Mosel & Eifel 2004

Rhine River

by Mike Gendreyzig, 2004

former royal
government building,
Koblenz

Friends were already on board of the Korean Air 747, when I picked up the speedy rental car and made the 400 km to Frankfurt on a highway of weak traffic density. Arriving at the airport far before the scheduled touch down I checked another time the Chinese restaurant at the basement of Terminal 1, having a great lunch. Right on time the plane landed and I was pretty much busy distinguishing Koreans and Japanese from my friends. So we pulled the luggage into the cab and quickly found the way westwards to Bingen, a town sitting to the right side of the Rhine river.

Hotel Brenner with
baroque ambience

The afternoon sun varied with rain showers. It was a relaxing drive almost at the same level of the calm floating river. Old castle ruins watched the few ships and boats passing upstream and downstream. Soon the riverbanks became narrower and the hilly scenery transferred to steep rocky walls. We passed the famous Loreley, were the Rhine river gets squeezed and makes a sharp bend. The right time to change to the other river side at St. Goar, traditionally by a ferry, as the nearest bridges are 50km downstream. In a jiffy we got to St. Goarshausen and the rest of the road was just another hour ride until we reached the center of Koblenz. The elegant Hotel Brenner was easy to find and after a welcoming check-in
Deutsches Eck,
Koblenz we went on by foot to the promenade of the Rhine river and to the confluence of Rhine and Mosel - the origin of the name of Koblenz, more than 2000 years ago just a military camp of the Romans.

A fun-fair celebrating the 1st of May was packed at the “Deutsche Eck”, where the restored statue of Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm is peacefully watching the bustle on the rivers and remembers of the “Deutsche Orden”. At the cozy inn Weinhaus Hubertus we took our night dinner: regional speciality Russen Ei, stir-fried trout and steak, accompanied by excellent white wines from Mosel and Pfalz.

Everybody felt asleep right after returning back to the hotel. The other morning was clear, warm and sunny and we got up from our baroque beds, enjoyed a tasty and comfortable breakfast. Before setting off to the Mosel route we made a quick sightseeing tour by car, grasping a piece of the Sunday flair of Koblenz ...