The ship didn’t move that night in Cochem, but early the next morning we did. There were damaged locks ahead so we took bus tours. First stop was Trier, Germany’s oldest city, originally a Celtic settlement. In 16 BC, the Romans conquered it, and it later became the “Rome of the North.” An important base for the Romans, it has many UNESCO World Heritage designations with Roman structures still standing, including the Porta Negra City Gate. After lunch on our own (don’t laugh, burgers and chili, with a very nice German wine served by the winemaker), we boarded another bus and journeyed to Bernkastel, a charming city of half-timbered houses where we had a wine tasting. 
The Captain turned the ship around in the Moselle, a fascinating thing to watch, and we headed back to Koblenz for an afternoon of free time.
Then, finally—castle day! It wasn’t like we hadn’t had wonderful scenery along the rivers, but today was the day to turn your head from side to side, seeing a new (well, okay, old) castle/fortification. These weren’t the fairy tale Cinderella castles we think of when we think of German castles, but castles they were. Some of them levied customs to ships passing on the river. Others guarded themselves from encroaching entities. Two saw brother set against brother over the love of a woman. In the middle of these thirty castles would be the Lorelei Rock, an imposing 433-foot steep slate rock. It honors the story of the Loreley, a siren who would lure sailors to their death. On the right bank of Rhine is a statue to her and a visitor’s center on the cliff top above.
Rudesheim gave us a cable car ride over the steep vineyards and a view of the Rhine. Also included, a generous-pour wine tasting in a cool wine cellar.
We docked in Ludwigshafen and bussed to Heidelberg for a tour of the Renaissance castle complex and a view of the world’s largest wine barrel, which holds 49,000 gallons of wine! We could walk on the barrel, also known as the Great Vat. The castle itself is considered a ruin, but it’s also quite a tourist stop with a museum store and a funicular to aid getting into Heidelberg itself.
As we neared the end of our cruise, we dipped into France, to beautiful Strasbourg. It was a very busy Saturday with a street vendor market full of cheeses, fruits and vegetables. They were also busy preparing for Christmas, having just hoisted their Christmas tree into the square.
Strasbourg’s cathedral is beautiful, the organ complex amazing. Constructed between the years of 1015 and 1439, it was originally supposed to have two spires. Succeeding architects changed it to an octagonal tower. It was damaged during World War II and finally restored in the early 1990s.
It dawns on us that we’re about to have to leave our two-week home. We dock in Breisach and bus into Riquewihr, a historic town in France’s Alsace region. The town survived undamaged from World War II. It is charming and a glass of wine served by the winemaker herself makes the morning all that much more special.
That evening, we said good-bye to our fellow shipmates. We’d already packed because we had to be up at 2:30 the next morning for our transport to the EuroAirport and our flight to Heathrow for a seven-hour (it became nine) layover before our flight home.
The hardest part of travel is the getting there and the getting back, but we made it with wonderful memories, a lot of photos, and the question of when and where do we go again?
https://www.visit-koblenz.de/en/sights/history-column
https://great-castles.com/hostileghost.html
https://visitworldheritage.com/en/eu/the-loreley-rock/7b9a0bb3-18b3-44da-907e-e9861d3f831b
