The Rhine Gorge

The Rhine Gorge and “Castles on the Rhine” are practically synonymous. You can’t travel through the Rhine Gorge and not see the many castles and fortresses perched high up on steep cliffs. This area is immersed in history and legends. Since my ABC (“Another Bloody Church”) posting a while ago I have had numerous friends jokingly say “Another Bloody Castle”! The Rhine Gorge boasts over 40 castles and fortresses from the Middle Ages, along with the charming villages that Mike and I enjoy.

Marksburg Castle above, was inhabited for over 700 years, with each generation leaving its mark on the castle complex. It is one of the best-preserved medieval castles in the Rhine Valley. This is probably because it is the only hilltop castle on the Rhine that was never destroyed.

Another captivating sight is Katz Castle, pictured above from the town of Sankt Goar. Mike and I admire these castles from a distance and typically don’t get much closer. In succession of long-lasting clashes on heritage, Katz Castle and Rheinfels Castle, across the river, were besieged, demolished, rebuilt and extended several times. Even though repairs had been made in 1800, Napoleon blew up Katz Castle in 1806. It was eventually reconstructed in the late 19th century and even served as a local high school for a period.

The Rhine Gorge is also famous for its sharp bends and swift currents, creating a dramatic backdrop for countless tales and legends. The most famous is the tale of Loreley, the beautiful siren who lured sailors to their death with her enchanting song.

Our first German campground on the Rhine was a delightful find, complete with a charming beer garden and bistro. As we explored the surrounding area, a dark and ominous church spire caught my eye. Its appearance was so foreboding that I convinced Mike to turn back for a closer look. We were unexpectedly surprised to discover that the church itself was a charming white and pink building. It appears that white churches with pink or peach trim are the norm in this part of the world.

On the way to the campground we had to buy fuel for the RV. The inflated gas prices at highway stations have been a source of frustration, especially since we often can’t maneuver our RV into smaller stations in town. The highway gas stations in this area turned out to not be charging 10 cents or even 20 cents more per litre but almost 50% more! Off highway the cost was $2.53 Cdn (1.72€) per litre. On the highway we paid $3.47 Cdn (2.34€) per litre. That difference should be criminal.

So not all our rides are without mishaps. We have had a few recently. Our ride on an extremely hot and humid day, involved a small ferry to cross a tributary just before it flowed into the Rhine. We got to the ferry and waited in the sun, for about 15 or 20 minutes and no pilot showed up. Eventually a man came, found a chair hidden away and sat himself down. I tried to ask him when the ferry left and he didn’t seem to have any idea and wasn’t at all concerned (unlike us). We finally gave up and looked at our phones and planned a route to the closest bridge. This ended with us trying to ride through a completely fenced in area. To get around it we travelled through some quite soggy fields. We finally ended up underneath a very high bridge. The bike and pedestrian path were in the centre of the four-lane road on the top of the bridge. To get there you had to walk your bike up two sets of stairs, each set being almost two stories in height. You can see half the stairs up in the picture. Since I broke my ankle when my knee just gave way on some stairs in Canada, Mike insists that he hauls our very heavy bikes up and down stairs. This meant that Mike first took his bike up the equivalent of almost four flights of stairs and then came down for mine. At the other end Mike had to get both bikes down the stairs. All in all, Mike walked the distance in the picture 12 times, half the time with our heavy bikes. My main contribution? Worrying about his potential for a heart attack!

The detour continued with a road closure blocked by a massive mound of dirt, more detours on top of detours. Back on track but exhausted, and dehydrated, we abandoned our plans to explore a nearby town.

The next day we were riding a train with a group of very friendly but noisy, drinking male and female passengers. One girl was wearing a bicycle helmet, a white veil and a short white dress, obviously a bride-to-be.

It turned out it wasn’t just one noisy group it was two groups that had never met before. The men were part of a bachelor party. The women were part of a bachelorette party. The bachelor and the bachelorette were completely unrelated. The two groups had never met before. What a coincidence.

I erred on our bike ride to Mainz and back. I planned the loop we rode on the south side of the Rhine. The next day, as I was looking for interesting towns to visit, I saw that all the close ones were on the north side of the river. So much for my planning.

When we arrived in Mainz we saw numerous town squares filled with remnants of stages, equipment and carnival paraphernalia all being torn down. I wonder what major event we had just missed.

The picture above is the House of the Roman Emperor, more commonly known as the Gutenberg Museum. It contains a replica of the, now destroyed, original printing press invented here in Mainz in 1440. The museum building was demolished due to Allied bombing raids in WWII. Somehow, most of the exhibits were saved. In 1961 the building was accurately reconstructed for Mainz’s 2,000^th (yes two thousand years!!) anniversary. Two different towns that we saw celebrated their 2,000^th anniversary in the early 1960s. As a Canadian, I can’t even comprehend this.

The cathedral, on Market Square in Mainz, celebrated its 1,000th anniversary in 1975. In honour of this, the city decided to redesign and rebuild Market Square. Most of the houses on the square date back to the 18^th century. World War II bombs heavily damaged these buildings. It turns out that these bombs are still a problem. A couple of days after our visit to Mainz, they evacuated a large area near the railway station in order to defuse an unexploded bomb from WWII that had just been discovered during  some construction.

Mike and I were quite intrigued by a 29-foot-tall carnival fountain on the square, adorned with over 200 bronze figures. We talked to a local resident who said that this fountain hadn’t had water for years.

Our first excursion from our new campground took us to Mannheim where we saw the exterior of the imposing Mannheim Palace. This colossal Baroque structure now primarily serves as a university. The palace also houses a museum showcasing meticulously restored rooms and other historical artifacts. It was closed the day Mike and I visited.

Bacharach, with its medieval charm and scenic setting, was another great stop on our cycling tour. Up above Bacharach is the Burg Stahleck Castle which is now a youth hostel. Mike and I had planned to ride up there to have a glass of wine while taking in the great view, but again we were too tired near the end of our ride. In this weather I think I need to shorten our rides.

Mike attempted to get our boat running for the first time in 3 ½ years. After spending ages trying to start the motor, we located a local Mercury dealer and took the engine to them. They were absolutely marvelous. Two gentlemen spent more than 45 minutes with us before eventually getting the engine started. We couldn’t run it properly on dry land because the engine doesn’t have the capability to run cooling water through it. They emersed the lower end in a pail of water but that meant that we couldn’t put the propeller in gear. After all this time, these men didn’t want to charge us anything. We ended up donating 20€ to a party they had planned. They strongly suggested that we try and run the motor in the river that evening.

We got back to the campground, Mike got the boat in the water and then Jackie made her entrance – face first! With people watching from shore, I went flying over the boat with my face on one side and my legs and feet in the water on the other side, how embarrassing. We did get the boat running again, but couldn’t get the motor anywhere near full speed. Due to the Rhine’s fast current, we chose to motor upstream, in case we had a problem. We motored across the river to the town of Eltville. The town looked really pretty, but there was no way that we were going to turn off our engine and visit. We hoped to take the boat out a second time and work on the motor but the weather wouldn’t cooperate. We finally packed the boat away. Our next campground is on the Mosel River. It has a proper boat launch and hopefully less of a current.