Rhine River Cruise - Koblenz & Boppard

Koblenz was our next stop on the Rhine River Cruise. The town lies at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle rivers. We took a stroll along the the promenade to where the rivers meet at German Corner, which also has a huge historic monument to Kaiser Wilhelm I.

We then took an aerial cable car ride across the river and up to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, which has guarded this stretch of the Rhine since the 11th century, when a castle was first built on the site. We also had a magnificent view from the top of the German Corner, the town of Koblenz and the Upper Middle  Rhine River Valley.

We retuned to the ship for a short lunch before heading out for a tour of Marksburg Castle (picture above). Marksburg Castle is the only hill castle that has never even damaged and it has been lived in for for than 700 years.  It still gives visitors a sense of what life was like in the Middle Ages..it was especially interesting to see the kitchen, the stables, the banquet hall and the torture chamber. We even got a glimpse of an early modern toilet located in the banquet hall, where our guide said the knights "made their necessary."  A great tour and Mark enjoyed seeing his "namesake" castle!

After the tour we met the ship in the town of Boppard and went for a stroll. Rodney and Jeff scoped out ice cream and found some delicious gelato. Maria and I were in a pretzel quest, which was unsuccessful, so we had to settle for chocolate! Meanwhile back on the ship, the rest of the gang lounged on the ship or took advantage of the spa.

Looking forward to passing lots of castles on our next stretch of cruising on the Rhine.