Koblenz, Germany

Sunday, June 18^th- Koblenz, Germany

         We were up early at 6 A.M. We enjoyed the cool of a Rhine River morning, at 59 degrees (F),  with coffee on the balcony. Breakfast, at 7 A.M in the dining room, readied us for the day. We were scheduled at 9:00 A.M for a walking tour of Koblenz. The ship tied up at  the pier along the seawall by 8 :30 A.M and we were off.

        As we disembarked the ship, we could see the overhead tram, that crossed the Rhine above us and ferried visitors up to the imposing bulk of the Ehrenbreitstein Castle, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. The delta of parkland that we tied up to sits at the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine Rivers, as they flow northward towards the North Sea.

        Laura, our guide, scooped us up for a ninety minute walk through the Town. First settled by the Celts, and later the Romans two thousand years ago, the area overflowed with historical interest. The Teutonic Knights had been founded here in 1110. Earlier in 810, the Treaty of Koblenz had separated the Holy Roman Empire into three sections after Charlemagne’s death. Each heir was a son of Charlegmane.

        The Delta shaped park was dominated by a huge statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I. During the second world war, allied soldiers had “shot the hell” out of the monument. It had been refurbished afterwards. Nearby, a large cross, on a two story brick building, identified the building as a former hospital of the Teutonic Knights, operating in the 1,110. Now, the building  served as a modern Arts Museum. Hundreds of years later, in 1805, Napoleon and his armies had  swept through the area, destroying many of the older structures. History was everywhere around us.

      Laura is an American expatriate. She had come here on vacation forty years ago and met and married a German vineyard owner. She told us much about contemporary German society. One curiosity is the nine per cent church tax levelled on all practitioners of organized religions. It collects billions of dollars annually. We were unclear what the funds were used for. She also said that all German workers are entitled to 30 vacation days annually, plus ten holidays. Women get up to two years for maternity leave. Rentals of apartments are expensive and residents have to bring their own kitchen with them.

       We walked through the narrow cobbled stone streets, appreciating the half-timbered and ancient  buildings and the stories abounding with them. One curious feature is of a carved face high up on a building wall. At each quarter hour, the eyes in the face rolled upward and a tongue slips out, denoting some skepticism in what it was looking down on. Like many of the German Towns, its Jewish population, some 600 souls, had been swept up in the Nazi pogroms. Only 22 of them survived the war.

      The Jesuit Square is an open-area, stone court surrounded by a church, gift shops and cafés. It too has an oddity. A sculpted figure of a boy, standing in a fountain, regularly sent a stream of water from its mouth outward, surprising unaware passersby. It is called the Schengelsbrunner. (the spitter in Deutch) We had some free time after the tour. We walked into “Der Alt Stadt Hotel” and ordered zwei cappuccinos for 10 euros. The attractive waitress spoke English better than I did German. The vessels were enormous bowls of this delightful brew. We sat in the courtyard, enjoying our confection and watched the ebb and flow of people traffic on this hot and sunny morning in Koblenz. Then, we reassembled the group nearby and Laura led us back to the Vali. We climbed aboard and appreciated the air conditioned bubble that we were traveling in. Aboard ship, lunch featured a red pepper soup, salad Nicoise and chocolate brownies. I wrote up my notes in our cabin and we readied for the afternoon cruise up the Rhine Valley. A brief conversation with Mr. Ozzie Nelson intervened.

        Topside, on the sun deck, most of the ship’s compliment were gathered under sun shaded screens. In the next few hours, we were to view many castles. All are story book in appearance, with turreted towers and ancient battlements. They sat, perched high along the steep and hilly shores of the Rhine Valley. In Feudal times, land owning barons had well-defined estates along the river. Anyone seeking to pass through their portion of the river, was made to pay a tax. The castles were for the “tax enforcers” of the day. The very steep hill sides were often terraced and planted with grapes for eating and wine making. We wondered how they could possibly tend such steep arbors. Later, a guide advised us that special tractors, with very low gear ratios, enabled the vintners to harvest their grapes mechanically. 

         The castles all had individual style and were characterized by multiple stories involving one old German family or another. The Oberwessel castle complex was now a four star hotel. It was one of many converted to commercial use. A huge castle complex at Reichenstein caught our eyes, with wonder. Along this seventy mile stretch of the middle Rhine, there are no bridges crossing it. Several car and passenger ferries had sprung up in Towns like Marburg and Neiderheim Bach. Bingen appeared to be a thriving tourist town, with multiple stacks of condos built along the banks of the river.

         Along the banks of the River in flatter areas we were to see collections of recreational campers, with vacationers. It is apparently a favored activity among local citizens, to camp, fish and swim in the shallower spots of the River. We were always mindful of the huge surge of water that must pass through this valley when the river floods and the damage it must cause to localities. The mists and the rains that swept through here engendered  many myths of spirits and supernatural forces at work. Every castle had its resident ghost and a local drama about family fights or feuds with neighboring Lords. In the bright sunshine, everything looked peaceful and bucolic. But underneath it all, we knew that frantic battles between the Native tribes and the aggressive Romans had frequently altered everything about us. It made for an interesting afternoon of historic viewing for us.

       Afterwards we cleaned up for dinner and met our companions, Vicki and Wayne Broyles and Carla and Renzo Pinazza in the dining room. Fish soup, Ahi Tuna and an ice cream dessert were capped off with a crisp Riesling. These next several evening dinners, shared with these estimable friends, and the wonderful and humorous conversations that we enjoyed, were to prove the most memorable of the voyage.

                                                                                 -30-

                                                                         (1,128 words)

                                                                    Joseph Xavier Martin