Ozbrecht 2017 - Europe's Rhine & Danube Rivers
Koblenz &
The Middle Rhine, Germany
Day 7 - June 29
Koblenz, Germany. Sheila and Andy taking a morning stroll. I took this picture from our room balcony; the Modi was docked
The Deutsches Eck is a monument to William I (first German Emperor) at the confluence of the Rhine and Mosel Rivers in Koblenz. The monument is behind us
The Marksburg Castle [Internet picture]
Hike up to the castle
Our tour begins - much of the castle is cut into the mountain it sits on. The floor here is part of the rock, too, and very uneven
A view of the Rhine and the little town of Braubach from the castle wall
Most castles served as residence and fortress; Marksburg was just a fortress. Later, it was converted to a prison and home for disabled soldiers. Of the many hill castles between Koblenz and Bingen, Marksburg was the only one not damaged during World War II
Narrow passageways through the rock
The kitchen/cooking room
An interesting stringed musical instrument. Piano-like keys
Small chapel room. The only room with a painted ceiling
The armor room. Each represents a different era
Who is that masked man?
Machine tool, for shaping metal
The blacksmith room. Anvil, bellows, furnace, etc.
The Marksburg Jester
“What you gonna do in those shoes?”
These are the greatest shoes. I wore mine virtually the entire trip. Comfortable, airy. I wouldn’t recommend them for uneven hiking (no ankle support), but for any other hiking and walking, they are the best.
A view of Marksburg Castle from below
And a view from the Modi
Hillside vineyards
The Middle Rhine - between Koblenz and Bingen, Germany - hold about 20 castles, mostly sitting high on hills above villages. Modi will spend the afternoon cruising this stretch, and we will sit atop the Sun Deck and watch them pass by, as our Program Director Dawn explains the history of each one.
By the way: in Germany, “burg” is castle, or fortress; “berg” is hill, or mount.
Get ready for burg-madness!
Sterrenburg Castle
Klosterschenke Church & Pub, along the Middle Rhine. When you attend church here, the only way in and out is through the pub. By the way, the pub is closed until church service is concluded, when it is quite open. It is not a unique occurrence in Germany
Maus Castle
More hillside vineyards
Rheinfelds Castle & Fortress
Katz Castle
Katz Castle and the village of Sankt Goarshausen
Lorelei Rock, made famous from a 19th century ballad by German composer Clemens Brentano, about a woman shunned by her lover falling to her death here. It inspired other poems and songs that would come later.
Lorelei’s singing can still be heard in the darkness. Woe to those who are lured toward the dangerous rocks!
Schönburg Castle
Castle watching with my sister!
Schönburg Castle and the village of Sankt Goar-Oberwesel
Gutenfelds and Pfalzgrafenstein Castles
There’s a castle back there somewhere…
Goats and sheep…
Stahleck Castle
Town Church
Fürstenberg Castle
Sooneck Castle
Kathy cruising the Middle Rhine
Reichenstein Caste. Probably the largest castle we saw
Town Church
Rheinstein Castle
Ehrenfelds Castle
Mauseturn
“Rolling down the river, on a Sunday afternoon…” (video)
The Modi barely clearing under a bridge. There will be shorter bridges, and the ship’s pilot’s room will have to lower to clear
During the course of our trip, the Modi will go through 68 locks. We have gone through a few already - there were some early in our trip, primarily to navigate ships through portions of the river where the water level is unpredictable.
We now enter the major lock system of the Rhine River-Main River-Main Canal-Danube River waterway. These locks - primarily the ones on the Main Canal, carry ships up and over the European Watershed - Europe’s continental divide. The Main Canal, man-made and completed in the late 1990s, connects the Rhine and Danube Rivers and allows commerce to flow from the North Sea to the Black Sea. On our trip, we saw numerous cargo ships making use of this waterway.
The operation in concept is simple, in magnitude tremendous - a ship pulls into a lock, whose gate in front is already closed. The gate behind then closes, at which point water is either flowed into (if the ship is going upstream) or out of (downstream) the lock. Once the water level in the lock reaches the level of the water on the other side of the gate in front of the ship, the front gate is opened, and the ship passes.
Here we see a small lock - there will be deeper ones coming up.
Rhine lock
Day 7 - June 29
Koblenz & The Middle Rhine, Germany
In the morning, after a rousing buffet breakfast (which is every morning), we visited Marksburg Castle. It was built 700 years ago as a fortress to protect the local villages. Later, after the region would become occupied by Napoleon and others, it would be converted to a prison and home for disabled soldiers. This was our only visit to an actual castle, and was fascinating in showing life in medieval times. The castle is carved into a mountain – the floors and walls are the mountain rock itself. There are fantastic views of the Rhine River from the castle grounds.
In the afternoon, we sailed down the Rhine, technically the Middle Rhine. Between Koblenz (where Marksburg is) and the town of Bingen (a 3-hour trip down the river), we saw many vineyards, and at least 20 castles, mostly perched on hills above a village or two. Program Director Dawn gave us a description of each castle as we passed by. Each has its own design and character. Most were built to protect the villages below, but also to collect a toll for those who would choose to travel the river. A few have been converted to hotels. Others are damaged, due to age or World War II bombings. This float down the river was a highlight of our trip. What a time warp experience this was!
This evening we entered into the lock system that is part of the Rhine River/Main River/Main Canal/Danube River waterway systems. Our ship’s route: we began our trip in Amsterdam travelling upstream on the Rhine, then upstream on the Main (a Rhine tributary). The Main Canal was constructed to connect the Main River to the Danube River, and so the lock system enabled us to go up and over the European Waterway (the continent’s continental divide). The eastern end of the canal enters the Danube, and we traveled downstream to Budapest. Upon completion of this lock system in the late 1990s (the Modi will travel through 68 locks in our 15 days), the waterway became a major commerce trade route between the North Sea and the Black Sea. We saw many cargo ships on the way.
Viking keeps things very punctual; if you are not at the ship when it departs a location, the ship will leave, and the traveler will have to get transportation to get to the next stop. This is largely due to the locks; if a ship is late to its appointed time at a lock, it goes to the end of the line.