Rhens, Boppard & the Loreley

Ok the holiday is rapidly drawing to s close.  Dahhh…  Today we head away from our plastic accommodation at Koblenz and get back to the real deal at Bacharach. Note: Bacharach is pronounced like this.  First get some phlegm ready to use on the two ‘ch’ parts of the name but lose the ‘c’:  Bah-ch-uh-rah-ch. Try again. A very tricky one and best tackled once you’re well into a second bottle of wine!
We rustled up Hermann down in the car park.  He was ok and in good company.
Fist part of the drive is a whopping 11kms to Rhens. Here our first stop was the Konigsstuhl (chair of the King). In the year 1400 ‘King Ruprecht of Palatinate’ was elected here as the first German King. The following kings presented themselves on the ‘Konigsstuhl’ (chair of the King) and took an oath of loyalty. Here’s the latest, voted in by an underwhelming minority.
We next parked up in sleepy Rhens and went for a walk… through the old city wall (the Rathaus is at back (1500, upper floor 1600).  Nicely framed huh?
Marktplatz is fair humming.Ochsenbrunnen (Ox Fountain).  Very cool.
The Rathaus from the other side. No such thing as a spirit level in 1600.
Man this wine is good. Tucking into the Fachwerk as I type this and thinking same.
Where was I?  Ok… yeah Rhens.  Right…. So you live close to a railway track do you? (Marilyn & Roger). Well try being this close!  Yes the track at right runs right past the corner of the house!  And there are loads of trains on this line.Through the lower gate to the river.
Scharfe Turm (Sharp Tower) dates from 1396 and used to serve first as a watchtower, then as a customs office and later as a prison for witches! (1629-1648). In 1645/46 ten witches and wizards were beheaded here by the executioner. In 1795, the entire city council of the municipality of Rhens was imprisoned here!  Take note Auckland and Len Brown. Front up or else!We moved on to Boppard (11kms down the road). Just past Sauerlingsturm (a 14th century tower) and outside the railway station entrance is a statue of composer Engelbert Humperdinck (yup the original, 1854-1921) who lived here in Boppard back in the day. Apparently he composed the opera Hansel and Gretel in 1893. We all know that he kinda resurfaced in 1965 when a bloke named Arnold Dorsey was advised to name himself after the composer to try and kick start his career (and it seemed to work!).  Altogether now… sing: “I have a band of men and all they do is play for me. They come from miles around to hear them play a melody. Beneath the stars my ten guitars will bla bla bla” … STOP, enough!! Boppard walkabout.
Cloud art.  What’s with the French flag!!??
Leaving Marktplatz.
Wein Haus Romerburg Restaurant at Burgplatz 3. An impressive building!  The restaurant’s exterior was worked brilliantly into the remains of the old city walls (which are more than 1500 years old!). These walls once formed the corner tower of a Roman fortress and later in the Middle Ages they were part of the fortifications of Boppard. Once the turbulent times passed the ruins were then handed over for public use.  A job well done!
Time to take the Sesselbahn (chairlift) for a view of ‘the bend’ on the Rhine. The lift was built in 1954 and rises 232m for great views. It’s 20 mins up. In the heat take a hat (Sadly I forgot mine today). It’s cooking in approx 34C.
A well earned drink at the top.
Stole our seats!  Boppard is back right.  It’s too hot to sit at the next table.
The loop on the Rhine at Boppard (right). Great views!

Boppard is in the background.  Down we come. Man it’s hot!Next stop Sankt Goar (15kms further along the road).  First stop at the start of town is up the hill to the Burg Rheinfels castle ruins. Initially built in 1245 as a sort of medieval “toll booth” levying charges on ships that sailed along the Rhine. For 5 centuries it was the biggest castle on the Rhine. The ruins today are only a fifth of the original castle footprint so it was massive! In 1794, after many attempted sieges, the Burg Rheinfels fortress finally fell to the French and was eventually destroyed.
We could’ve visited the maze of ruins as well as 15th century underground tunnels and massive open surrounds but it was too hot to even consider entering the area.  Instead we enjoyed a great view of Sankt Goar from the hotel terrace (access is through the gift shop).  Part of the castle was converted into a hotel – the Romantic Hotel Schloss Rheinfels in 1973.Classic was in the men’s loo (which is located outside the gift shop and at the start of the ruins walk).  I don’t usually take photos in the loo (trust me I don’t).   All I’ll say is that you have to be a tad careful!
WTF!
On yer bike!
Next best at Burg Rheinfels has to be their weather station. Classic German technology! 🙂 Even Stephan Nebel gets a mention!  Do the translations.  Brilliant!
