An Evening Stop at Koblenz

KOBLENZ, A 2,000-YEAR OLD TOWN ON THE RHINE RIVER:

Amsterdam to Budapest River Cruise – Avalon Waterways – Day 3

At noon, we left Cologne and began our cruise up the Rhine to the 2,000-year-old town of Koblenz. As the boat sailed, we had the first of our on-board activities, which was a visit to the ship’s galley. Sadly for the chef, the majority of the passengers were more interested in being on the sundeck as the scenery was spectacular and the weather was great.

Sailing to Koblenz

From Cologne to Koblenz we cruised along the Lower Rhine sailing past large cities like Bonn (the birthplace of Beethoven) and picturesque little river-side villages like Unkel. There were many points of interest along the Lower Rhine – too many to remember really.

Luckily, we have our photos to jolt our memories and some sights that we managed to snap included the romantic Arenfels Castle with its beautiful vineyard setting above the spa town of Bad Hönningen. Locals call this castle ‘Jahresschloss‘ (year castle) as it has 365 windows.

At Remagen we passed a piece of WWII history, the famous Remagen Bridge or Ludendorff Bridge, a railroad bridge that crossed the Rhine and linked the villages of Remagen and Erpel. The capture of this bridge by the U.S. Army changed the course of the war and allowed the Americans to penetrate the heartland of Nazi Germany. The two bridge towers are now home to the Friedensmuseum.

Arriving at Koblenz

Koblenz is located at the confluence of the Rhine and the Moselle Rivers.
At 8:30 pm, whilst we were having dinner, our boat moored near the Deutsches Eck. The cruise program suggested that we could take a short walk into Koblenz town centre in the evening. We, and a few other passengers, attempted to find our way into town, but gave up as it wasn’t clear how ‘short’ the walk was and the streets were pitch dark. And for all our efforts, there might not have been anything happening downtown at night anyway.

As we were staying at Koblenz overnight, we were able to take a stroll after dinner to the "Deutsche Ecke" or "German Corner" to view the statue of Emperor Wilhelm I. The Basilica St Castor with its twin towers was another nearby attraction, but of course the church was closed.

By the river, there were beer gardens and restaurants if anyone felt that they needed more food after our dinner on board. If you’ve been following our travels, you would have noticed that Tony likes his giant-size gelato and at Koblenz he had a go at the gelato there as well…

As there was nothing else happening on the river bank, most passengers stayed on board the boat. This was when I wondered why we had to rush away from Cologne only to end up overnighting in Koblenz.

Update 2014

For the 2014 program, Koblenz is not on the itinerary at all and more time is spent in Cologne.

More information on Koblenz here: Koblenz Info-briefing

More information about the Kaiser Wilhelm II monument at the Deutsch Ecke

Photos of Coblenz: Koblenz Photo Gallery

Next page: Cruising the Middle Rhine

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