SOLO EUOROPE III: DAYS 15-16 [THE RHINE]
the next morning, i left munich for my longest train ride of the trip. i took 3 different trains for over 5 hours. first, i took the fast train from munich to frankfurt, then i took the local train from frankfurt to mainz, & lastly i took the connecting regional train to bacharach. this was probably the part of my trip that took me out of my comfort zone the most as i stayed in the countryside. that is always a little scarier for me as transportation is more finicky & limited, but this turned out to be one of the highlights of my trip.
once i arrive at the station in bacharach (there are only 2 platforms - 1 for each direction), i walked down the main street & up the hill to my accommodation. the station literally only has one train route that stops in town (almost hourly). all the other trains wizz on by more than likely making its way towards frankfurt.
as this was a monday, almost everything was closed & the streets were empty. bacharach is the smallest town i visited in the rhine region (and during this entire trip). it is small that there are no major grocery stores, only a small family business grocer. i do not think they even had a gas station. bacharach is actually a cluster of villages. from my understanding, the main business is wine & tourism. there are less than 2,000 villagers (at least in 2016).
bacharach is full of half timber buildings including structures from the medieval ages.
all 3 of the towns i visited during my stay - bacharach, sankt goar, & oberwesel - are a part of the UNESCO heritage site for the middle rhine valley. the region includes 60 towns with castles & vineyards that have been around for 1,000 years. there are over 40 castles perched on the hills with many in ruins due to wars during the 1600s. the rhine river runs through the area & has been used for trade throughout the continent since prehistoric times.
i originally was going to stay at a hostel in bacharach's old castle, but decided not to as it was difficult to get english info. instead, i decided to be a romantic & treat myself to a bed and breakfast (though i skipped on the breakfast) as it was very affordable. they actually offered a single occupancy room, which kept the price even lower. i am so pleased with this decision! the owners were a friendly older couple. the man spoke more english, so i was able to have a few conversations with him which was nice. i was able to learn about their life story & how it is like living in this area. the b&b is an older building that was once the quarters for the workers of the vineyard in the early 1900s, as bacharach is known for its wine.
the vineyard next to the b&b (though this is the neighbor's property now)
the b&b
my room (the bed is very typical for germany), they even left a pack of haribo gummy bears on my pillow.
my view
the very cute kitchen
since i had time, i decided to walk around town & see some small sites & buildings. first was a hike up the larger hill to see the 12th century castle (where the hostel is). i wanted to walk around the grounds & see the view. this region has tons of castles. some you can visit, while some are in ruins or private residences.
along the way, there were some building & flora, including a creek.
after walking up the super steep hill (i was breathing heavy like an idiot), i started my walk back to the main street. along the way are old church ruins. the church was built in 1289, but destroyed in 1689 during war. this area also has camino hiking routes. i always thought they were in france & spain only, but i was wrong. i recognized the clam symbol.
werner chapel ruins (c. 1289 - high gothic style)
i continued walking down the main street admiring all the old buildings. i stopped at an ice cream shoppe as it seemed romantic (and was only one of the few businesses open on a monday). i had stracciatiella & coffee ice cream.
my view while i had some ice cream outside the shoppe.
i walked down to the riverfront. i can imagine families having picnics out here, but as almost everything was closed bacharach was a ghost town.
bacharach's riverfront
i lucked out & found a beer garden that was open. the worker was so nice & helped me pick out my dinner. she also helped me discover the delicious beverage of bitter lemon. i had never heard of it, but it is like a sparking lemonade, but more tart then sweet. shweppes makes it, but i have not found it since returning to the us. it is often used as a mixer with alcohol. this place was really nice & i was able to eat outside & look at the river.
i had schnitzel, potatoes with bacon & onions, & salad (ranch seems to be the only dressing in germany)
after, i walked the empty streets back to my room. pictured is the main square in bacharach during sunset.
