Uniworld, SS Antoinette – Basel to Amsterdam 3/30/14 on Tape Delay

[Host Jazzbeau]

Those trailer (RV) parks were everywhere! It seemed that every family in Germany must own a trailer along the Rhine (lucky them!)

[jpalbny]

Continuing North, we saw the quaint little town of Niederheimbach, with a church and a castle (Heimburg) above the town:

 

 

Across the way is the ruin of Nollig Castle - another fixer-upper if you have the time and inclination - nice view!

 

 

We were all relaxed and enjoying the views on the top deck. Because we all used our Quiet Vox systems, the trip was very enjoyable. We could sit, stand, and wander all over the top deck at our convenience, enjoying the view and the changing perspective. Our CD kept up a running commentary through our earpieces.

 

 

Two churches in the village of Lorchhausen (easily confused with neighboring village of Lorch):

 

[jpalbny]

Baharach was next, with a nice combination of churches, castles, and ruins. Burg Stahleck is perched on the edge of town, overlooking a church - Google says it's now a youth hostel:

 

 

The ruins of Gothic Wernerkapelle are strikingly beautiful - it was built in the 1400s, and the ruins have been preserved many times over the years:

 

 

A few more overviews of the town and the castle. The Wernerkapelle must have been glorious in its heyday; its location dominating the town...

 

[Got2Cruise]

Wow, amazing pictures, I love how the Europeans embrace their heritage instead of tearing things down like we do in the states.

 

How long time wise is the cruising of this section?

[seabreezer]

Thanks for the finely detailed commentary and photos. One question...I noticed some binoculars in one photo. Are they provided by the ship or do people bring their own?

[jpalbny]

Jazzbeau - yes, lots of those RV parks. I wonder how they drive those big vehicles on the tiny roads!

 

Got2Cruise - 2.5 hours, 28 miles.

 

seabreezer - I didn't see any in our stateroom. AFAIK people (not us) brought their own.

Edited April 26, 2014 by jpalbny

[jpalbny]

A few minutes north of Bacharach, we came across a brightly colored castle on an island in the middle of the river. It's Burg Pfalzgrafenstein, and it used to be a toll station for the Holy Roman Emperor. I've seen pictures of this castle on the internet when the Rhine is at normal levels and the island is barely visible. The level is (was) very low for springtime due to the lack of snow over the winter.

 

 

Luckily, we have EZ-pass, so we cruise on through for views of the castle, and Burg Gutenfels on the hill above - they worked in tandem to enforce the toll payment. If you tried to run the toll barrier, which was a chain stretched across the river, they'd "enforce the toll" from their vantage point on the high ground:

 

 

A few more detailed shots of Burg Gutenfels; this used to be a hotel (and from the reviews I read, "authentic" and "rustic" would describe it)... It's now privately held. http://rhinecastles.com/castle-gutenfels-rhine-germany/

 

 

The castle overlooks the town of Kaub. Probably a few more modern hotels to stay in here. Beautiful tree-lined promenade along the Rhine!

 

Edited April 26, 2014 by jpalbny

[banditoo]

Your photos and commentary have inspired me to order the Castles on the Rhine book in preparation for our Rhine cruise next year...yet to be booked. You mention the narration by the CD...I assume this includes info on history and local lore?

[carefreecruise]

Great job,

Looks like you 1/2 way up and on to Cologne. Looking forward to some more pictures. Hope a little sunlight popped out for you down river...

[jpalbny]

banditoo - yes, the CD was a wealth of knowledge and told us way too many things to remember during our scenic cruising. The only way I can "remember" this stuff now, 2+ weeks later, is that (1) our cameras have GPS so I can figure out the castle names now from the picture's location, and (2) Google. Maybe if I'd studied the info beforehand, like you're planning...

 

Just be warned, the castles come fast and furious so you may not have time to refer to a book much during the actual cruise - you may miss something if you're not constantly looking!

