WALK ALONG THE RHINE

FROM VALLENDAR TO KOBLENZ - DECEMBER 2005

The roughly 8.5 km walk from Vallendar to Koblenz along the Rhine River is an amazing experience, in particular in a sunny, though cold, day!


"START WALKING - The riverside park in Vallendar is quite nice"



"RHINE MIRROR - It looked so intensively blue..."


"NIDERWERTH - Facing Vallendar, just across the bridge built in 1958, are the islands of Niederwerth and Graswerth. Niederwerth is inhabited, while Graswerth is a natural reserve"



"NORTH AND SOUTH - The Rhine River looked so gentle this Saturday"



"LUNCH BREAK - Another great advantage of this walk is the existence of some pretty nice restaurants by the River, where you may stop for lunch (and a hearty one, actually...). Gretchens at Urbar is one of them"



"AFTER LUNCH - Keep walking and get closer to Koblenz"


"DEUTSCHES ECK - Wilhelm I (dem Grossen) at the German Corner, as seen from the other side of the Rhine"


"SKY ROUTES"



"EHRENBREITSTEIN FORTRESS - On the same-named mountain, it was built by Prussia between 1817 and 1832 and guarded the middle Rhine region. The fortress was never attacked"



"THE KURFÜRSTLICHE CASTLE was the residence of the last archbishop and Prince Elector of Trier, Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxonia, that had it built by the end the 18th century. Later, the Prussian Crown Prince (who would become Emperor Wilhelm I) lived here as a military governor of North Rhine-Westphalia for some years"


"PREUSSISCHES REGIERUNGSGEBÄUBE – The old Prussian Government building was built from 1902 to 1906 under the advice of Paul Kieschke, from Berlin, and served the regional government of Koblenz. Today it hosts the Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB)"


"LÖHRSTRASSE is one of the liveliest places in Koblenz. Located in the heart of the pedestrian zone, it’s full of small shops and department stores, including the famous Löhr Centre, a great shopping mall with an outstanding selection of restaurants"

VALLENDAR, RHEINLAND

DI IN GERMANY - DECEMBER 2005

Saturday was dedicated to a visit to Vallendar and a stroll along the Rhine River. This post shows our perambulations in Vallendar, a nice village in Rhineland!


"NR.8 - This is the bus that links Vallendar to Koblenz, seen here crossing the Pfaffendorfer Bridge. The photo was taken from the nearby Mercure Hotel"




"HOME - Di was living at the apartment of a German friend, student at WHU, who was on an Exchange Programme in Uruguay"


"KOROVA was students' bar, just next door"


"WHU - The University's door was 50m from the appartment, and every student had a key to enter the premises when the school was closed!"


"THE CLASSROOM(s) at WHU were pretty impressive"





"WHU is most probably the best Management school in Germany. The premises are absolutely striking"


"PLAZA - The apartments at the WHU plaza look quite nice!


"BURGSTRASSE, where Di was living, is the main pedestrian street in Vallendar"


"DIE TRAUBE is the best restaurant in Vallendar"



"CHURCHES - Vallendar has several churches, and some are quite interesting!"


"APARTMENT BUILDINGS - Many are needed to lodge the 533 students at the WHU..."


"REST HOUSE - In 1976 we made a big West European tour (see post here). In Germany, near Koblenz, we stayed in Vallendar. The Hotel was the big building we can see on this picture. Today it works as a rest house for elderly people... Premonition!"

KOBLENZ AM RHEIN

GERMANY'S MOST BEAUTIFUL "CORNER" - DECEMBER 2005

The 2000-year-old town of Koblenz is situated at the junction of the rivers Rhine and Mosel and is surrounded by four low mountain ranges. Koblenz owes its name to the Romans who named "castellum apud confluentes" (castle at the confluence of the rivers) the castle they constructed here around 9 B.C. Koblenz, the former residence of the Electors of Trier, was conquered by foreign armies and has received princes, kings, emperors and presidents within its walls. It is a truly European place!


"TOO LATE – At 2:00 P.M. we tried to have lunch at the Winninger Weinstuben. It seems to be a nice restaurant, facing the Rhine and located in a historic building. No chance: the kitchen was already closed!"


"ST. CASTOR is the oldest church of Koblenz dating back to the year 836; its present form dates from the 12th century. From outside you recognize the Romanesque architecture; the interior has gothic vaults and baroque paintings and sculptures. The treaty of Verdun, by which the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, Charlemagne's grandsons, divided the Carolingian empire, was signed here in 843"


"DEUTSCHES ECK, beyond St. Castor Church, is the place where the river Mosel flows into the river Rhine. In 1897, a monument to Kaiser William I, mounted on a 14 meter high horse, was inaugurated there. The monument stood there till WW II, when the statue was destroyed by US artillery. In 1953, the monument was re-dedicated to German unity. The place is a must, when you are in Koblenz!"


"MOSELLE RIVER – Here ends the 545 km travel of the Mosel River from its source on the Ballon d'Alsace in the Vosges Mountains, France, through the Lorraine region, west of the Vosges, further downstream, in Germany, between the Eifel and Hunsrück mountain regions, until the German Corner in Koblenz"


"OLD TOWN – On the banks of the Mosel, the old town (1276) was home to the castle of the Electors of Trier"


"BURGSTRASSE - Zum Hubertus Weinhaus is one of the few old buildings in Koblenz that survived the fires at the end of the Second World War. It hosts currently a quite nice restaurant"


"LIEBFRAUENKIRCHE - The Church of Our Lady is probably the most beautiful church of Koblenz and it was built in the very centre of town and at its highest point, to be safe from the floods of the rivers Rhine and Mosel. Liebfrauenkirche dates back to the 12th century. From the outside you may see the great onion-towers that were added in baroque times"



"FLORINSKIRCHE, currently an Evangelist church in the city centre, is a triple-nave Romanesque basilica from the 12th century, with a Gothic chancel (1350). The original flat timber ceiling was renewed in 1708, and the squat towers were replaced in 1900 by pointed ones"



"STREET SCULPTURES – Koblenz has a lot of them and some quite funny"


"MUNZPLATZ, where some remains from a Roman castle were found, got its name from an early Mint. In number 8 we find the Metternich House, built in 1674, and where the Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich was born. Metternich earned the admiration of succeeding generations for his brilliant management of foreign policy"


"FOUR TOWERS – Pedestrian zone"


"SACRED HEART CHURCH, built when Koblenz was starting its development towards south in 1900-1903, is a Catholic church. It belongs to the group of the most significant neo-Romanesque churches in Germany"




"CHRISTMAS MARKETS are famous everywhere in Germany. The Koblenz Christmas Market is one of the largest in Rhineland, with more than one hundred wooden stands. There you may taste Glühwein (a spicy mulled wine), usually prepared from cheap red wine, heated and spiced with cinnamon sticks, cloves and sugar, and sometimes with almonds and raisins. Another possibility is to enjoy the Christmas Market ice skating rink"