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the next morning, i stopped at the only bakery in town to get an espresso & pastry & took a train to sankt goar, another small town (though larger than bacharach) along the rhine. the train follows the rhine river and is quite scenic. some people take a boat down the river, but i am too practical for that. the town is close to lorelei rock, one of the most dangerous passages on the rhine due to its narrowness. lorelei rock is also where there is the legend of a siren. legend says a woman was betrayed by her lover, so she began luring men to their deaths. after she was caught, she asked to sit on the rock where she fell from her death when she believed she saw her lover.
the reason i wanted to visit the town was to see burg rheinfel, the best preserved castle ruins along the rhine. the castle was first built in 1245 & continued until the 1700s. i decided to walk there since it was not too far, but i actually got lost & started walking a hiking trail off of a camino route. as with all castles, you have to walk up a hill. i then back tracked. to get to the castle, you have to walk past a small hotel. this is why i accidentally walked past it the first time.
the camino
burg rheinfels
i really enjoyed my visit. the man working the front desk was so kind & nice. the grounds are very pretty. most of the the buildings are in ruins, but there is a small museum & gift shop in one of the structures. random, but they also had a really cool restroom with the exposed brick, a lever toilet, & a well-like sink that you had to pump water out of.
i love this picture because through the window is an elderly couple sitting on a bench.
the view from the castle. like bacharach, sankt goar also has vineyards.
the tower
a wood carving of saint goar, who the town is named after.
the walk back was much more scenic. instead of walking the road, i found a trail.
since i was early for my train (and it was late), i stopped at a medieval church across from the station.
after, i took the train to oberwesel, the neighboring town of bacharach. out of all 3, this was the largest town i visited in the rhine region. this is also where the innkeeper told me they go to to run errands as the town has all the amenities you would expect.
this area really loves wine, hence the goblet statue.
there were not many options when it came to eating, but luckily i did find a bakery. you can't go wrong as they will always have sandwiches, pastries, & espresso. that is all i need. the owner was very nice & helped me with my order as she knew english. this worked out very well as i would have never discovered that they had streudl with walnuts! i ended up talking to the people sitting next to me, 2 middle aged german couples. they were very nice, though one was very forward. after finding out i was american, he asked me what i thought of trump. i did find it rude, but i am a good sport. i remember him also calling my camera a photo apparatus which i found funny.
a sandwich, latte, & an apple walnut sreudl (one of my favorite desserts of my trip!)
the main reason i wanted to visit was to be able to walk the old rampart walls, always a highlight during my travels. i have been able to walk ramparts in pisa, italy, & rothenburg ob der tauber, bavaria. the old town walls were built in the 1200s, but expanded up until the 1500s. from the main historic square, i just walked the walls & stopped at whatever i thought looked interesting. the town was very quiet & i only saw one other person walking the walls.
some of the towers along the walls you can climb to the top
the town of oberwesel below
there is even a chapel built on top of the walls.
st. martin church (c. 1300s - gothic style)
a spooky statue with cobwebs.
after going to a local cultural museum that was rather small, but is considered the largest museum about the region, i walked to another portion of the old town walls. away from the river is the stadtgarten oberwesel, a world heritage garden surrounded by the old city walls.
at the cultural museum, i learned that oberwesel has a a tradition of choosing instead of a wine queen, a wine witch. annually, she ward evil from the vines in the main square. because of this, symbols of witches are sprinkled throughout town.
a wine witch
i had extra time waiting for the train back to bacharach, so i stopped at liebfrauenkirche. church of our lady is known for its red color & the gardens are from the 1400s.
liebfrauenkirche (c. 1400s - gothic style)
i nibbled on a grape. i forgot most grapes have seeds (my silly american sensibilities).
when i returned to bacharach, i stopped at some of the shops as almost everything was open. i was able to chat with one shop owner as she was from ireland & spoke english. she told me that not many germans know about this area (other than the locals) & that most tourists are from japan or the us because of rick steves. to add, a week prior i asked a a girl from frankfurt that i met in the vienna hostel about bacharach, and she said she had never heard of the town.
i ended up eating at this place that probably only interests tourists and old germans. it reminds me of a german equivalent to an old country small town restaurant. i decided to order appetizers as a meal. i had goulash with some bread & a cheese platter with gouda (sprinkled with paprika) with grapes, cheese, & crackers. i also had ice cream for desert (a scoop of walnut & stracciatella). it was delicious & i took some cheese & bread back to my room. it was very nice for the server to offer since it is not normal to "doggy bag" food in germany. i would have never been brave enough to ask, but i also think he did not want the food to go to waste.
the appetizers were much larger than i expected
the restaurant place was like an antique store.
even though this is the end of my post, i wanted to include 2 quotes from rick steves podcasts i listened to during my visit. to add, he did have a tour about the towns along the rhine which provided even more info as english signs in town were limited. i did in fact learn about this area because of rick steves. the quotes - one serious, one not so much, but both ring true:
"fear is for people who do not get out much"
"100 miles is a lot for europeans. 100 years is a lot for americans"