Cruise Day 5 - Part 1 - Mid-Rhine to Braubach, Germany

Thursday 4th April, 2013.  Part 1

Finally we get a lie in today as we are cruising along the UNESCO World Heritage Site stretch of the river (mid Rhine).  I’m not sure about this cruising when you have to be up early each day to catch a bus to see the sights.  Yesterday afternoon and this morning is the first time we’ve been able to really relax.

We pass Schonburg Castle which is under reconstruction.  I wonder how much money that will cost and who is paying for it?

There are train tracks on both sides of the river.  Many container ships ply the waters.  This is a very busy arterial route for transport.  The slopes are dotted with castles and very steep vineyards.

Each day seems to be bleaker than the one before as we head steadily northwards.

There is much ado about the famous Loreley rock.  Legend has it that a mermaid lured unsuspecting sailors onto the rock.  We all vie for vantage points in the lounge to see this marvel.

We listen to a poem and then a song is played.  This is the narrowest stretch of the river where the water is deepest.

Much ado about nothing really!

The rock reminds me of Kaikoura, especially around Goose Bay and where the recurrent major slips are.

This stretch of the Rhine is dotted with castles everywhere.  Each one has it's own story and a handout helps us identify which is which.  The river has distance markers on it so it's easy to distinguish one from another.  Pity it's not so easy now I'm back home and trying to link the photos to the names!

Katz Castle

Some of the castles have become luxury hotels.

Rheinfels.

Liebenstein & Sterrenberg (Hostile Brothers)

Marksburg Castle is the best-preserved castle on the river.  It sits atop a steep, isolated hill on a bend in the river.  In the past 800 years, formidable terrain so discouraged enemies that the castle was never attacked during the countless wars that raged around it through the centuries.

Marksburg Castle

We stop at Braubach to drop off the hardy travellers, brochure states you need to be in very good physical condition to participate fully in this castle visit.  I surely don’t fit that description today.  Plus it’s even colder than yesterday if that’s possible.

I’m still coughing - more so today!  I have decided I will forgo excursion to Marksburg Castle and stay on the ship to Koblenz at the confluence of Rhine & Moselle rivers.