So, on the fourth day of our seven-day cruise, this happened. At a first glance, would you guess that Schloss Engers at Neuwied was one of the minor palaces of the Prince-Archbishop of the Rhineland-Palatinate?
The Prince-Archbishop built this little shack in the woods because he needed a place where he could go for a few weeks of quiet enjoyment each fall during the hunting season. This helps to explain why the ceiling of the Diana Hall features a large-scale fresco painting of the goddess who was known as the Virgin Huntress, Diana.
Today, Schloss Engers is the home of the Villa Musica, a mentorship programme for young musicians just starting out in their careers, to have the experience of playing and sharing music with more senior musician mentors. We were brought here from our ship to enjoy a concert given by several of the current scholarship holders of the Villa Musica, together with one of our tour's resident musicians, clarinetist James Campbell.
The music audiences of today enjoy privileges formerly reserved for royalty and archbishops. And the concert was delightful.
That actually came at the end of our morning tour in the city of Koblenz, at the junction of the Rhine and Mosel Rivers. I'm sorry to say that our morning walking tour completely skipped the most famous sight in Koblenz, the gigantic equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I at the Deutsches Eck, the angle of land between the two rivers. But here's a picture of him from last year's cruise.
Instead, our tour took us through the old town area, again (as in Cologne) largely rebuilt after the war. Unlike many of these cobblestoned squares, this one had some substantial trees shading it.
This sixteenth century building at one time served as a synagogue for the Jewish community. It was significant that our guide took care to outline the long and difficult history of the Jewish population in Koblenz, before telling us that today the city has a Jewish community again and living in better circumstances than at any time in the past.
This church's wildly varying architectural styles (check the different shapes of the windows) reflects a history of having been built piecemeal over several centuries.
A former Jesuit church and school is now used as part of the town hall. The 24 shuttered windows in the roof are opened one by one in December as a community Advent calendar.
In the courtyard through the arch of the town hall stands this fountain. The sassy boy atop the column has become a famous symbol of Koblenz. Just be careful where you stand because every few minutes....
In a larger square nearby, the city commissioned this column, a depiction of the history of Koblenz by eras, beginning with the Romans at the bottom and ending with the rebuilding of the city after World War 2 at the top. I'm not sure if I like it or not, but I am quite sure that it's unique.
We got back from our concert at Schloss Engers at 12:15, and lunch was at 12:30 -- so we were all tucking into our meal as the ship sailed, from its berth in the Mosel, sliding around the corner back into the Rhine (we did wave at Wilhelm through the windows of the dining room). We were now heading into the most famous and scenic stretch of the entire voyage: the Rhine Gorge.
The river is compressed in between steep hills, many crowned with castles, and in places the stream is so narrow that the current becomes decidedly fast. Check out how hard the current is pushing against the buoy in this video clip.
Nothing sums up the speed of the river through the gorge so much as the fact that the voyage upstream from Koblenz to Rüdesheim took us 6.5 hours. Last summer, we sailed the same stretch downstream in less than 4 hours.
I've been through the gorge twice before, in 1979 and in 2018, but both times my photography was somewhat frustrated by bad weather. Well, we had some of that today as well, but we also got some bright sunny conditions as the afternoon wore on, and I finally managed to get some good bright pictures of some of the nearly 30 castles along this twisting waterway. So here's a selection of photos of some of the highlights -- beginning with the castles.
This pair of castles, one white and one dark, with a wall separating them, are known as the Feindlichen Brüdern ("Enemy Brothers"). I'm not sure if that's due to anything more than appearances.
And the prize of the lot: at last, some sunny pictures of Pfalzgrafstein on its island in the river. The first time I sailed through here, the water was right up to the castle walls, proving the wisdom of that pink ship's-prow at the end facing upstream -- complete with lion figurehead.
The Rhine Gorge is a very busy transportation corridor. There's the nonstop stream of cargo ships and passengers cruise vessels going up and down the river -- and ferries across the river, too, as there are no bridges anywhere between Koblenz and Rüdesheim.
