A Wine with my Rhein, Please!

This past weekend, we needed to go to the U.S. Embassy in Frankfort so we decided to take a longer way home through the Middle Rhein Valley. We got up early and drove three hours for our morning appointment. Afterwards, we took a route along the Rhein and I couldn’t believe the luck of the day we had in store for us. The weather was gorgeous, we came across some great places AND enjoyed a glass of wine in this wine valley. The Rhein Valley is famous for wine, so we took advantage of it.

The first place we stopped at was Bingen—“ …the starting point for the Via Ausonia, a Roman military road” linking the town with Trier. It’s also known for the story of the Mouse Tower. In short, the story is about a cruel ruler who treated his people poorly and killed many of them by locking them in a barn and burning it down. Supposedly he commented about hearing the mice squeak. When he returned to his palace, he was plagued by mice who caught him and ate him alive. Let this be a lesson to us all—be nice.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know much about Bingen to get a picture of the tower, but here is a picture of a castle up on the hill.

Here are a few pictures that got me shaking my head and laughing. The first picture is of a church I took as we were driving toward it. The second one is the van that’s right in front of the church that has “Unfucking-Glaublich (believable)” on the side of it.

We didn’t stay in Bingen long and drove up the Rhein until we came across this adorable German town called Bacharach. Loved it! Here is the plaque that was on the castle wall. I interpreted it underneath through Google translation, so it might not be totally right.

You city of magic and magician

You city Brentano and the Loreley

You rabbi city, you ghetto town

You catch the dream, distant gaze

In nets made of mud, stone and forget

And tie in slate

The root of the vine

Here are some pictures by the Rhein and when we walked into town.

This is the oldest house in Bacharach, built in 1420.

We enjoyed a nice glass of wine at this restaurant.

This was a circle area that had grapes hanging from wires in the middle of the street.

These are the ruins of a church up on the hill. It was built in 1280. I took several pictures of it, but this one is the best. There is a long story behind this church, but I’ll leave that out. 

We came across another area in town that was set around a stream. I went a bit crazy with the pictures.

These pictures were taken overlooking the town of Bacharach. We walked up to the church ruins to get a better view.

I took these when we walked down into town.

Where there’s no Freedom There’s no Happiness

We left Bacharach and headed to Koblenz. On the way, I took a picture of this castle on an island and then of a town and castle on the other side of the Rhein.

My last picture is from Koblenz. These are part of the Berlin Wall.

I hope you enjoyed some wine while taking this trip with me. Have a great rest of week!

Rhein Valley and Wine,

Bea