Trier

Constantine's thermal baths

Trier is the oldest city in Germany.  It was a key city in the Roman empire, serving as a base for, among others, Constantine. 

A few of the Roman ruins exist today, including an amphitheater, thick city walls, and thermal baths.



The Basilica used by Constantine was modified by subsequent rulers so you have a building with original Roman brick, a Renaissance side and a Baroque side.


Roman (brick) meets Baroque (pink)

Mary's Church

The cathedral was also a case of overkill.  Two large churches sit side by side... one dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the other a hodge-podge of styles.  Again, Roman, Baroque and this time Gothic elements are combined.







Baroque, Renaissance and Roman elements at east end of Cathedral

The city square was crowded as final preparations were being made for their Christmas Market.  At the center was an apparatus that could best be described as a Nativity scene windmill.















The early hour of sunset meant we got to see the night lights of the city.  Here some of the Christmas decorations appear through the Roman arch.




We exited the city -- our last stop-- through the black gate (the last remaining Roman city gate). Literally and figuratively the cruise is over.  This last post from the trip comes from the crowded gate area at JFK  We just learned our flight to DC is delayed.


the Black Gate (black from years of pollution)

Bernkastel-Kues

This morning's stop was in the twin cities... Bernkastel is a small village on one side of the river and Kues is its larger counterpart on the other.  They just ran out of room on the on side because the hills rise steeply from the river.  Viticulture was the first big industry... now tourism has taken over.

We began with a walk through town...old half-timber houses, narrow streets, and a main square which had been turned into the Christmas market were the highlights.  When I say narrow, I do mean narrow. 


an Advent calendar house



pointed house...one room wide

 

Two blocks from the river, you are into the vineyards.  There is a famous wine from here -- Doctor Wine.  The archbishop was sick and medicine wasn't helping, but the local wine cured him, so they called it Doctor Wine.   Today there is only one vineyard that is allowed by law to make this wine.

Doctor vineyard

After our tour we crossed the bridge into Kues... and went to the basement of the former church, hospital and old-age home.  They have converted St. Michael's Hospital into a Vinotech... a place to learn about German wines.  After a briefing about how to read the labels, we were turned loose to explore cellars containing more than 100 wines.  We could sample anything in the cellar!!!  It was interesting because they has riesling wines ranging from dry (3-5 g/l of residual sugar) to syrupy (the sweetest had 125g/l of residual sugar).  The neat thing was each bin had a label with all the details about the wine, so you could see what terms like trochen (dry) and spatlaese (late harvest) mean.

As we sailed away we got a good look at the castle ruins high above the city.

Cochem

We were dropped off in a small town and took a bus to Cochem while the ship continued to sail the Moselle. 

Cochem has been around since at least 866.  We toured the downtown, including the Christmas market, the town gates, the market square, and some interesting streets before heading to the Reichsburg Castle above town.

market square

crooked house... near liquor street

the castle from the town cemetery

This is a castle that was destroyed by the French in the 1680s and remained in ruins until the 1860s when it was bought and restored by a rich merchant who wanted a "summer home" for his family.  He sold it to the Third Reich when he could no longer pay the taxes on it, and it eventually ended up in the hands of the City of Cochem.  It had some fascinating interiors, art, and furniture.

gun on castle wall

 

armor room

outside the front gate

It is on a hill 100 meters above the river level, so it has spectacular views of the valley.


view down the Moselle

the castle from the ship

The Moselle

When we turned up the Moselle, we had to go under a very low bridge.  It just happened that I walked up the stairs at the precise moment they were lowering the wheel house so it would fit.




normal

shoulder level

low enough

They let us stay on the sky deck, only cautioning that we needed to stay near the center, because the edges would be low.  First we go under...

 

Then the wheel house goes under.

We sailed past all sorts of hillside vineyards.  Most of these were so steep that you wondered how they could work them. 










We started seeing railing systems... that's how the workers could get materials up and down the hills.  You can see them in the picture below.

Cruising the Rhine

This morning we left Rudesheim in the dark. 

pre-dawn Rudesheim

We entered the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the middle Rhine, where there are all sorts of castles.  Many of the first ones appeared while we were eating breakfast.  After a few tries, I gave up on trying to capture a dark castle against the dark hill on the west side of the river.  I did get a few shots of some of the ones on the east side because I could frame them against the dawn sky. 