This pair of castles, one white and one dark, with a wall separating them, are known as the Feindlichen Brüdern ("Enemy Brothers"). I'm not sure if that's due to anything more than appearances.
And the prize of the lot: at last, some sunny pictures of Pfalzgrafstein on its island in the river. The first time I sailed through here, the water was right up to the castle walls, proving the wisdom of that pink ship's-prow at the end facing upstream -- complete with lion figurehead.
The Rhine Gorge is a very busy transportation corridor. There's the nonstop stream of cargo ships and passengers cruise vessels going up and down the river -- and ferries across the river, too, as there are no bridges anywhere between Koblenz and Rüdesheim.
That passenger vessel is a twin sister of the one I cruised on last summer. There are also highways along both banks of the river, and dual-track railways on each side too. Here, the rail lines on the eastern shore have to go through a headland in twin tunnels.
The rail line on the east side carries mostly cargo trains, with a few local-service passenger trains each hour.
The rail line on the east side carries mostly cargo trains, with a few local-service passenger trains each hour.
The west bank carries one of the country's major InterCity passenger lines, with lengthy express trains racing by on a regular basis.
Although all of the scenery in the Gorge is both beautiful and spectacular, the scenic climax comes at the midpoint, just south of the twin towns of St. Goar and St. Goarshausen on either bank. First, you see this graceful statue of a mysterious woman on the eastern shore.
In another minute, you approach the prominent, steep headland which bears her name. This is the Loreley Rock. In German mythology, the Loreley (also sometimes spelt Lorelei) was a deathless nymph who lived atop the rock and enticed sailors to their deaths with her enchanting song. Sound familiar? The idea of immortal women driving mortal men to distraction and death is a common theme in more than a few mythologies around the world. Take a look at the sharp bends which carry the river around this frowning promontory, and remember that current, which is especially fierce and turbulent here.
But also take a look at the headland's rock formations, testimony to an active geological past. Really, it hardly needs the old and frankly sexist legend to make the Loreley Rock dangerous -- or remarkable. But cruise ships always have to have someone recite Heine's poem about the nymph and then play a recording of the song about her as the ship approaches. It's traditional.
At 6:00 pm the ship glided into its dock in Rüdesheim. Despite the hour, two sightseeing excursions were organized, one to visit Siegfried's Cabinet, a museum dedicated to mechanical musical instruments, and the other to sample a Rüdesheimer Coffee, a dangerous beverage involving ample quantities of sugar, whipped cream, and alcohol. I had to pass on the latter for health reasons, and had already visited the former (which is actually very entertaining), so I just stayed on board a very quiet ship, to finish this post before a very late dinner at 8:30 pm.
Although all of the scenery in the Gorge is both beautiful and spectacular, the scenic climax comes at the midpoint, just south of the twin towns of St. Goar and St. Goarshausen on either bank. First, you see this graceful statue of a mysterious woman on the eastern shore.
In another minute, you approach the prominent, steep headland which bears her name. This is the Loreley Rock. In German mythology, the Loreley (also sometimes spelt Lorelei) was a deathless nymph who lived atop the rock and enticed sailors to their deaths with her enchanting song. Sound familiar? The idea of immortal women driving mortal men to distraction and death is a common theme in more than a few mythologies around the world. Take a look at the sharp bends which carry the river around this frowning promontory, and remember that current, which is especially fierce and turbulent here.
But also take a look at the headland's rock formations, testimony to an active geological past. Really, it hardly needs the old and frankly sexist legend to make the Loreley Rock dangerous -- or remarkable. But cruise ships always have to have someone recite Heine's poem about the nymph and then play a recording of the song about her as the ship approaches. It's traditional.
At 6:00 pm the ship glided into its dock in Rüdesheim. Despite the hour, two sightseeing excursions were organized, one to visit Siegfried's Cabinet, a museum dedicated to mechanical musical instruments, and the other to sample a Rüdesheimer Coffee, a dangerous beverage involving ample quantities of sugar, whipped cream, and alcohol. I had to pass on the latter for health reasons, and had already visited the former (which is actually very entertaining), so I just stayed on board a very quiet ship, to finish this post before a very late dinner at 8:30 pm.
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