Some of the sights ….
Cruise Brochure
Today’s cruising will be a highlight of your trip, as we cruise through the spectacular Rhine Gorge. Keep your camera at the ready as the time is packed full of stunning natural scenery and impressive castles. Around every bend there are stunning vistas of castles perched above steep vine–covered slopes. As the ship winds downriver you will see the sites of many local fairy tales and folklores including the infamous Lorelei Rock where sailors are said to have been lured onto treacherous rocks by enchanted temptresses. Shipwrecks have been recorded here as far back as the middle ages, a forlorn woman is said to sit atop the cliff combing her hair luring sailors onto the rocks.
We also pass the impressive Pfalzgrafenstein Castle which was formerly a toll gate perched on an island in the middle of the river. Working with the nearby fortified town of Kaub to collect money form traders passing through. In the afternoon we arrive at Rüdesheim, today’s final destination and one of Germany’s most popular towns. Enjoy a cable car ride up to the impressive Germania monument with stunning views of the Rhine Valley, then free time to shop for handicrafts or taste the famous Rudesheim ice coffee.
Overnight we made good progress and when we woke this morning we had entered the Rhine Gorge just west of Marksburg. Unfortunately the weather had returned to cloudy and foggy however the fog on the hills made for an interesting atmosphere. The riverside towns were typically German and we enjoyed the scenery passing by as we had breakfast . Around 10am we reached the famous Lorelei Rock – where legend says sailors were lured to their death by the beautiful Lorelei.
Castle above the river town
The Lorelei Monument
Despite the weather, we ventured up to the (lack of)sundeck when the rain allowed as we sailed toward our stop at Kaub. By the time we reached Kaub, the rain was fairly persistent. We had buses waiting for us to take the 30 minutes drive to Rudesheim (we think that this was due to berthing issues in Rudesheim itself). Arriving in Rudesheim, we transferred to little trains which took us into the centre of the town. Gae, Greg, Adrienne and I decided to brave the weather and take the cable car up to the monument. I can’t say too much ? but we also had “challenges” to think about !
At the Germania monument
Our foggy view of the Rhine and Rudesheim from the Germania monument
The Germania monument was quite impressive and the view pretty spectacular down the valley – even with the fog ! It would have been incredible in sunny weather. Back down the cable car, we walked through the tiny streets and alleyways and eventually settled on a cafe to try out the “coffee specialty”. Quite a concoction ! 3 sugar cubes, about 50ml of hot brandy, coffee, topped with a huge dollop of cream ! Doesn’t sound like me however luckily the brandy flavour killed the sweetness !?
Trying the coffee – certainly warmed you up !
As our time in Rudesheim came to an end, the boat had joined us and moored ready to take us all on board again for us to set sail again. Late in the afternoon, a german chap gave a zither concert in the lounge – quite a challenging instrument to play as it has 42 strings across its width. (The “zither” sound however was certainly quite a bit different to the “sitar” we had originally expected – a pronunciation glitch from our Hungarian cruise director ! )
Dinner was excellent again – 4 courses each evening however the serving sizes are very sensible – enough to fill you up and enjoy ! After dinner we had a lively game of Uno as the onboard musician kept the atmosphere in the lounge buzzing.
We have now moved off the Rhine River into the Main River – and the frequency of locks has increased somewhat. Tomorrow we move on to Miltenburg for our next on shore excursion.
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Today’s “Tour Trivia” – the legend of Lorelei goes far and wide – Roxy Music’s (Bryan Ferry) song “Editions of You” references sirens wailing on the Lorelei, the 1973 animated Star Trek episode “The Lorelei Signal” is about a planet of beautiful women who periodically lure ships to their world and draw the ships’ men to their deaths and the Elite Four class of Pokémon trainers in the Pokémon games have a member named Lorelei. She is a master Ice-type trainer and some of her Pokémon are part Water-type, possibly alluding to the water spirit myth.