Despite the beauty of the basilica and its historic center, Koblenz is now a fairly large town of over 100,000 inhabitants, with bustling shops and many tourists. Today we would get to visit much smaller towns which still retained much of their medieval hearts. The River Queen docked for a full day at Cochem where there were opportunities to visit Reichsburg castle and take a gentle walking tour of the town and visit two even smaller towns in the afternoon.
Having had some experience with castle tours, the Ramblers knew that they usually involved walking uphill on rough terrain with lots of ups and downs. These tours no longer appealed to us because of the potential for tripping or falling. The Rhineland is almost overflowing with castles, you can see them on almost every high point along the river. Some are crumbling ruins, others have been restored often as hotels and even youth hostels, while a few, a very few, were restored to their original form. Unfortunately, to me anyway, most of the restored castles open for tours have been altered, especially on the interior, so that the original residents would no longer recognize them.
Nevertheless, I was talked into visiting Reichsburg, also called Cochem Castle, even tho we woke to rain and fog. The senior Rambler smartly stayed on board the River Queen, and while I didn’t regret going into Cochem, I didn’t get to see much of the castle. I had been coaxed into going on the tour because of the castle’s magnificent location high above the Rhine. There had been a fortified building on this spot for a thousand years and more, but sadly, this medieval castle had been blown up by the army of Louis XIV at the end of the 17th century and they had literally left no stone unturned.
Reichsburg remained a ruin for 200 years until a wealthy businessman, Louis Ravene, bought the the castle remains and the 13 acres surrounding it in the 19th century. Then he rebuilt the castle, not in its medieval form but in the then fashionable Gothic style. He did try to incorporate what remained of the medieval building into the new castle but little was left as the French had done their work well. He then furnished it with Renaissance and Baroque period antiques. The Ravene family did not hold on to the castle for long and eventually it became the property of the city of Cochem which now maintains Reichsburg as a tourist attraction. The city has added a cafe which provides decent food at fair prices at the castle entrance. As it turned out, it also provided an excellent place to wait while my companions toured the building interior.
We did get bussed to the castle grounds, which I mistakenly thought would provide easy access to the building. Unfortunately we still had to walk up a long , slippery and steep slope to get to the gate and then further to reach the entrance. I hadn’t brought a cane along, which was a mistake, and felt so uncomfortable on the wet cobbles that Tabea, our cruise manager and guide for this excursion, concurred that it might be best for me to wait in the cafe, as I still would have to walk back down the same slippery slope to get back to Cochem. Castles were built to repel invaders and Reichsburg successfully kept the Georgia Rambler out, with a secret weapon combo of steep incline and slippery cobblestones. So travelers beware…
Fortunately, the cafe had an excellent view of the misty valley which I enjoyed during my wait, probably more than I would have enjoyed the tour of the interior. If you visit Cochem, and don’t mind walking on cobblestones, Reichsburg is an excellent stop; the Rambler enjoyed it and she didn’t even go inside.
Although we had ridden the shuttle up to the castle, our group would walk down to the town where we would meet our local guide.
He took us around the historic center of Cochem, today a town of 5,000, before we made the long walk across the Moselle river bridge to the River Queen docked on the other side. Cochem has a number of buildings dating back to medieval times in its historic center, either stucco or timber framed and in these small river towns, there is always an attractive fountain in a central square. Cochem was no exception, its fountain was in good repair, and featured a sculpture of fish. I am not sure of their significance, although people surely fished in the Moselle for centuries.
It was pleasant to stroll the streets of the old town, and for a time, the sun came out and brightened up the scene.
However before long it was time to head back to the River Queen as we were going to visit Ediger-Eller this afternoon. There the mayor would show off his well-preserved small town and we would enjoy an organ recital in the parish church.
This area along the Moselle is noted for its wines, mainly white, but some reds. The vineyards climb the hills on either side of the river and were still bright green in August. It is not only tourists from river cruises who enjoy tasting the delicious wines of the region.Touring the banks of the Rhine is popular with many who live in the area as well. Since the wineries are fairly close together it is also ideal for bicycle tours as long as the riders don’t imbibe too much wine, as the scenery is beautiful.