We finally got to a point where we could see the castles.  Up on the sky deck many of the passengers were wrapped in blankets.  The outside temp was probably 40, but we had about a 10-15 knot wind outside and our downstream speed was probably comparable, so 20-30 knots over the deck provided a good wind chill.  We positioned ourselves behind the wheel house.  It made a good wind block.

Here's a sample of some of the castles:

 

this used to be a toll booth

 

 

 

This is the famous Lorelei rock.  The Rhine is very narrow, and it makes a sharp turn so the current is swift.  The captain sounded the horn before we entered the swift water, scaring a number of passengers who were standing on the front rail near the horn.















Before lunch we reached Koblenz, where the Moselle enters the Rhine.  We turned upstream and started to follow our last river.

Right at the confluence, there is an impressive monument. 

Rudesheim

We pulled out of Mainz a little after noon, and sailed down the Rhine to a small town, famous for winemaking.  This area is known for its white wines, particularly Rieslings.  We took a vineyards tour to the Johannes Ohlig winery.

In driving to the vineyards we passed Geisenheim, a little town with a reputation as the UC Davis of Germany.  Our guide had just finished his degree at the university there.




Schloss (Castle) Johannisberg on hill above the Rhine 

the crane

He took us to the vineyards above the city of Oestrich-Winkel.  Enroute he told us about some of the estates, including Schloss Johannisberg which we had seen as we cruised down the Rhine.  At the entrance to the Oestrich-Winkel harbor we had seen a wooden tower.  He explained that this was a crane for loading and unloading grapes -- it was operated by two people inside on a treadmill.







In the vineyards we were treated to a crisp, bone-dry Reisling.  mm..mm...good!




the Rhinegau region vineyards

 


oldest stone building in Germany

the little old wine drinker, me!

It was back into town to the winery and more tasting.  We tried a pinot noir rose... called Rheingau Spatburgunder Rose.  This was outside in the courtyard.  Then it was into the fermentation room for a little Rhinegau Riesling... and into the barrel room for a little late harvest Riesling (Johannisberger Goldatzel Riesling Spatlese).










We made it back to the ship in time to it the Viking Explorer party (for people who have cruised previously with VRC).  We were the newest members.  The captain's toast was with an aquavit brandy that had been made in Norway and taken to Australia so it, like the cruisers who were being toasted, had sailed the seven seas!

Mainz

We floated down the Main River all night, and went right through Frankfurt.  About dawn we heard what we initially thought was another train going by, but when we looked out the window, we discovered we were right in the flight path for Frankfurt airport.  Friends we had breakfast with had a similar surprise... when they opened their curtains to check the weather, they found themselves looking at a jumbo jet --a bit disconcerting when you've been cruising down a quiet river.

entering the Rhine from the Main

Shortly after breakfast we got to the point where the Main empties into the Rhine.  We headed downstream and tied up in Mainz.  The city is very old, having been founded by the Romans, who built a wall along the river to defend themselves from the German Vandals on the other side of the river. 

the Iron Tower

The city was subject to flooding, so in the mid 20th century they created a new wall, extending the city about a block into the river, and raising the level of the town several meters above flood stage. This tower was originally one of several trading gates along the wall.  Now you have to cross a busy street and the plaza in front of city hall before you get to the river.







Much of the town was destroyed in WWII.  The rebuilding has been a mix of restoring the old and being creative with the new.  The building on the right (the Venetian blind look) is one.  From this side and inside it is modern, but if you go out to the main square you see a very different look.

east side of buidling

inside



the salmon colored building is the south facade 

The cathedral in town celebrated its 1000th anniversary a while back, although the one we saw was not the original building.  The first one burned down the day it was scheduled to be consecrated.  (Inside it was so dark that they had put too many candles and torches and they caught the roof on fire.  It was such a hot fire that the stone walls were damaged.

 

Inside, the church has some interesting windows... they all are topped with deep blue, red and white stained glass stars.








All around town we could see preparations for the Christmas market.  Just behind the cathedral was a cluster of barrels.  Our guide pointed out that these are actually places to sit and drink the gluhewein (mulled wine)... romantic little corners to get out of the cold.

 

 

The highlight of the tour was a visit to the Gutenberg museum, where not only did we get to see several Gutenberg Bibles, but we got a demonstration on a replica of the original press. 

The tour guide even made a piece of movable type as we watched, and one of our shipmates helped to print a page... here she's trying to get the lever to the right point so that a half ton of pressure will push the paper onto the inked type pieces.

Appropriately, outside the building, one of the benches is a stone book, and big wooden type pieces are scattered on the sidewalk.