MONDAY, 13 MAY 2013

LAUNDRY, A SIREN, AND A MEDIEVAL CASTLE

We woke up to rain this morning…what to do—laundry!! Woo Hoo-NOT! The only laundromat we know of is in Koblenz, so after stuffing my suitcase full of the dirty stuff we hopped the train back to Koblenz. While the load washed, we visited our favorite bakery and deli and bought fixings for lunch.

The clouds persisted, but no rain, and Loreley was in St. Goar waiting for us. A short train ride back up the track, a quick ferry ride across the Rhine, and a 1 mile hike took us to the base of the Loreley. 

We sat and ate our lunch, hiked back to the ferry, rode back across the Rhine, then took a 10 minute hike uphill to visit Rheinfels Castle. The sad thing about the majority of castles along the Rhine is the fact they were all destroyed (mostly by the French), and the ones we see are ones that were rebuilt in the 1800’s. Rheinfels was mostly destroyed, but never rebuilt, so as one walks through it they see the actual Medieval walls built hundreds of years ago. The views from the tower were spectacular. As I stood in the midst of this castle I closed my eyes and tried to envision the people who once walked its cobbled streets.

HELP!!

Riding a boat up and down the Rhine River the previous two days meant we haven’t walked much, so we decided to catch the train in Oberwesel, the next town before Bacharach, a seven kilometer walk along the Rhine River. It was great!

notice the satellite dishes