Oct 06 – Castles, Koblenz, Wine

This was a busy day, altho is started with relaxed sight seeing from the boat. The morning was dedicated to floating through the most scenic section of the Rhine, one featuring steep hills on both sides, many of them covered with grape fields, and also a great many castles. Some of the hillsides with grapes were terraced due to pitches approaching 60 degrees.

My camera for this trip, a Fujifilm X100F, is a rangefinder style with a 35mm fixed lens. It’s a great camera, weighs one pound, and shoots excellent images. But this morning I wished for my Sony a7 with a zoom lens.

Click here for photos

After the fabulous sail through the castle region, we disembarked at Koblenz for a short visit.

“Koblenz is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multinational tributary.

Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its name originates from the Latin (ad) cōnfluentēs, meaning “(at the) confluence”.[3] The actual confluence is today known as the “German Corner”, a symbol of the unification of Germany that features an equestrian statue of Emperor William I. The city celebrated its 2000th anniversary in 1992.

It ranks in population behind Mainz and Ludwigshafen am Rhein to be the third-largest city in Rhineland-Palatinate. Its usual-residents’ population is 112,000 (as at 2015). Koblenz lies in a narrow flood plain between high hill ranges, some reaching mountainous height, and is served by an express rail and autobahn network. It is part of the populous Rhineland.”

Click here for photos of Koblenz

We also visited a local winery, enjoyed a view high above the river on the way, got to taste wine from local grapes.

Click here for photos of the wine tour