Everyone hated to leave the luxury hotel, but our castle was waiting. Yes, our next night was booked in a 900 year-old castle called Burg Stahleck. Situated along the Rhine River in Bacharach, the castle was actually the capitol of Germany for a couple of years in the 1200s. Numerous castles border this section of the Rhine, with most dating from the 11th, 12th, or 13th century. Built by “robber-barons”, they were set up along the river to levy tolls on passing traffic. When boats came by, a huge chain would be raised across the river until the toll was paid. Later on emperors started asserting their control over these private kingdoms and the castles were eventually abandoned. Some have since been restored while others still lie in ruin. Running north from Switzerland to Holland, today’s Rhine is one of the world’s busiest shipping rivers in the world. You can find a steady flow of barges, with highways and train tracks lining both banks.
To get to our next stop, we went a little further down the Rhine and then took a left on the Mosel River. It didn’t take long at all to notice the different pace here, as the Mosel is a lot quiter compared to the Rhine. We found a few little villages along the way to stroll and then settled in Cochem for a relaxing dinner.
What a great playground for a young boy!
It's hard to concentrate with this view, but we did get a little journal done.
The Altes house is one of the oldest on the Rhine, dating to 1368.
This view over town is from some of the nearby vineyards. On the right you can see the skeleton of the Chapel of Werner, built in 1294.
Gelato break! Angie and I sampled the local specialty which was flavored like Riesling wine.
One of our stops was Burg Eltz. This castle has been in the Eltz family for a mere 850 years.
Dinner in Cochem along the Mosel River.
Cochem's Castle
Relaxing at Burg Stahleck
