The river Moselle infos and river cruising experiences

[notamermaid]

Thanks for your reply.

14 minutes ago, DougK said:

But what I most enjoyed was going to Burg Eltz (about as far away from Cochem as Ulmener Maar, 15 miles or so).

That is a good alternative. I recall reading this being offered, what company did you sail with? Many years ago I walked up to Burg Eltz through the valley from Moselkern. That is a small challenge but doable in 90 minutes.

 

Forgot to post the info about Ulmen: https://www.gesundland-vulkaneifel.de/en/ulmener-maar-stollen-entdecker-tour/

That is the long tour, in my previous post I suggested the tunnel with short tour round the Ulmener Maar only.

 

notamermaid

 

[DougK]

10 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

I recall reading this being offered, what company did you sail with?

 

Regrettably, I was not on a cruise last spring. I was supposed to be on a Scenic cruise, but it was cancelled shortly before sailing. We chose to go to Europe anyway, and did some exploring on our own, including around Cochem. I don't know whether any of the cruise companies offer Burg Eltz as an excursion, but it would be nice if they did.

[gnome12]

I read about Burg Eltz in Rick Steves' guide book. Our original plan was for May 2020 with a bike and barge from Koblenz to Metz which had included Burg Eltz. Then that trip was cancelled, we rebooked as Cochem to Metz for Sept 2021, which was also cancelled. Ultimately, we ended up on Cochem to Merzig in October 2022. We arrived in Cochem a few days early, and, on the day of departure, I planned our excursion to Burg Eltz by train and bus, returning in time to join the others on the barge. Other than the fact that it was pouring rain, the setting was amazing, and the castle too. My sister is a hiker, and I'm sure would have liked to hike in the area, but we didn't really have time. She did walk down the path back to the car park, whereas I took the shuttle bus.

 

I think that we got the best of both worlds, a chance to visit Burg Eltz, and to ride the Maare-Mosel bike route, which was not included in our original Koblenz to Metz itinerary, but was on the Cochem itineraries. (I was trying to figure out how we could do it at the end of that tour, but eventually gave up; it just would have been too difficult to do.)

Edited July 25, 2023 by gnome12

[CPT Trips]

A view from the bridge in Cochem 

 

[notamermaid]

That is spooky. Nice shot. Reichsburg Cochem looks dramatic in fog. A photographer named Andreas Pacek has taken a very good one. I really like such photos.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

On 7/25/2023 at 11:11 PM, DougK said:

Regrettably, I was not on a cruise last spring. I was supposed to be on a Scenic cruise, but it was cancelled shortly before sailing. We chose to go to Europe anyway, and did some exploring on our own, including around Cochem. I don't know whether any of the cruise companies offer Burg Eltz as an excursion, but it would be nice if they did.

Such a pity but good to read that you got a great land trip together instead. The big difference between the Reichsburg and Burg Eltz is of course that the former is rebuilt while the latter is a real intact one.

 

On 7/26/2023 at 12:34 AM, gnome12 said:

I think that we got the best of both worlds, a chance to visit Burg Eltz, and to ride the Maare-Mosel bike route, which was not included in our original Koblenz to Metz itinerary, but was on the Cochem itineraries. (I was trying to figure out how we could do it at the end of that tour, but eventually gave up; it just would have been too difficult to do.)

I would say that your itinerary is a really nice one to experience the Moselle in a bit more detail and with more activity (if one wishes to be so active).

 

The other version to Metz is also really nice I find. The ships again do these itineraries or similar ones this year. I enjoy Metz greatly, been three times but have not seen everything I have wanted to see, every visit was a bit too short. Unfortunately very few itineraries on the small river cruise ships, meaning bigger than the barges for bike & barge, go as far as Metz. Would love to do this one by a Swiss tour operator (it calls itself "Reisebüro" but is a tour operator): https://www.mittelthurgau.ch/reise/excellence-pearl-nancy-metz-trier-saarbruecken-elnan2

 

notamermaid

 

[gnome12]

10 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

The other version to Metz is also really nice I find.

