Koblenz, Germany – April 20, Wednesday

We are docked in Koblenz, where we will spend the night. It is a traditional German country town where the Rhine and Moselle Rivers meet. Koblenz was founded more than 2,000 years ago as a trading village. 

As promised we first toured the Marksburg Castle. As I said it was the only castle in the Rhine Valley to have never been destroyed. It is located in the town of Braubach, Germany. Because it was built with strong fortifications, it was never besieged by enemies. It is located 550 feet above the water.

These first pictures are of the castle, the view to the river below and a couple people pictures before we started the tour. You can see from these pictures that it is not raining and the temperature is better, in the low 60’s.

These pictures are as we entered the castle and end with looking at the guns that they used to protect the castle. Our guide was an ex-German Navy man and very much a German. He was excellent and very funny.

The first of these pictures is of the gardens around the castle. They are planted with the same plants that were grown here at the time. The next is a little hard to see but you are looking up at the bathroom. It was very odd to have an inside bathroom in those days. The last pictures are of the wine cellar.

This is the kitchen.

And, this is the bedroom. The bed has a canopy above it because there were little animals that would run on the ceiling and this way they would not fall into the bed. The curtains on the sides also protected them from bugs and animals. But the side curtains were also used so the husband and wife could argue without the servants hearing them. The trunks are where they kept their clothes as they had no closets.

This is the dining room. The small room in there is the bathroom we saw from outside. The lock is on the outside of the door, so that if the enemy came up the side and into the bathroom, they could keep them out of the house.

This starts with a picture of the chapel and then the sewing room. Then there was a room that displayed the different type of armor and weapons that were used over the centuries and how it changed. Lastly are some more pictures as we walked through the castle.

And lastly was the torture chamber.

From the castle we went back to town where we looked around and had a beer in the square. It was a very nice and sunny day.

Here are some of the pictures from our walk through town. Notice how these Viking Ships raft up next to each other. Ours is the one closest to the shore.

At the ‘German Corner’ where the two rivers meet, a massive equestrian status of Prince William I observes the riverside scene. Prince Willy (as they call him) set up the first base for the Teutonic Knights here in 1216. Here is Prince Willy.

Thus ended our touring for the day. It was German night on the ship, so all the food was German. Tomorrow we leave Koblenz and head to Cochem, Germany. There is another castle tour there, but we are thinking we will skip that.