Part of my Viking River Cruise in 2014 took us through the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of many World Heritage sites that we visited throughout the entire trip. The Upper Middle Rhine Valley is known for it’s many, many castles and romantic, scenic views. Since I just finished up showcasing my experience on this afternoon of leisurely cruising down the Rhine, I thought I would provide a little recap of what my friends and I saw while we cruised on that beautiful Spring afternoon.
Our cruise director provided everyone with this wonderful little map so that we had an idea of just how many castles we would see on this stretch of the Rhine. Overall, there are around 40 castles in this section of the Rhine alone. Not to mention the churches and other historic landmarks that make this an area worth preserving. Not all of the castles are situated directly on the Rhine and not all of them are listed on the map above. So, here is a recap of what we saw on our trip through this amazing area of Germany.
We started the morning early in Koblenz for a quick stop to see the Berlin Wall Memorial.
And the monument to Kaiser Wilhelm!
Then we learned how close two very large tour buses can get on a very narrow hillside road, as we headed up to our first castle of the day, Marksburg Castle.
I wrote several posts about Marksburg Castle – starting with the gates, the batteries, the herb garden, life on the inside and finally, saying good bye. Marksburg Castle was the one castle we were able to tour while visiting the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. The rest of the castles were viewed from the upper deck of our ship as we sailed from Koblenz to Rudesheim.
Next we sailed by the Village of Spay, and lots of half timber houses.
The next castle we saw was Liebeneck, which had been converted into a hunting lodge.
And then we sailed through Kamp Bornhofen, another cute little village with half timber houses, churches and two castles!
The two castles are referred to as The Hostile Brothers and there are a couple of tales as to why they are named as such.
Next we sailed by a little village called Bad Salzig.
And then another tiny village called Kestert.
Next we sailed through Hirzenach, Erhenthal and parts of the Rhenish Massif. This area of Germany reminded me of the New River Gorge in West Virginia.
Then it was on to the village of Wellmich and Burg Maus.
And across the river from Burg Maus, the mouse castle, was Rheinfels Castle.
Followed by Burg Katz, which was across the river again, on the same side of the Rhine as Maus Castle. Everywhere you looked there were castles!
Then we came to one of the more dangerous areas of the Rhine, the storied Loreley Rock and the legend of the maiden Lorelei.
It was also along this stretch of river where we encountered quite a few train tunnels disguised as castles and churches and a colony of Cormorants.
Our next little village was Oberwesel, which had another castle and a couple of churches.
The castle in Oberwesel was Schoenburg Castle.
Followed up next by a tiny little village called Kaub. And even though the village was tiny, Kaub had two castles!
Burg Gutenfels and…
Next we sailed by probably one of the most romantic areas we had seen so far on this afternoon of sailing – the romantic village of Bacharach.
Followed by the little village of Lorchausen.
And then Rheindiebach and Lorch and two more castles, Furstenburg Castle and Nollig Castle.
And if we had not seen enough tiny little villages, we soon sailed by another one, Niederheimbach.
And then we came upon Sooneck Castle.
And as we were winding down our visit through the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, we happened upon some of the last castles and churches we would see on this stretch, such as Burg Reichenstein and Clemenskapelle.
And the village of Assmannshausen and Burg Rheinstein.
Finally, we came upon our last castle of the day, Burg Ehrenfels and the city of Bingen, the southern border of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. It was hard to believe that four hours had passed by already. But it was time for us to dock in Rudesheim, where we would explore and later have dinner in the city. It was such a wonderful afternoon. We saw so much beautiful scenery in a most relaxing way. Viking really does know how to show you Europe!
This is not a sponsored post. This is my experience from my trip with Viking River Cruises. Email me to find out how you can save $100 when you book your first cruise with Viking through their referral program.
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