I would have preferred one to Metz with a change to get to Luxembourg, but when we were rebooking after our cancelled September 2022 cruise, the only fall trip that we could get was the one to Merzig. (We went to Metz for our first night post-cruise.) Some, but not all, of the Cochem to Metz itineraries include the Maare-Mosel trail, which was a highlight for me.

[notamermaid]

A curious little ship has been on the Moselle - you may still be able to spot it today. She is called the Ulma V and is a wooden ship from the Danube, a so-called "Ulmer Schachtel" or "Zille". I have mentioned this type of vessel in the Danube thread. No photo unfortunately of the unusual ship with black and white livery on the river as the newspaper article is behind a paywall.

 

The website of the friends: http://ulma-ulm.de/Historie-der-ULMA/

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Another unusual ship is sailing the river today and by now has left the Moselle already and turned into the Saar. The "Bissula" is the reconstruction of a Roman ship. Since its construction in 2019 has only been sailing the calm rivers but after sailing to Dillingen on the Saar river will be transported by truck to Cannes. There the vessel will be tested on the waters of Cannes bay to obtain knowledge about ancient shipping and its routes. One could take a small boat all the way to Cannes on canals but the Bissula is a bit too wide for the French canals. A few photos to give you an idea of the endeavour:

https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/trier/roemisches-schiff-bricht-von-trier-nach-cannes-auf-100.html

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

I wondered what the route would be to get to Cannes by boat so checked the map. Slight misunderstanding on my behalf, the gentleman did not mean Cannes directly on a river, but a route to the Mediterranean and Cannes. Getting to the Mediterranean is actually fairly straightforward if the vessel is small enough:

 

From the Rhine through the Canal to the Saone and Rhone looks easier than via the Moselle and the Canal.

 

When you think about it, this means you could also do a river cruise on the Rhone, then hire a small boat through the Canal to take you onto the Moselle, take a river cruise from Luxembourg to Amsterdam and voilá! You have traversed the continent in a South to North direction on water from the Mediterranean to the North Sea.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Look for a book entitled Narrowdog to Carcassonne, a couple took an English narrowboat from England through the rivers and canals of France to Carcassonne and beyond. The narrow dog was a whippet (a little greyhound).

[notamermaid]

Narrowboat - that type should fit through the canals. Just to mention it again: unfortunately, no river cruise ships sail into France that are of standard modern lengths, that is 110m to 135m (happy to be proven wrong with the odd exception). The Excellence Pearl, one of the few ships that sail into France, is 85m long. Then there is the odd smaller bike & barge itinerary, those are mostly on converted barges. The "Iris" is one such barge. Last year the river cruise ship MS Sans Souci, sailing for Plantours, made a rare appearance in Metz and Nancy-Frouard. She is 82m long.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Canal archive]

 

Narrowboat on the Soane a few years ago, quite a few have been transported across to the continent mostly into Holland but many to France as well. The Canal du Nivernais is twinned with the Kennet & Avon Canal in England. 

French locks are in the main shorter that the rest of Europe hence the different lengths and therefore capacity as for instance on the Seine. French Canals are bigger than ours so barges are a good way to see France on the canals.

[Suzanne123]

We stopped at a small town, Winningen, on our Moselle cruise and saw this on a walk through town early in the morning.  Anyone know what it is? 
 

[notamermaid]

4 hours ago, Suzanne123 said:

Anyone know what it is? 

I had a look at images and this appears to be a modern extension with ornamentation on a wall at the Weingut Heymann-Loewenstein. It is kind of aphorism/poem stuff about wine and life - what I can tell from the German letters. This is it: https://winningen.de/weingut-heymann-loewenstein-vdp/

 

notamermaid

 

[Suzanne123]

Thank you for your research.  We saw this on a little side street and thought it might be some kind of memorial, but it seemed so out of place there.  It’s very pretty.

[notamermaid]

On 9/16/2023 at 1:34 AM, Suzanne123 said:

Thank you for your research.  We saw this on a little side street and thought it might be some kind of memorial, but it seemed so out of place there.  It’s very pretty.

Looks like a memorial, doesn't it? If it had not been for several German words that took me to assume this was a poem I would have been searching including the German word for memorial. The vintner makes Riesling wines with much love and without much chemical stuff, it appears. There is wood on the cubical building with the letters, but in a modern design with ultramodern technology in the concrete structure with energy-saving in mind. Interesting stuff.

