By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher
AUG. 14, 2018 | Yes, we like to travel. We are just back from a trip to Germany, where we took a river cruise on the Mosel, Rhine and Main rivers. We had a great time, and on this river boat (Emerald Waterways), they don’t nickel and dime you for anything. Great way to travel!
Having spent three and a half year of military duty in Germany, we had often taken friends for one-day journeys down the Rhine. We would catch a boat in Mainz, glide three hours to Koblenz, then hop another board back. But the trip back, fighting that Rhine current, took six hours!
We learned that cruise ships don’t stop at ports on the Rhine. Too much commercial traffic, so we cruised on the Rhine for only about six hours past some of the most beautiful river scenery in the world. The many castles on high hills (and one in the middle of the river), plus the vineyards on the hills and the charming towns, make this a most visited area.
The start of this trip was in Bernkastel on the Mosel. It is a scenic small town with vineyards literally going up any hill that get sunshine. Many vineyards are at a 65- to 70-degree angle, making a good grape-growing situation, but these steep hills can be dangerous, with deaths from falling possible.
Travel all the way down the Mosel and you are seldom far away from vineyards. They are quite gorgeous, often every way you turn. Production of Mosel wines, third largest in Germany in terms of volume, is considered by many to rank first in international prestige.
The Mosel is mainly famous for its wines made from the Riesling grape, but Elbling and Müller-Thurgau also contribute to the production. Most of the wine is white, though there is a growing number of Mosel vineyards producing red wine. The Riesling wines are especially light and dry (“Tropfchen”). You hear names like Bernkasteler Auslese or Zeller Schwartz Kat, or Piesporter Gold Tropfchen.
The Mosel has a moderate climate, mainly, with July temperatures averaging about 65 degrees. But while we were there, a heat wave pushed temperatures well into the 80s.
IF THE MOSEL is primarily scenic with only 12 locks, the Main River, all 325 miles of it, is primarily engineering. The Main is a commercial river, encompassing 34 locks, slowly taking the ships higher and higher toward the Nuremberg-Danube Canal, 106 miles long, and 16 locks, allowing ships to travel all the way from the Black Sea to the Atlantic. (This canal was completed in 1992.)
Our cruise ended at Nuremberg, so we never sailed across the European Continental Divide, which is within the canal. But we visited several cities along the way, including two particularly charming towns, Wurzburg and Bamberg.
Yet to me, the locks are fascinating, as water is pumped into or out of the chamber, lifting or lowering the ship to the next level. On the Main, it didn’t take long — maybe 20 minutes for the actual lift as we went higher. Of course, the ship must carefully slow down to enter the locks, with there being less than a foot of clearance on each side as it reaches the chamber.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Follow Us