Just back from a river cruise along the Rhine and Mosel. Blessed with fine weather and an array of lovely stop offs on both rivers. The Rhine was clearly and unsurprisingly the busiest of the two, whereas the Mosel was quieter but ‘blessed’ with a number of locks to negotiate (twice, as we went down and then back up from Koblenz.
Started in Cologne and visited Koblenz, Boppard, Rudesheim (Rhine), Cochem, Bernkastel (with a land trip to Trier) and then back to Colgne. We wanted to travel both rivers but that did mean we had a full day on the river as we travelled back along the Mosel and then the Rhine to Cologne. We were lucky with the weather and so the actual river cruising was very pleasant, especially through the Rhine Gorge and the area around the Loreley Rock. Of the towns and villages, my own particular favourites were probably the very scenic Bernkastel and Rudesheim. Two gondola / chairlift rides provided spectacular overviews of the Rhine, whilst the walk up to the ruined castle in Bernkastel did the same for the Mosel.
Trier is one of the oldest cities in Germany and has much to recommend it, including the Porta Nigra, an immense fortified gate which formed the eastern border of the Roman Empire and towers above the surrounding medieval buildings. This is the largest and best-preserved Roman building north of the Alps and is a fitting tribute to their architectural prowess. The famous gothic cathedral of Cologne was also impressive, but in the little time we had there the rest of the city failed to impress.
This was our first river cruise (excluding the Mississippi of course) and it’s undoubtedly a lovely way to see some of the towns and villages along the way. Next time we’d probably choose a linear trip that prevented travelling the same sections of river twice and, excellent as the ship was (great cabin), we might also look for one that offers a little more flexibility and variety around the onboard dining options – although this is undoubtedly being a little picky and seemed to be fine for most of our fellow guests.