20240825 Viking European Sojourn River Cruise Day 24/27 - Koblenz, Germany - Farewell Main, Hello Rhine

Viking European Sojourn River Cruise Day 24/27 - Koblenz, Germany

We were still sailing this morning. Right after breakfast, we passed through the final lock on the Main, made a right turn, and entered the Rhine River.

Entering the Rhine at Mainz, Germany

Officially on the Rhine

We started our Rhine sailing, headed toward the Middle Rhine for scenic sailing with commentary.

Christuskirche is a Protestant church in Mainz

St. Peter's Church

Biebrich Palace in Wiesbaden

It was a brisk 63 degrees with a 20-25MPH breeze on the Sun Deck

Johannisberg Castle

Eibingen Abbey

Niederwald monument in the Rhine gorge at the entry to the Middle Rhine

Enrenfels Castle

Mouse Tower

Rheinstein Castle

St. Clemens Basilika

Reichenstein Castle

Sooneck Castle

Heimburg Castle

Ruin "Fürstenberg Castle"

Fürstenberg Castle

St. Bonifatius

A herd of goats on the hill

Stahleck Castle

Gutenfels Castle

Pfalzgrafenstein Castle

Schönburg Castle

Liebfrauenkirche

St. Martin's

Bull Tower

Some type of hawk was flying over us

The Loreley Rock - supposedly, Loreley sang and her song caused sailors to crash into this rock

A statue of Loreley

Katz Castle

Rheinfels Castle

Mouse Castle

We ended our scenic sailing as lunch was ready. around 2:30, we made a technical stop so folks could disembark for the included tour of Marksburg Castle. Arlona wanted to take that tour so she left the ship here. I stayed on to Koblenz and took the tram to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress.

Arlona departed Lofn in Braubach for the short bus ride to Marksburg Castle.

Marksburg Castle - nearly 800 years old and was never destroyed in battle

The castle entry - one of four gates

The view from the base of the castle

Ready to climb the castle

Stolzenfels Castle - visible from Marksburg

The key that opens the entry to the castle

The doorway that the horses used to use to enter the castle

The second of the four doors

Coats of arms of the different owners of the castle

The castle is now owned by the German Castle Association

The canons could shoot across the river

They were mostly used for ceremony

Caretaker's residence - three people live here and currently care for the castle

The narrow slits were for archers

A view of the Rhine from the castle

Another archer slit

The third doorway called the Iron Gate

They have made Riesling wine here since 691

The wine was originally 4% alcohol

A wine press in the kitchen

The kitchen

Eat-in dining area in the kitchen - these walls were 12 feet thick for stability

Arlona - in the kitchen

Herbs drying up high so rats couldn't get to them

The ice box

Sink and bathroom outside the bedroom

This shows how the interior walls were constructed

A bedroom with a "king-sized" bed - they slept sitting up to not be confused with the dead

Bedroom fireplace

Tapestry in the formal dining room

Musical instruments in the dining area

Antler chandelier in the dining room

The chapel dedicated to St. Peter

Crude stone steps - a narrow stairway up from the chapel to the armament room

A small study along the way

In the armament room

Raising the protective visor was an early form of a salute

The central tower

Back in the kitchen

The ceiling in the torture area from the 1200s

The torture area - a rack

Stocks

The blacksmith's shop inside the castle rather than in an outside building

A fun manhole cover on the trip back to the ship

I took the excursion with the cable car ride to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. This area has been a defensive area since the fourth century B.C. and has been built and rebuilt over the centuries. The current fortress has been occupied by Germany, France, and the USA multiple times.

The cable car from the west bank of the Rhine across the river to the fortress

Ehrenbreitstein Fortress is the second-largest fortress in Europe

Our guide played the part of an English agent in 1836 who was assigned to document the technological and architectural advances in the fortress - it made for an interesting tour

Outside the fortress - the yard area outside the fortress has a huge system of tunnels running under it to allow defenders to stop attackers from tunneling to gain access

The only gate to enter the fortress - one gate made it easy to defend

Inside the fortified walls

Note that the interior walls were built with architectural arches so that any failure in a wall from an attack wouldn't collapse as the weight would distribute along the arch

Note the obtuse angle of the wall on the right, making it hard for attackers to seek refuge

Memorial of the German Army

A construction mark on one of the interior walls

That bridge was originally a drawbridge, effectively separating internal structures, making them harder to breach

The small openings are rifleman windows

The two larger openings are canon openings - the gate was heavily defended on three sides

Prussian Eagle

Inside the outer defenses, they had style - curving stairways, arches, and windows

A defensive gap splitting the main fortress from the courtyard area

It was more palace-like inside the main structure even though this was a barracks for the troops

The offices of the commander

The courtyard was large enough that all the troops could gather and exercise

The tour ended and I had time to take in the view from the fortress.

Kaiser Wilhelm I statue

Another look at the massive internal courtyard

A look at some of the internal structural tunnels in the fortress

I took the cable car back down to the city

The cable car station

We were docked near Deutsches Eck or German Corner where the Rhine and Moselle rivers join.

Kaiser Wilhelm I statue

It is 37 meters high - 121 feet!

Arlona got back to the ship a few minutes before I did. We headed up to the lounge for a pre-dinner cocktail. After dinner, we returned to the lounge for a classical music concert with a local oboeist and pianist. We will sail in the wee hours of the morning, around 2:00 for Cologne, Germany.