Time to head down the hill.  Dohh… The train’s a coming with a full load from Sankt Goar.  I don’t blame them.  I wouldn’t want to walk up that hill from town.Apparently this is the world’s largest free-hanging cuckoo clock. I think we’ve seen them all now.
Time to take Hermann for a ride on a boat.  We took the car ferry across the Rhine to Sankt Goarhausen.  They run a slick operation here.  Fast load, fast crossing, fast exit.  We were last on board (timed our run to absolutely perfection!).
By the time I hopped out of the car it was time to get back in again!  €11 for a return journey.
Off.We came over to a) walk the Loreley mole (a ‘spit’ that pokes out into the Rhine from the base of the Loreley Rock) and b) to drive up to the top of Loreley rock for views.
Re the ‘mole’: From the car park the walk is about 1500m I guess. There is partial shade only but while in the sun it was cooking! Temperature still mid 30s. Oooops forgot to suck it in.
Off we go.
We find the statue at the end of the spit.  Burg Katz above Sankt Goarhausen is in behind.
Google the legend of the Loreley (aka Lorelei).  There is a story of an enchanting female associated with the rock. In the poem, the beautiful Lore Lay, betrayed by her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men and causing their death. Rather than sentence her to death, the bishop consigns her to a nunnery. On her way there, accompanied by three knights, she comes to the Lorelei rock. She asks permission to climb it and view the Rhine once again. She does so and then falls to her death; the rock still retained an echo of her name afterwards. I’ll have some of that thanks!
Muzza has a paddle in the Rhine River.  Very refreshing on a hot day.  Hey… there are guppy’s in here!  Burg Katz in behind.Another big river boat cruises by.  Cameras all pointed in our direction.  I guess they spotted me!!  (or not).
We had a bite to eat at the end of the spit before we walked back to Hermann to head to the top of Loreley Rock.Once we got up there we saw heaps of cops and cars, and security and people. There is an old ampitheater (Loreley Freilichtbuhne) that we were going to take a look at but it was all blocked off. You needed a ticket. There’s a rock concert on this evening and people were beginning to arrive.  We took the alternate road to the other lookouts close by. Views were brilliant. Here’s the spit that we walked.Loreley Rock is a slate rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, and soars some 120 metres above the waterline. It marks the narrowest part of the river between it’s starting point in Switzerland and the North Sea, and is the most famous feature of the Rhine gorge (a 65 km section of the river between Koblenz and Bingen).  A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents here. Kath on the edge.
We shared a table at the restaurant up there with a German couple from Regensburg.  It was their first day of a 4 week holiday.  He was wearing a T shirt with kiwis and the NZ flag on it (an instant conversation starter).  They’d been to NZ 3 years previously. What a nice couple to chat to.
We headed back to the ferry to cross the Rhine again.  On the way down the hill the traffic coming up was bumper to bumper ALL the way up the hill. There was going to be a massive crowd at the concert.  btw the band playing at the concert is from Finland and they are called ‘Sunrise Avenue’.  I hear you say “Who?” (Formed in 2002, sold over 2m albums). Obviously hugely popular here.  The queue of cars was monstrous. We were lucky we visited earlier when the road up the hill was relatively clear.  Back on the ferry. Ticket please.
When we got to the other side at Sankt Goar, the queue of cars waiting to do the crossing was HUGE!  Way too many for the ferry car park. They were queued all the way down the main road.  Man this band must be popular!  We eventually made it through the mayhem and down the road where I snapped this pic of the rock that we were just standing at the top of.
In just 7kms we were passing through the next town of Oberwesel. Here we drive by the Ox Tower (Ochsenturm).
It’s just another 7kms to our next stop for 3 nights: Bacharach.  So plenty of ground covered today but not many kms.  A quick snap of our entry point into Bacharach – through an old medieval town wall and gate.We had to drive the narrow main street and park up outside our accommodation which is right in the middle of the tourist attractions. In fact our building is a popular photo stop! (see next pic).Sadly the Old House (Altes Haus – above left) opposite our hotel (and our balcony) is undergoing a makeover. You can see builders paper and batons on it in the pic above. Bugger.  Anyway – here’s a quick snap of our hotel (I’ll have another go over the next few days).
We’re in the ‘bridal suite’ (yeah yeah it’s just a room ok!).  But it does have a mirror on the underside of the bed’s canopy!  Now I swear I knew nothing about this!!  I promise!!!
Kath on the balcony… clearly impressed with the idea of the mirror!  Or was it this Willy she had on her mind?
Dahhhh….  drink up!  Enuff for now, I have a mirror to polish.  Guten nacht!