For some reason, I thought our next stop was Wurzburg, but this was not the case. The River Princess would instead dock in the small town of Volkach, one of the many places most river cruises usually sail past. The Ramblers had often thought that since the major stops were increasingly crowded, companies like Uniworld should develop tours in some of the smaller places along the Danube, Main and Rhine. Evidently Uniworld was thinking along the same lines, as Volkach was not one of their usual stops. Thus, when we looked outside early that morning, we were happy to see that ships from the major lines were not rafted up along side. There were a few docked nearby, but they were either private cruisers or locally owned. In truth, there probably wasn’t enough room at Volkach to host many ships.
The dock was on the outskirts of Volkach, which is more like a large village, and there was a path to the historic center of the town, no need to ride a bus. We would walk to the town in the afternoon, as the Princess would spend the whole day in this quiet little place. In the morning there were several guided tour options. First was a drive through the Franconian wine country with a stop for a chocolate and wine pairing; this group would board the Uniworld bus at 8:30 AM. The Rambler was always ready for a ride through the countryside and chose this option. but the senior Rambler opted to stay on board, since he could get off and walk around if he wanted.
The Princess also offered several other guided options. The most energetic was a guided canoe trip on the old branch of the Main River, which might have been fun twenty years ago. There were also two walking tours offered, both involved visiting wineries, while the final option was a bike tour in the wine country.
Finally there was a Masterpiece Collection option to tour Romantic Rothenburg at a cost of 45 Euro. Since Rothenburg was some distance away, this group would be gone from 1:00 to 5:45 PM. This tour was tempting because Rothenburg is a place that still looks like a story book medieval village complete with castle and half-timbered houses. However, there would be lots of walking and unfortunately, lots of people as it was the high tourist season for Germans as well as visitors from abroad. Thus the Rambler reluctantly took a pass on visiting Rothenburg yet again.
The morning dawned bright and clear but not too warm, perfect for a bus tour. Our somewhat sleepy group boarded the bus promptly- no dawdling for those who wanted to take a tour as they almost always depart promptly. The countryside was lush and green, and we enjoyed our ride through the Franconian hills which were planted with rows and rows of grapes. Here and there one could glimpse a winery in the distance.
To our surprise our bus stopped at a roadside marker at the top of one of the rolling hills. We all scrambled out of the bus and dutifully looked at the marker; of course it was in German, so we climbed back in the bus to continue our drive through the extensive vineyards of Franconia.
Our next stop was in the small village of Swarzach am Main, for a chocolate and wine pairing/tasting at a small company called The Art of Chocolate. It had several branches but the one we would visit was in the small town of Swarzach. The Art of Chocolate was in a large metal buiding which housed a tiny cafe, a chocolate workshop, a room with an array of beautiful and good tasting chocolates and our destination, a seminar room set up with tables for four. It was here that our wine/chocolate pairing would take place
We first enjoyed an interesting lecture on their chocolates and the local wines we would taste. our hostess was very enthusiastic about her products and this filtered down to us as we did enjoy both the chocolates and the wine. The wines were all whites, and I am a red wine enthusiast, so while I enjoyed them, I was not tempted to buy a bottle. The chocolates, however were very tasty and I bought some to take home. Chocolates fit into a suitcase much better than builky wine bottles.
Afterwards we had a choice of climbing back onto the bus, or walking a short distance to take a small ferry to the other side of the river. The Rambler chose the bus ride, even tho the ferry ride looked like fun My friends Kathy and Jean opted for the ferry and seemed to enjoy their short trip very much.
Then it was back to the ship for lunch. The senior Rambler was waiting for me near the gangplank as we walked onboard. After lunch, we could walk into the historic center of Volkach only a short distance away. Since it was a beautiful afternoon, we opted to walk into town but did’t go with the main group as the Ramblers are not speedy walkers and we didn’t want to hold anyone up.
As it turned out, the place the Rambler would have enjoyed visitng most was the Pilgimage Church of Maria im Weingarten, a late medieval pilgrimage church located only a short distance from the town center. Volkach, after all only had a population of 8,000. Unfortunately our cruise director didn’t mention it and I only learned about it when doing research for this blog entry. It is probably just as well that we missed it as the path to the church was mostly uphill and it wasn’t one of the senior Rambler’s good walking days.
However, if you have a chance to visit Volkach, do visit this ancient little church as it is a place of peace and tranquility.The Catholic pilgrimage church “Maria in the vineyard” is located above the Franconian wine village Volkach on the Mainschleife in the Lower Franconian district of Kitzingen. The late Gothic church is lsurrounded by the vineyards of the main Franconian wine-growing region on the Volkacher Kirchberg.
It still houses an important work of art by the carver Tilman Riemenschneider which dates from the 1500s.. This beautiful carving of the Madonna of the Rosary was stolen and mutilated in the early 60’s, but restored to its original beauty in 1963. This was due to the efforts of the publisher of the German newspaper Stern (Star), who offered to pay the ransom. The thieves did return the carving and all of the stolen artifacts were eventually rcovered…and the thieves were caught through the efforts of the police.
However if you don’t make it to Maria im Weingarten, Volkach is still an enjoyable place and an easy walk from the river. There is also another church with amazing artwork right in the historic district.
Unfortunately the Ramblers took the wrong path to the historic center of Volkach. We hadn’t started out with the main group, but we headed up what we thought was the right path. Instead, it took us away from the historic center and when we finally reached a cross street, we could see that our destination was two blocks in the opposite direction. We finally did get there, and found many of our friends enjoying a coffee or a glass of wine at one of several outdoor cafes. We were happy to join them. This gave the Rambler another chance to enjoy one of her favorite drinks in Germany and Austria, an Eiskaffe. if you haven’t guessed, it is a mix of icecream and hot coffee and an excellent refresher on a warm day.
The church of St. Bartholomew and St. George has been the parish church of Volkach since medieval times, and even today, the life of the village is shaped by it. The church tower is the highest landmark in the area although the rest of the exterior is fairly plain. However, the interior, redecorated in the 18th century, has amazing three dimentional rococo statues and paintings but still retains some of its earlier medieval simplicity in its Lady Chapel. Our little group from the Princess was very happy that we were able to visit this parish church. It must be a joy for the parishoners to attend Mass there every Sunday.
All in all, our stop in this small town was a great succes, as we all felt that we had enjoyed a part of small town Bavaria that still exists in the 21st century.