 

carefreecruise - getting closer to Cologne! The weather wasn't much better from here on out. But it was still great.

[jpalbny]

After Kaub comes Oberwesel. This town is guarded by the Burghotel Auf Schoenburg, which looks like a hodgepodge of different buildings randomly stuck together. It's very old; first built in ~900 AD and like most of the others, destroyed in the late 1600s during the War of the Palatine Succession. This is now privately owned as a hotel and restaurant. http://www.hotel-schoenburg.com/

 

 

Nice location for a stay...

 

 

Oberwesel has two nice churches, the Liebfrauenkirche on the left, and the Parish Church of St. Martin on the right. Unfortunately for the picture, the tower of St. Martin's church is covered in scaffolding...

 

 

Here's a taste of what comes next - even the railroad tunnel entrances look like castles! This is the Lorelytunnel:

 

[jpalbny]

Loreley Gorge!

 

This part of the gorge was very scenic - but don't blink, as you'll miss it. The current is fast here and we were through in a flash. Chris' camera battery died here and she had to make a dash to the cabin for a backup.

 

Here's the famous rock, with a lookout point on top; would have loved some nice blue sky in the background:

 

 

And a view back through the gorge, where we had just passed:

 

 

And the famous girl; I couldn't hear her singing, luckily...

 

 

After this is Burg Katz, sitting high over the little town of St. Goarshausen. The original name is Burg Katzenelnbogen - Cat's Elbow - so I see why they call it Burg Katz. It's practically brand-new compared to the others; first built in the late 1300s. It's not open for visits; a shame, as it looks very pretty:

 

 

A few more views - these castles look different from every angle and it's hard to stop taking pictures. Remember the "Cat Castle" because you'll see a companion in a few minutes...

 

 

How did they get those rocks up there to build all of these castles?

[jpalbny]

Last group of castles!

 

Burg Rheinfels was one of the largest castles we saw today; it's up above the town of St. Goar. It was one of the only ones not destroyed by the French troops in the War of the Palatine Succession - but 100 years later, they destroyed it during the French Revolution. It's tough to be a castle here!

 

This one is open for tours - http://www.st-goar.de/17-1-rheinfels-castle.html

 

 

To go along with the Cat Castle, we have Burg Maus - Mouse Castle! Local legend says that wasn't the original intended name, but the owner of Burg Katz mocked the builders by saying that their castle was a little "mouse" that would be eaten by his Burg Katz, and the name stuck.

 

 

There was a little break from here to rest my shutter finger...

 

 

Last stop before Boppard was this pair of castles - Burg Sterrenberg on the left, and Burg Liebenstein on the right. They are the site of a very sad legend - in a nutshell, two brothers loved the same woman, and as you can imagine, it all went down hill from there...http://www.burg-sterrenberg.de/english/die-burg.html

 

 

Wow. The scenery here was amazing, and now we are pulling into Boppard for an afternoon stroll around town before dinner.

[banditoo]

http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de/index.php?id=35&L=3 In case you haven't seen this website...lots of info including pictures on the castles. Helpful for identification.

[Longislanderluvs2cruise]

Really enjoying your review! We are planning to cruise the Rhine in 2015 and really love seeing the pictures! Now, we just have to pick a cruise line..:confused:

 

Thanks for the great review!

 

Joanne

[Got2Cruise]

http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de/index.php?id=35&L=3 In case you haven't seen this website...lots of info including pictures on the castles. Helpful for identification.

 

 

Thanks. I can't wait. My ticker says 70 days

[cruisinskier]

Great photos of the castles! Can't wait to see them in person in 3 months :D

Thanks for taking the time to post this review! Looking forward to more....

[TravelBugM]

Any idea which building in Strasbourg had the cute little guy on the wall with his ladle dripping chocolate?

 

Loving your TR jpalbany. We are not doing this cruise, but another with a similar itinerary. Photos have me very excited!

