We were supposed to go to the highlight of our trip – as far as I was concerned – today. A walk in the Schwarzwald in the mountains away from the river. But Father Rhine was in no mood to accommodate travellers. Our delay at Mannheim was, of course, multiplied by the hundreds of ships…
Remember I mentioned the Rhine was running high? Uh-huh. So high the river controllers closed the river. We were stuck at Mannheim. We were meant to be higher up the river, at Germersheim, which is why we had to travel further for our shore excursion to Strasbourg. Our tour director was on the phone for…
Today we tied up at the modern city of Mannheim. It was flattened during the war, being an important centre for engineering, but unlike many other German cities, the people didn’t rebuild in the old style. Noted for invention, Mannheim is home to Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Siemens. We had elected to forgo the bus trip…
Today the Scenic Jade travelled back to the Rhine. Last year we cruised to Rudesheim and then through the Rhine Gorge. This year we did it the other way round, through the Rhine Gorge and on to Rudesheim. Going through the Rhine Gorge was a different experience to the one we had 6 months ago…
The morning dawned misty, but promised a fine day. We left on the buses for a short trip to the city of Trier, touted as the oldest city in Germany. Read the history here. It was a Roman city, set up as a sort of Western European capital. There’s not a lot left of the…
The Romans brought the art of the vigneron to what are now Germany and France. In cooler climates they favoured the hillsides along the banks of the large rivers. The steep slopes allowed for maximum sunlight, and the rivers provided water for the grapes in dry times. But you had to be fit and agile…
Cochem is a lovely little town in Germany’s Moselle country. There has been a town here since before the Romans came. As it happens, most of the old buildings in the town centre were destroyed during various wars – the most recent being WW2. That was because of the bridge which was used to send…
I think I’ve found a favourite European city. Koblenz is just plain lovely. Pete and I had a great time simply wandering around, soaking up the ambience. There are large buildings (churches, palaces, government offices), but wide pavements and beautiful public gardens. The city lies at the junction of the Moselle and the Rhine. At…
Duisburg is in the middle of the Ruhr industrial area, basically levelled in WW2. The glory days as the industrial center of Germany are gone. Only one of the coal mines is still operational, scheduled to close in 2018. These days steel is made in “third world” countries like China and India. Duisburg is a…
Maastricht is on the River Maas (or Meuse if you prefer the French version), which forms a part of the Rhine delta. The city claims to be the oldest town in the Netherlands (haha – see the post about Nijmegen). But really, all these towns along the rivers have had occupants for thousands of years….