Castles and Dungeons and Wine, Oh My!
The next couple of days of our cruise were like a fairy-tale! We had castles and towers and dungeons and beautiful views …. and lots of good wine! (Okay, it was an adult fairy-tale.)
Morning view from the boat, Day 11
We woke to another beautiful day on the Rhine River. Our port of call was Wertheim, the smallest of all the places we'd visited in Germany, but one with as much history as any of the larger cities.
It was an important city because of its strategic location at the confluence of the Main and Tauber Rivers. The City's royalty built the Castle (middle picture above) in the 12th Century, but it was captured and destroyed in the Thirty Years' War. The ruins are still impressive. It looks down upon the medieval town center and newer homes along the river banks.
Wertheim also has its own Leaning Tower. (Can you imagine Rapunzel in the window up there?) The noticeable lean is due to 800 years of flooding — a hazard of the town's location on the river banks. Markers on the tower and on many other old buildings show just how high the water has risen over the centuries. (And as we all know from recent years, rising water levels and flooding still continue across Europe.)
The tower was built in the 13th Century as a lookout, but it also served as a prison for drunkards and "quarrelsome wenches." Food and water were lowered down to the prisoners who were kept in complete darkness until their release. (Can you imagine anyone down there in the dungeon?)
(Amateur photographer's disclaimer here: I often need to straighten pictures with my editing tool and I am honestly not sure if the lean on the tower picture is the real angle or if part of it is due to my shaky camera hand. I do remember that the lean was quite obvious to the naked eye.)
From the boat — Day 13
It was a short day in Wertheim — we were back on the boat by noon and the Skirnr departed shortly after for the next stop. Some of the more energetic passengers had taken an optional bicycle tour of the city and surrounding hills — the boat stopped briefly along the way to pick them up.
Every single day of this cruise there were interesting sights from the boat as we traveled, but the next day, which was almost all on the water, was the most spectacular of all. These pictures are just a few of the castles and some of the surrounding beautiful scenery that we saw along this part of the Middle Rhine River.
We went back and forth between our stateroom balcony and the outside lounge upstairs, where we could see both sides of the river … trying not to miss a thing. The views were spectacular wherever we looked. The program director of the cruise was in the lounge to give us some of the history of the castles we passed. (Way too much to include here — there are many links to Castles on the Rhine for more information.) This area would be a wonderful land tour — some of the castles are open to the public. (Sigh. So many beautiful places …..)
We arrived at Koblenz, the next port of call, around 4, and quickly boarded a bus for an excursion through part of the surrounding Moselle wine country. Grape vines grew everywhere — on steep terraces, on hillsides, in front of castles, on railroad right-of-way, and in spaces between more ordinary homes. We ended up at a small country winery, where we enjoyed hearing from the owner about this wine making region and his family's long history making wine. And of course we enjoyed an excellent tasting experience before heading back to the boat for a 7 p.m. dinner, featuring (as usual) good food and (more) local wines.
A beautiful ending to the fairy-tale.
Linking this week to the following: Thank you to all of the hosts.
ALL SEASONS; MOSAIC MONDAY; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; COUNTRY SCAPES; TUESDAY TREASURES; SAY CHEESE; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and FRIDAY BLISS;
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