect to shore power to reduce the noise. Uniworld had always left around 10 anyway to make it to the next town, Cochem.
We stayed on deck to watch the casting off process. A boat, rather large, had tied off to us so their passengers could go ashore across our boat. Based on the captains actions when the boat came in we expected quite a show. It didn’t happen. We stayed topside to watch the crew take us through the lock at night. Quite a show!