Edited April 27, 2014 by TravelBugM

[jpalbny]

TravelbugM - Naegel was the patisserie, and it was in the maze of small pedestrian/shopping streets just north of the Cathedral. The exact location was the corner of Rue des Orfevres and Rue du Chaudron. Here is a link to a Google Maps street view. The guy with the ladle must be newer than the street view picture, but I recognize the window full of treats...

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@48.5826,7.748993,3a,75y,90.68h,77.86t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sAOsSfqv3tOzue9Lm1m5Diw!2e0!3e5

[Tinkindling]

Very enjoyable writing style, and excellent photos! We feel our trip, reverse direction, starting May 4 in Amsterdam, will be enhanced by the information you've provided. I had decided to leave my DSLR behind for this trip, but now I'm having second thoughts. I wonder, if you read this in time, what the 35mm telephoto equivalent would be required for those castle shots.

[TravelBugM]

jpalbny - Thank you so much. Definitely will be stopping (and buying) there. And the surrounding streets look fabulous. Definitely will want to get away from the maddening crowd around the cathedral!

[jpalbny]

Very enjoyable writing style, and excellent photos! We feel our trip, reverse direction, starting May 4 in Amsterdam, will be enhanced by the information you've provided. I had decided to leave my DSLR behind for this trip, but now I'm having second thoughts. I wonder, if you read this in time, what the 35mm telephoto equivalent would be required for those castle shots.

 

You will want some zoom power for the close-up castle shots. Those are all from Chris' camera (Sony HX50V) with ~720 mm equivalent. She rarely had to zoom beyond 200-250 mm equivalent, though. I was actually using a Nikon AW120 underwater camera for the landscape shots; it has 24-120 mm equivalent. With that, I could get some of the closer castles nearly full-frame.

 

I used to lug a DSLR with a bulky 18-250 zoom lens everywhere until it got waterlogged and fried in the Panamanian jungle (thus the waterproof camera now). I will probably go back to SLR eventually (or maybe the new mirrorless cameras, if the lenses ever catch up) just for image quality because even though the pocket P&S cameras have come a long way, and I'm not unhappy with the images they took, it's still not quite SLR quality.

 

I found that I didn't miss the big zoom capabilities too badly this trip, but if you can find a pocket camera capable of bigger zoom, you can get better closeups of the castles. Portability vs. image... The ongoing conundrum!

 

jpalbny - Thank you so much. Definitely will be stopping (and buying) there. And the surrounding streets look fabulous. Definitely will want to get away from the maddening crowd around the cathedral!

 

Yes, it's night and day once you step away from the cathedral. Quiet, quaint, medieval... And the food on display doesn't hurt either!

[carefreecruise]

JP, good day.

Since Uniworld went all inclusive this year:

Did you find any problems on tipping the ships staff ? Were usually only tip the excursion guides...

Is there any room service, like bottles of wine or food delivered?

Did the ship block on WIfi any accounts like "Skype"?

 

We will be onboard the same ship in five weeks on the same voyage. As you can tell from above, we are only used to sea cruises...

[jpalbny]

JP, good day.

Since Uniworld went all inclusive this year:

Did you find any problems on tipping the ships staff ? Were usually only tip the excursion guides...

Is there any room service, like bottles of wine or food delivered?

Did the ship block on WIfi any accounts like "Skype"?

 

We will be onboard the same ship in five weeks on the same voyage. As you can tell from above, we are only used to sea cruises...

 

There was no issue whatsoever with tips. Absolutely nobody was looking for one. Even the onshore local excursion guides were covered by the all-inclusive policy, and they did not act as if they expected a tip from the passengers either.

 

Sorry to say that I don't know the answers the other two questions.

[jpalbny]

our trip, reverse direction, starting May 4 in Amsterdam...

 

Forgot to ask, are you also on SS Antoinette? If so, I think our CD Hildegard is scheduled to be your CD as well. Please give her our best regards. We really enjoyed sailing with her!