 

Which company did you sail with? Did you have a tour in Winningen?

 

notamermaid

 

[Suzanne123]

We sailed with Avalon.  We were in Winnigen early in the morning and then sailed for Koblenz during lunch. It was such a nice day that we opted out of the included excursions and decided to walk through town on our own.  
 

8:30am

Optional Excursion: Mendig's Magma & Monks Trip (optional)

Wear comfortable shoes and clothes. Stairs to be climbed in the caverns and at the monastery. Remember to bring water and your camera.

9:00am

Adventure Host activity: Biking with your Adventure Host

Edited September 17, 2023 by Suzanne123

[notamermaid]

On 9/18/2023 at 12:17 AM, Suzanne123 said:

8:30am

Optional Excursion: Mendig's Magma & Monks Trip (optional)

Wear comfortable shoes and clothes. Stairs to be climbed in the caverns and at the monastery. Remember to bring water and your camera.

Ah, yes, I remember Avalon Waterways offering this excursion. Winningen and the Moselle at that point are worth skipping an excursion I find but this optional one is good and quite different to other places you can experience on a river cruise. Mendig is a small town at the Eastern end of the region with the volcanoes called Vulkaneifel. Mining for the stone basalt had been going on for several hundred years. It was once the largest mine for basaltic lava in the world. The mines were then ideal for storing beer due to the constant low temperature which means Mendig became the "brewery town of Germany" with 28 breweries but only 2,800 inhabitants. Only one brewery is left now. Under the museum "Lava Dome" you can go into the cellars/mines which appears to be what you do during that excursion.

 

Nearby is the monastery Maria Laach at Laach Lake. A beautiful abbey of course made of local stone and that makes it interesting. This is the "Monks" part of the excursion.

 

I was in England quite some years ago at an old mill. Imagine my surprise when I read that they had used millstones from (Nieder)mendig.

 

It is less than half an hour by coach from Winningen to Mendig. The return trip to Koblenz is hardly any further. A find this to be a very nice opportunity to see an area with a different feel to the valleys.

 

After all those vineyards and the wine tastings on the Moselle this beer brewing town is a nice change.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Canal archive]

Whoever thought millstones could hold so much history both French and the before mentioned German millstones have been imported into England for hundreds of years. Just by the sheer weight of them they must have been mostly transported by some of our favourite water routes.

[notamermaid]

41 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Whoever thought millstones could hold so much history both French and the before mentioned German millstones have been imported into England for hundreds of years. Just by the sheer weight of them they must have been mostly transported by some of our favourite water routes.

Indeed. Apparently already the Romans were active in the region. They transported mined stones via the Brohl valley to the Rhine and later - first on land but then put on ships - the millstones were transported from the Eifel to Andernach and via the Rhine to the North Sea. We are lucky or rather from an architectural and historical point of view the town of Andernach is fortunate to still have its old crane. A landmark: https://www.andernach-tourismus.de/en/andernach/places-of-interest/old-crane

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

If a crane can be cute then that one really is, so many different types.

[notamermaid]

Talking of old cranes. There are not that many left in Germany but Trier has got one: https://www.trier-info.de/en/places-of-interest/moselle-cranes

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

My apologies, Trier, as the link says, has actually got two old cranes! A note on the Moselle wines. At the suburb Trier-Ruwer the river Ruwer flows into the Moselle. The Ruwer valley is also used for growing vine. Until 2007 the wine region was called Mosel-Saar-Ruwer but was then changed to just Mosel.

 

The Romans brought viticulture to the Mosel and that is an interesting bit of trivia that spans 2000 years of shipping on the river. I will explain in a following post.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Should you happen to find yourself in Winningen or nearby on the 15th you can go and see the "Genussmarkt". A first for Winningen ,this type of event focusses on regional food and drink. Eat or buy anything from honey and lavender to jam and meat products (sorry, no English info): https://winningen.de/winninger-genussmarkt/

 

If you have a few hours to spare in Koblenz you can make your way to Winningen by train or take a taxi (15min) but remember that this is a small village so do not expect a grand affair.

 

notamermaid