Cruising on the Mosel

 Some time during the night, we left the Rhine River, took a right turn at Koblenz and headed upstream on the Mosel River, where we docked in the town of Cochem.

The main attraction for us in Cochem is the Reichburg Castle, believed to have been originally constructed sometime in the 11th century.  Like many castles along the Rhine and Mosel, this castle was blown up by French troops in 1689.

 

 

For about 200 years it stood in ruins until Louis Ravene bought the castle in 1868 and spared no expense in turning it into a luxurious private residence.  Today it is open for guided tours.

The view from the castle is magnificent!  We can see our ship and others docked on the river.

The houses in the town are along both sides of the river up against the hills, which are full of vineyards.

            At last the doors of the castle open and we are ready to begin our tour.

We meet our guide who lays down the ground rules for entering the castle.  We will see seven beautiful rooms.  The other 43 rooms are empty as Ravene's descendants took most of the furnishings in 1942 when they were forced to sell the castle to the Nazi government.  The castle is now owned by the town of Cochem.
    

Here's just a bit of what we saw...

An unusual chandelier

Typical serving size for drink of ale

And here's the bust of Louis Ravene, the man who refurbished the castle.  He made his fortune in the steel industry in Berlin.

And what's a castle without a few knights in shining armor.

Here's the chair the knights would sit in while dressed in the armor.  Their legs straddled the chair so they would not tip over from the weight of their armor.

 

From a window in the castle we had a beautiful view of the valley and river below.

 

 

Once the tour was over, we were back outside and Manuela directed us to gather together...

for a group photo!

One last look at Cochem from high on the castle hill.

Once back down the hill, we walk toward the Old Town of Cochem

And enter the gate

We follow the steps down to the market area.

We see beautiful half-timbered houses surrounding the square.

We step inside a door which leads us to St. Martin Catholic church.  The church was destroyed in WWII and redesigned in a contemporary style in 1955. 

London artists  Patrick Reyntiens and Graham Jones created glass windows in 2009.

It was not until we left the market square and looked back that we could see the outside of the church with its Baroque tower. 

 

 

 The original 1733 onion dome tower was rebuilt in 1963.

 

Germans love coffee and cake.  It was highly encouraged for us to stop by and have a taste.

So tempting...how could we refuse?

Which one to choose?

And then there's mustard!  Stores that sell only mustard.  Germans love mustard with their sausages.

We were encouraged to sample.  I think we bought two!

 

We walked back across the bridge to get to our ship and saw another great spot for a photo.  Cochem is a beautiful, kind of a fairy tale looking town.  We loved our visit here.

Back on the ship in the early afternoon we said goodbye to Cochem as we sailed away.

Such a beautiful place.

It was an afternoon of cruising on the Mosel.

The hillsides were filled with vineyards...

 

 

...and more vineyards

And every so often, a cute little village.

There are locks on the river.  We have gone through some at night.  This is the first one during the day.

We enter the lock

 

 

Once in, the gate behind us will close.

Water fills the lock

Once full, the gate will drop down

And off we go...

Our program leaders and hotel manager entertained us in the evening with a game called "The Liars Club".  They would show us a word that nobody would know the meaning of.

And then each would tell us a story to define the word.

We had to choose which one was telling the truth.  Our team of 4 actually won this game and received a bottle of champagne to share.

To continue reading, scroll down and click "Newer Post".  You will then see Germany's oldest city, Trier--an ancient Roman capital.